And then she woke up. (The End).

How do you place altered states of consciousness in your stories?

This is a very interesting question to me. Without giving too much away, altered states of consciousness and/or reality are the hinge on

Shaking words

The best word shakers were those who understood the true power of words. They were always able to climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be WITHOUT words. She had desire. She was hungry for them. 

~ from 'The Word Shaker', in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

‘She eteþ no ffyssh But heryng red’

Q: When is a fish not a fish?

Riddle me this

It's a year or so on from my last wildly successful riddle, and I've been inspired again. Riddle me this, if you dare can: 

To write honestly

In a memoir, feelings are more important than facts, and to write honestly, I have to confront my demons. 

~ Isabelle Allende 

Wednesday

Bilbo rushed along the passage, 
very angry, and altogether bewildered 
and bewuthered -- this was
the most awkward Wednesday 
he ever remembered.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937) 

Write.

Words are powerful.

Use them wisely, and well.

Tell the stories that matter.

Speak the truth that lies in your heart.

Find the words that you need to hear.

Receive them, and share them.

Be fearless.

Be kind.

Write.

Word of the week

unconditional:  /ˌʌn.kənˈdɪʃ.ən.əl / 

(adjective)  Complete or guaranteed, with no conditions, qualifications, or limitations attached, as with unconditional love, and unconditional positive regard.

Synonyms: absolute, complete, full, total, wholehearted, unequivocal, unlimited, unqualified, unreserved

[un- prefix, meaning ‘not’ or ‘opposite to’ + condition, French, from Latin: condicere  'agree upon, talk with', from dicere 'say']

show/tell

Writers are commonly exhorted to 'show, don’t tell.'

Here’s what I think about that. 

Spice

Sometimes cake is a pleasure to consume, light on your tongue and pleasing to the senses. But sometimes it’s dense, tough, and unappetising. 

And when you have a mouthful of bland, leaden food, there is nothing else to do except keep chewing until it’s gone – or spit it out.

Word of the week

acknowledgement:  / əkˈnɑː.lɪdʒ.mənt / 

  

(noun)  1. The action of showing that you know, admit or accept that something exists or is true; the acceptance of the truth, validity or existence of something; 2. a demonstration or statement of having noticed something or someone.  

(noun)  The action of expressing appreciation, praise or thanks for something or someone; an expression or display of gratitude or praise for someone’s contribution or effort.

(noun)  The section of book or article in which the author expresses their thanks to people who helped them; an author or creator’s statement of thanks, usually at the beginning or end of the work.  

Abyss

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Word of the week

reality: / riˈæl.ə.ti /

(noun) 1. The actual and absolute state of things; 2. a fact that is objective, observable, or verifiable; 3. actual existence or fact or state of being real, rather than idealised, imaginary or notional; 4. philos. the totality of all things that exist or are real in the world, independent of people’s perception or knowledge of them.

(Synonyms: actuality, fact, truth, verisimilitude, verity).

Words of the week

psychosis: / sʌɪˈkəʊsɪs /

(noun) 1. A major psychiatric disorder in which thoughts and emotions are so deeply impaired there is a loss of contact with external reality; 2. a clinically abnormal state of mind, characterised by distorted perceptions of reality, such as delusions, hallucinations, incoherence, or catatonia; 3. a severe form of mental affliction or disease, such a schizophrenia or mania. (adjective: psychotic)

psychoanalysis:  / ˌsʌɪkəʊəˈnalɪsɪs /

(noun)  1. A system of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes, based on theories originally developed by Sigmund Freud; 2. a method of treating mental and emotional disorders by analysing subjective material presented by the patient, in order to bring unconscious mental processes into conscious awareness. (adjective: psychoanalytical)

psyche:  /ˈsʌɪki /

(noun)  1. The human mind, as the centre of thought, behaviour and beliefs;  2.  the totality of the mind and its processes, both conscious and unconscious;  3.  the forces within a person that influence their behaviour and thoughts, and shape their personality.

Psyche:  /ˈsʌɪki /

(noun, proper)  1. myth The Greek goddess of the soul, who was the mortal lover and later, purified by her misfortune and rewarded for her passionate commitment, became the immortal wife of Eros, god of love; 2. allegory the personification of the human soul, or life force, as female, in relationship with Eros, the personification of love and desire as male.

[mid 17C, via Latin, from Greek: ψυχή (psūkhē) 'breath, soul, mind']

Writing the monster

There was a demon-baby in my dream the other night. 

Words of the week

corrigendum: / ˌkɒrɪˈdʒɛndəm /

(noun) 1. An error, a thing that needs to be corrected. (cf.: errata, erratum).  

errata:  / ɛˈrɑːtə /

(noun, plural)  1. A list of corrections to errors noticed after broadcast or publication, appended to or published in a subsequent issue or edition. (singular: erratum).

addendum:  / əˈdɛndəm / 

(noun)  1.  An item of additional material, added at the end of a book or other publication, such as a postscript, afterword, or supplement.

um:  /əm /

(interjection)  1. An expression of hesitation, thought, or a pause in speech   2. the sound made when a person is thinking about what to say (eg, instead of impulsively blurting out something that needs to be corrected).  

Seeds

That moment when...

Writing the bad guy

If you’re creating stories, sooner or later you’ll need to write a bad guy.*

Possible

The possible's slow fuse

is lit by the Imagination.

~ Emily Dickinson   

On worms, apples, and chewiness

There are worms, and there are wyrms. One is small, weak-bodied and blind. The other is a wily and fearsome beast, the ultimate opponent. The two words have wildly opposite meanings – or do they?

Just in case you're wondering...

I'm totally going somewhere with the worm thing. Be patient, my darling denouementees. Be patient. 

Words of the Week

worm:  / wɜːm /

(noun)  1. Any of a number of invertebrates with a long cylindrical or flat soft body, typically annelids, nematodes or flatworms 2. plural worms intestinal or other internal parasites, or any disease or disorder that arises from their presence in the body 3. a contemptible, weak or devious person, especially who has an obsequious manner 4. computing a self-replicating program that propagates across a network.

(noun)  can of worms  colloquial  A difficult or complicated situation, which becomes more complex upon examination or when attempting to resolve it.

worm:  / wɜːm /

(verb)  To move slowly or with difficulty, by creeping, crawling, or slithering.  

(verb)  To obtain something, e.g. information, from someone using deceptive or underhand means.  

(verb)  To ingratiate or insinuate one’s way into the good graces of someone else.

wyrm:  / wɜːm / 

(noun)  poetic  A large snake, a serpent.

(noun)  archaic  A mythological serpent, or dragon.

[Middle English, Old English: wyrm ‘serpent’; cognate with Dutch worm, German Wurm, Icelandic ormr, akin to Latin vermis]

Potent

Words - - - 

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. 

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Unspeakable

We write to expose the unexposed. If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise you’ll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you’ve already been in. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut. But the writer’s job is to see what’s behind it, to see the bleak unspeakable stuff, and to turn the unspeakable into words. 

~ Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life 

Word of the week

martinet:  / ˌmɑːtɪˈnɛt  / 

Instructions

As a new year unfolds around me, I find myself pausing to look backwards, and to lean forwards to examine what the road ahead might hold.