by Naomi L. | April 5, 2017 | Blog, Creative Writing, What If? Writing Prompts |
Welcome to April! I hope you survived the pranks of April Fools’ Day, or maybe you pulled some off yourself! Either way, in the spirit of this humorous month, why not have some more fun with a few new “What If?” Writing Prompts? This week’s batch features prompts in the theme of humor. See what fun stories you can create from these ideas! Enjoy!
What if… every time you thought about a certain food, it magically appeared before you?
What if… you were hypnotized to sing every time someone said a specific word?
What if… for one day, you could understand animals, but not people?
What if… you woke up one day to find yourself in a cartoon?
What if… you were cursed to speak only in the form of bad jokes?
Good luck spinning more silly tales!
If you have any “What If?” writing prompt suggestions (for any theme), please feel free to share them in the comments below. Ideas I like may be featured in future “What If?” posts, with full credit and a link to your blog (if you have one)! Also, if you’ve written a piece based on an idea you’ve found here, be sure to link back to the respective “What If?” post. I would love to see what you’ve done with the prompt! Thank you!
by Naomi L. | April 3, 2017 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: ignominious
Pronunciation: ig-nə-MI-nee-əs
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: deserving or causing public disgrace or shame
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
How about a fun new word to kick off the humorous month of April? Have you ever found yourself—or put your characters—in a situation that was more than a little embarrassing? Or perhaps you’ve already overused words like “humiliating” and “mortifying” in your stories and need a new synonym to keep your writing fresh? If so, you may find some use for today’s Word of the Week! When a scenario is too embarrassing or shameful for common adjectives, try calling it “ignominious” instead!
To be “ignominious” is to cause or deserve public shame or disgrace. The word arose in late Middle English and traces back through the French adjective ignominieux to the Latin adjective ignominiosus, meaning “disgraceful”. This adjective stems from the noun ignominia “disgrace”, which in turn comprises two roots: the prefix in- “not” and the noun nomen “name”.
To be honest, the first time I read the word “ignominious”, I assumed it was similar in meaning to the word “ignorant”, though I suppose they aren’t too unrelated, as being the latter can lead to suffering the former. For the funny and ridiculously purple way it sounds, I myself would probably reserve the use of this word to humorous contexts, but I’m sure it can work just as easily, if not more appropriately, in formal writing. If your characters often find themselves in disgraceful and humiliating situations, “ignominious” may be a good word to add to your vocabulary list!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
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