by Naomi L. | January 19, 2015 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: eponymous
Pronunciation: ə-PAH-nə-məs
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition:
- (of a person) giving their name to something
- (of a thing) named after a particular person
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Here’s a word that every writer should know, and most prolific ones probably do. I come across the word “eponymous” almost exclusively when reading Wikipedia articles, as I often read about stories titled after a person’s name. Interestingly, whether its definition is active or passive depends on if it’s used to describe a person or a thing, so be sure to pay close attention to that detail!
An “eponymous” person is someone whose name has been given to something. An “eponymous” thing, in contrast, is something named after a specific person. This word is the adjective form of “eponym”, meaning “a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named”. This noun comes from the Greek adjective epōnumos “given as a name”, which is comprised of the preposition epi “upon” and the noun onuma “name”.
“Eponymous” is what I consider to be one of those “specialist” words: limited to a particular use, but highly useful when the need for it arises. Therefore, as I said, it’s a word that’s especially important for writers; if not to use directly, then at least to understand. If you make a habit of naming the things in your stories after people, then “eponymous” is definitely the word for you! Have fun getting creative with your names!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | January 14, 2015 | Blog, Creative Writing, What If? Writing Prompts |
Here’s a new bunch of “What If?” Writing Prompts for you. This week’s post consists of prompts in a genre that has yet to be featured in this segment: paranormal. What stories can you spin around the phenomena lying just outside the scope of normality? Good luck!
What if… you could use your mind to move objects… as long as they were your own possessions?
What if… you found out your dreams about the future were actually visions?
What if… you could divine a person’s greatest dreams and worst fears just by looking into their eyes?
What if… psychic abilities were scientifically proven to be real?
What if… you discovered a way to bridge the gap between the spirit world and the material world?
Have fun turning out tales of the paranormal!
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. | January 12, 2015 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: sartorial
Pronunciation: sar-TOR-ee-əl
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: of or relating to tailoring, clothes, or style of dress
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Barney: Suits are full of joy. They’re the sartorial equivalent of a baby’s smile.
Ted: “Sartorial”?
Barney: “Of or pertaining to tailors or their trade.”
– How I Met Your Mother (Season 2, Episode 14 – Monday Night Football)
Here’s another word I’ve heard exclusively on How I Met Your Mother. Every fan of this series is well familiar with Barney Stinson’s love of suits. His popular catchphrase “Suit up!” pretty much says it all. It makes perfect sense, therefore, that a character like Barney would know exactly what the word “sartorial” means while the rest of his friends remained clueless.
“Sartorial” refers to anything related to clothing and/or tailoring. The word arose in the early 19th century and comes from the Latin noun sartor (“tailor” or “patcher”). This noun is derived from the verb sarcire, meaning “to patch” or “to restore”.
Despite having learned this word fairly recently, I can already imagine a few contexts in which it could work well, such as when a character demonstrates “sartorial” elegance. Writers who are particularly fond of elaborating on details of clothing may find it especially useful. If you often draw attention to your characters’ clothes to help define their personalities, I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding a good place for this word somewhere in your writing. And if you don’t, I strongly encourage you to experiment with the “sartorial” details of your stories, as they can reveal much about a person’s character! Have fun!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | January 7, 2015 | Blog, Creative Writing |
Happy New Year! It’s the beginning of 2015, and that means it’s time to think about our plans for the year ahead. After reviewing what I’ve learned about writing in 2014, here’s what I still hope to learn in 2015. Enjoy!
How to keep balancing grad school and my blog
Like I mentioned last week, managing grad school and a creative writing blog at the same time is hard work, and it’ll definitely be even more difficult now that I’m going into the second year of my Master’s program. It’s going to take a lot of organizational skill, something I seriously lack, so I expect to face plenty of challenges when it comes to writing in 2015, both scientifically and artistically. Still, I’m confident I’ll be able to manage it somehow; if I’ve made it this far without failing, I’m sure I can last another year!
How to better network with other writers and readers
Networking is something I’m still trying to figure out. Though I have done my research on social media and actively maintain my profiles as best I can, I still feel like a newbie when it comes to actually connecting with other writers and readers. Maybe it’s my lack of real-life social skills showing in my online persona, but I just can’t seem to develop the proper habits to build a solid and extensive network with fellow artists and a potential audience. Hopefully that’ll change in 2015; I’d like to connect with as many writers and readers as I can!
