Thinkin' Thursday - The Power of Words

Negative Words

Debunk                           Nondescript

Defenestrate                    Nonpareil

Dejected                         Nonplussed

Disconsolate                    Unswerving

Dismayed                        Untold                                                 

Disparate                         Disheveled

Feckless                          Dismantle

Gormless                         Impetuous

Inane                               Impromptu                                                        

Incessant                         Incommunicado                                                              

Inchoate                          Indomitable

Incognito                         Innocent

Ineffable                          Innocuous                                                          

Inert                                Invert                                                   

Infernal                            Misgivings

Inhibited                          Insidious                                                             

Insipid                             Intact                                   

Insouciant                        Misnomer                                                          

Unbeknownst                  Nonchalant                                                             
Unnerved                        Noncommittal

Unscathed

As writers, we utilize the language to communicate setting, feeling, story. Without the words, sarcasm would certainly be a lost art. Every word we use paints a Picasso, a Monet, a Degas in ways that impart emotional connection & longevity of the tale. This list represents one sub-section of how the language can be used.

We all have favorites. Fastidious, facetious, banality; these are only a few of mine. What are some of yours? How do you work them in? And more important, how do you deal with it when they have to be exorcised?

Happy Writing,

Patti

AKA - The Writing Muse

Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 9, 2011

doppelganger \DOP-uhl-gang-uhr\, noun:
1. A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.
2. Alter ego; double.

To readers of science fiction, the idea of a single atom existing simultaneously in two states or places is reminiscent of the supernatural "doppelganger" -- a flesh-and-blood duplicate of one's self encountered while walking along a street.
-- "Physicists Put Atom in Two Places at Once", New York Times, May 28, 1996

But my primary interest here is not the machinations of science itself but the fascinating life and times of its dark doppelganger, the mad scientist, in all his overreaching glory.
-- David J. Skal, Screams of Reason

Doppelganger is from the German doppel, "double" + Gänger, "goer."

That fickle muse & his/her ghostly encounters. Ah, the writer's life. We're not alone, we have spectral friends & they ain't named Casper!!

Happy Writing,

Patti

Scholarly Pursuits

Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 8, 2011

philomath \FIL-uh-math\, noun:
A lover of learning; a scholar.

It is precisely for the philomaths that universities ought to cater.
-- Aldous Huxley, Proper Studies

It's nothing to laugh about, he says. "Strange things happen in this country -- things that philosophers and other philomaths had never dreamed of."
-- Tomek Tryzna, Miss Nobody

Philomath is from the Greek philomathes, "loving knowledge," from philos, "loving, fond" + mathein, "to learn, to understand."

As writers, love of learning is our stock in trade.

Happy Writing,

Patti

Thinkin' Thursday - Chain of Words

We live in a world of words. Sometimes they escape us; sometimes they invigorate us. Whichever way it goes, this Thursday's challenge is to create a chain of interconnected words. I will start & we shall see where it goes.

A - atrocious
B - beastly
C - catastrophic
D - dastardly
E - egregious
F - foul
G - ghastly
H - horrid
I - ignoble
J - jerky
K - killjoy
L - lamentable
M - maniacal
N - nasty
O - obscene
P - profane
Q - quarrelsome
R - repellent
S - shady
T - treacherous
U - undesirable
V - villainous
W - wicked
X - xenophobic
Y - yeti
Z - zombie

Yes, I know some of them are quite the stretch, but I think you get the point. Grab three sequential letters, tie them together thematically & see what happens. Leave your list-o-las below.

Happy Writing,

Patti