Kennings
by Adam Huddleston
This week’s literary term may not be extremely useful to your writing, but I felt it was an interesting device to have in memory. Kennings are the use of words of imagery to substitute the proper name for something. For example, in Beowulf, blood is referred to as “battle-sweat” and the sun as a “sky candle”. I suppose if you were writing dialogue for an ancient civilization, the use of Kennings might be appropriate. I hope this helps you in your craft!
Outtakes 309
Parts of Speech
By Cait Collins
Every writer knows books, short stories, tech manuals, screenplays, and so forth, are made from words. Surprisingly, many do not really understand the different parts of speech. It’s a word. I was shocked when I attempted to explain to a young writer why a prepositional phrase needed to be moved. Eyes wide she asked, “What is a preposition?”Ooops. How do you explain a grammar error when the writer doesn’t even know the parts of speech? This is a refresher on basic part of speech used in everyday writing and in professional writing.
A noun is a person, place, thing, idea, or quality. Nouns may be common or proper. Common nouns are not capitalized. Examples are dog, sky, table, a boy. Proper nouns reference specific persons or places such as Robert Frost or Paris, France.
A pronoun replaces a noun.
I spoke to Mary.
Jane met the boys at the ice cream shop and bought them banana splits.
A verb expresses action, being, or a state of being.
Bob planted a garden. Love grows.
The teacher is retiring.
An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. It may be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.
The vase is Wedgewood.
The new book by Jodi Lawrence was released today.
The presenter whose topic was law enforcement is an FBI agent.
An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It may be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.
He wrote well.
The police stormed into the house.
Andrew left before Matt arrived.
A preposition shows the relation between its object and some other word in the sentence.
We walked to the theater.
Tom took possession of his inheritance.
A conjunction connects words or groups of words.
Mom brought hot dogs, buns, mustard, and chili to the cookout.
An interjection expresses strong feelings.
Freak! Liar!
The interjection has no grammatical relation to the rest of the sentence.
Words and their use within a sentence are the building blocks of novel, presentation, or other writings. Understanding what words to use and their relationship to each other allows a writer to create masterpieces.
There are times that I honestly feel this way!
WRITER’S REFERENCE
Natalie Bright
This well-known Indie Author and owner of wildly popular podcast, The Creative Penn, has updated her marketing book. So far, it’s a common sense and jammed packed with ideas on marketing your book. I’ll post a book review for you in a few weeks.
In the meantime, hope you’re having a great summer!
Natalie
The Saturday Morning Blogger – Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer?
James Barrington
I remember a song from my youth that said something like, “Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…” I guess I should admit to having more than my share of naps this summer, but it feels more like they are due to exhaustion than laziness. Maybe that’s just my take on things.
Almost as soon as school was out for the summer, we ran away to spend a week in Maine with our older daughter and her family. I came back from that more worn out than before I left – and I was CERTAIN that I NEEDED a vacation when we boarded the airplane. The events of that trip, although enjoyable with the kids and grandkids, were exhausting.
That was just the first week of the summer of 2017! We’re already talking about band practices, football season and school again! What’ with that?!?
I remember childhood summers (through the haze and fog of memory) spent reading “Tom Swift” books on the front porch. Of course my brother and I had to mow lawns to make money for the movies, but that was generally not more than one or two lawns a day in our lazy pace. This summer, it’s not like I have a lot to do, it just seems that everything on my calendar has a deadline!
I have been reading a lot this summer, but as the calendar pages are now flying by like the second hand on my watch used to, I find myself turning reading sessions into nap sessions more often than not. A recent slip-and-fall accident has slowed my walking. The heat has reduced my appetite. I’m not really complaining, although it may sound that way. What I’m trying to do is get my mind around this thing called aging. I know I’m not “OLD” yet, because I heard the other day, “Old is 20 years older than I am.” That sounds like a good philosophy to me. Most of the folks I visit in nursing homes talk about those old folks down the hall, never pondering the face that looks back from the mirror. That’s a good thing to my way of thinking. Who wants to be old? Mature? Experienced? We have a lot of euphemisms for “old.”
Although my August calendar is already filling up – and I hate to think what the school calendar may bring – I hope to get a few days to get away to the mountains, or the seacoast, or a hotel overlooking a lake – just for a few days. A nap while breathing mountain air or the sea’s salty air would be a refreshing change. I think a touch of change is one of the things that makes for an interesting vacation. I just like for the change to be at a pace I can manage these days.
Post Cards From the Muse
When It’s Good, It’s Very Very Good; When It’s Bad, It’s Horrid
By Nandy Ekle
And, of course, I’m ranting about the computer. In today’s world, a simple pen and paper, or even a typewriter are archaic and hardly even worth thinking about. The corporation I work for during the day loves to think of itself as paperless, except for the actual letters we print to send to our clients. For old timers like me, those of us whose favorite things in the whole world are gel pens and Big Chief Tablets, this has taken a lot of work to appreciate.