How to find the time to actually write those novels
I’ll probably be too busy to finish writing a book this year, but I’d still like to figure out how or even if I can manage to find the time to work on those novels I’ve been planning to write. Planning is important, and I’ve gotten plenty of that done already, but it means nothing if I never get those ideas written out, right? If all goes well, I hope I can get a decent amount of novel writing done in 2015!
What about you? What are your plans for 2015?
by Naomi L. | January 5, 2015 | Blog, Word of the Week |
Word: inception
Pronunciation: in-SEP-shən
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: the establishment or starting point of an institution or activity
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
BRAAAM!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You know you were thinking it too. After all, Mike Zarin’s iconic sound from the Inception trailers has been an Internet meme for years. But today’s post is not about the 2010 blockbuster film; it’s about the title word and what it represents. This one’s been sitting in my vocabulary list for a while, and since it’s the start of a new year, I figured now would be the best time to write about it.
The “inception” of an activity or institution is its beginning or point of origin. The word arose in late Middle English and comes from the Latin noun inceptio, meaning “beginning” or “undertaking”. This noun in turn is derived from the verb incipere, which means “to begin”.
Though I’m sure I must have heard the word “inception” at least a few times before the famous trailers started popping up, I never really thought about what it meant until after I watched the movie. Obviously, it couldn’t literally be the implantation of an idea in a person’s mind through shared dreams; otherwise the word would only ever come up in science fiction. “Inception” is still an appropriate title for this story, however, as it centers on the concept of initiating the growth of an idea that can change a person’s entire life. You’ll likely never use it in such a specific context (especially since it’s clearly been done already), but “inception” is still a good word to remember for whenever your characters embark on a new enterprise. So on that note, let’s celebrate the “inception” of what will hopefully be a year full of promising new endeavors! Cheers, and Happy 2015!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
by Naomi L. | December 31, 2014 | Blog, Creative Writing |
It’s the last day of 2014, and you know what that means: time for a recap of the year! To celebrate the turn of the year, here’s a brief review of what I’ve learned about writing in 2014. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
Juggling grad school and a blog is hard work…
I was admitted into a graduate program at the beginning of this year (yay!), and I’m now halfway toward achieving a Master’s degree in Marine Ecology. While I have been enjoying the experience so far (stressful as it may be at times), it also takes away from the time I would otherwise spend writing creatively. Sometimes I have to spend all day at my university, and even when I don’t, there are still scientific papers to read and lab files to organize for my thesis. With everything I have to handle at once, I’ve come to learn a harsh truth: multitasking is hard!
…but miraculously, I can do it.
Despite the challenges of balancing these passions of mine, I’ve still managed to keep up with my creative writing. I haven’t yet fallen behind schedule on my blog posts, and I still stay ahead on ideas for upcoming topics. Let’s hope it stays that way; next year is going to prove even more challenging!
Scientific writing and artistic writing are surprisingly similar…
Whether written for a scientific journal, a literary magazine or a book, prose is prose, and all of it is subject to a basic foundation of rules. Aside from obvious guidelines such as grammar and spelling, scientific papers and fictional stories both have to follow a set structure in order to be complete, that is, they need a clear beginning, middle and end. Both require a ton of editing and proofreading before being released to the public, and when not written well, expect a storm of criticism to rain down shortly after publication.
…yet also very different.
Scientific writing requires that you follow strict formatting rules (so strict, in fact, that one mistake can get your whole paper rejected for publication), while artistic writing offers much more freedom to experiment. Art is also considerably more flexible about getting facts straight than science. In other words, there are plenty of things you can get away with in art that you can’t in science. But more on that subject later.
Writing is and always will be my one true calling.
Whatever I do in my life, there will be times when I seriously doubt if I have what it takes to be successful at it. It’s happened with my singing, with my video editing and even with science. The only exception is writing. Though I’ve dealt with my fair share of doubts and stress when it comes to my writing, I have never once questioned if it’s something I was born to do. I know it is. It’s embedded in the very core of my soul. And it always will be.
So what about you? What have you learned about your writing in 2014?
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