Category: Nonfiction

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Wacky Wednesday: May 13

This is a new thing I’m trying. I haven’t fleshed out an exact concept for these kinds of posts. They may include some wacky stories. Things that sound absurd but are real. For now, I’ll share some wacky words. You can find these words in dictionaries. They have real meanings and some even have etymology for how they came to be. Some I had never heard of while others I use often in my everyday speech. There are several but today I’m only sharing a couple. Have you heard of these before? Tell me in the comments.

Lollapalooza: I’m certain most people are familiar with this word. It’s the name of an annual four-day music festival in Chicago, IL. The festival has been going on since 1991. Before 1991, the word already had meaning. It’s a noun meaning a person or thing that is particularly impressive or attractive. Another version of the definition says an extraordinary thing, person, or event. Do you know any people, books, events, movies, or songs you would call a lollapalooza? Try using it in a sentence next time you’re chatting with friends.

Sockdolager: This is a noun but is more slang and informal. It holds two meanings. It’s either a forceful blow or an exceptional person or thing. Its origin is said to be from the mid 19th century and may have evolved from the term sock. Anyone remember watching Laugh-In where they said, “Sock it to me!” as one of their many catchphrases? This phrase doesn’t roll of the tongue as well as lollapalooza but it’s still fun to say.

Do you know any other fun, wacky words? Leave them in the comments. I’ll try to have one or two new words each week.

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Coffee & Contemplation: Mother’s Day

This Mother’s Day, I want to give everyone something to contemplate when you all celebrate your mothers. Not everyone observes Mother’s Day. Other’s feel pain when they see everyone out and about with their mom. Some may take mom out to dinner or lunch. Or they’ll take mom shopping. Keep in mind some mothers are no longer with their families. Some have passed away and this is a difficult time for the families. Other people may have never had good relationships with their mothers. They don’t celebrate because they never felt they had a mother.

Some mothers are selfish and narcissistic. They take from their children instead of giving them love. I do not intend to push out negativity. I want everyone to understand that Mother’s Day is negative for some people. I only ask they everyone bare this in mind when running around with mom. Some never grew up with a mom. Some had a bad mother. Some were fortunate enough to have a loving mother. There’s another thing I hope people will recognize. Cat moms and dog moms and any woman who takes care of a pet, should get some praise on the day of mothers.

So, celebrate all the moms in your life. Even the unconventional ones. And show respect to those who wish not to observe the festivities. And make sure those furry friends get a card for their mom. They may need help. Most cats and dogs I’ve met don’t have jobs or money. Freeloaders. 

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Write Prose Like the Pros: Characterization & Exposition

Most self-editing will fall under show versus tell principle. When introducing a new character, a quick narrative summary does more telling than showing. How does a writer show their character descriptions? Once again, I say to write more dialogue. A reader can learn a lot about a character from the way they speak and how they view themselves. You can also learn a lot about what a character doesn’t talk about. The way characters act or react to situations is another way to show someone’s character. Sometimes parts of a character’s personality are revealed over time.

Dialogue is also good for story exposition. If the writer has created an intricate fantasy world, how do they convey the normal rules and way of life in that fantasy world? There are many books and films where the main character is a newcomer to a new world. Or the main character has to help a newcomer to the new world. Through dialogue, the newcomer learns the important things about the new environment. The reader and the character learn about the world throughout the story. This is often used in video games where the player is the new arrival to an unknown world.

The best practices are to add more dialogue and only narrate action. Does the character walk a certain way? Do they look at things a certain way? Do they twirl a pencil when they’re nervous? When adding little details now and then, a reader can get a full grasp of who a character is during the entire story. If there’s an interesting back story, it can be told a little bit at a time in flashbacks or brief dialogue. This can help fill multiple pages instead of summarizing it in a couple of paragraphs. This will tell a reader more about a character than any amount of narrative summary. There is nothing wrong with starting out with a narrative summary. All that dialogue can be worked out during the editing process.

The best place to learn how to improve one’s writing is with Renni Browne and Dave King’s “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print.” If I were teaching a class on fiction writing, this is the book I would use as the course textbook.