And so, everything in the world is on a computer, out in cyberspace, up in the cloud. And in most cases this is very convenient and freeing. I especially like being able to do my research for a story sitting own my couch in the living room. I love being able to have all my tools in my lap because it all weighs less than five pounds. And most of all, I love having unlimited books, unlimited blank sheets of paper, and unlimited kegs of ink to use whenever and however I want. For these reasons, I love my computer, at work and at home.
But then there are the times when the computer refuses to work. These are times when my day job is totally crippled, even completely shut down. And the things available on my home computer are a distraction to my stories.
And those are the times that remind me of the poem of the little girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very very good. But when she was bad, she was horrid.
Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.
Chiasmus
by Adam Huddleston
This week, I wanted to bring you another literary term: chiasmus. It is the use of two parallel phrases that are inverted in a sentence. For example: You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy. This is not to be confused with an oxymoron, which is the use of two contradictory terms, i.e. pretty ugly.
I know this is a short blog, but hopefully it will help you in your writing!
Outtakes 308
Thoughts on Grammar
By Cait Collins
I remember the good old days when English teachers taught grammar rules and made us diagram sentences. I’m sure grammar rules are still taught in school, but with our reliance on email and texting, we seem to forget how to write properly. The following are examples of statements from actual police reports.
The pedestrian had no idea which direction to run so I ran over him.
I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel.
To avoid hitting the car in front of me I struck the pedestrian.
The other car collided with mine without giving any warning of his intentions.
I was thrown from my care as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.
If you think these statements are amusing you’ll enjoy the following signs posted in the workplace.
On a repair shop door: We fix anything. (Knock hard, the bell doesn’t work.).
On a leaflet: If you can’t read this, it tells how to get lessons.
In a safari park: Elephants Please Stay in your Car.
At a dry cleaner: Anyone leaving their garments here for more than 30 days will be disposed of.
In a church: This is the gate of heaven. Enter ye all by this door. (This door is kept locked so please use side entrance.)
We all make grammar mistakes. We rush to finish a project, forget to proof read, and then we send out the work with misspelled words, typos, misplaced modifiers, and punctuation errors. And then we wonder why no one takes our work seriously. Over the next few weeks we will look at some common grammar errors and how they can be corrected. Be prepared to diagram a few sentences.
Putting a Slant on things
Rory C. Keel
When words are slanted to the right, they are in Italic. In writing, this can indicate several things to the reader.
Italic word are used to accent words with emphasis or importance. They can also indicate book, magazine or play titles, even words from a foreign language.
Standard practice when writing of typing a manuscript is to underline the words to be Italicized.
THPW Youth Writing Contest: Celebrating Young Writers!
Natalie Bright
Texas High Plains Writers sponsors a youth writing contest every year. Propelled by area English teachers, kids grades 3-12 can submit their work in three categories: short story, memoir, or poetry. I judged short stories for grades 7-8, and as with every year I’ve volunteered, the entries were amazing. The depth of emotion and sophistication of the themes are mind blowing. Awarding a first place is extremely difficult, and possible only after hours of deliberation.
This past Saturday afternoon, we held the awards ceremony. The room was packed with the winners and their families. As I watched kids make their way to the front to accept their medals, I couldn’t help but feel a burst of joy.
One of the hardest things is giving a stranger your very private musings to read. One of the most rewarding things in any writer’s life is recognition. As a kid, no one explained to me that the conversations floating through my brain were normal. Strange places and people that were so vivid in my adolescent mind was not a sign of crazy. These are the things of a writer’s imagination, waiting for us to give them wings on the page.
I remember jamming my freshman college schedule with poetry, English and history courses. My father asked, “Shouldn’t you take more business courses?” In the present rise of the Indie Author, who could have predicted that my reluctant shift to business finance and marketing would serve me so well today.
Young writers are oblivious to the possibilities. We are most likely not the most popular, nor do we excel as class leaders. Often, we watched others from the sidelines, observing and hesitant to join in. Even as children, we had an uncanny eye for details, filing the information away to be used later in our stories. We have a slightly skewed view of things, which is unexplainable to non-writers. As I watched those kids on Saturday, I understood that they see the world so very differently; you know what I’m talking about.
After the awards ceremony, I wanted to tell every parent how talented their kids were, and how important it is to celebrate and encourage that writerly weirdness. Their creativity and imagination is boundless. The experience of walking to the front of a crowded room to accept a writing award will remain with them their whole lives.
I guess the main point of this blog is that one day I’ll be able to read their books. I can hardly wait!
Workshops for Writers: I love talking to kids and adults about the writing process. If you have a group who is interested in a writing workshop, please call my office 806.655.4046.
Wordsmith Six 