The Phrontistery: Obscure Words and Vocabulary Resources Color Words Colour Terms This list contains 168 definitions of obscure colour terms using combinations of 'normal' colours of the rainbow and descriptive adjectives; e.g. cardinal = deep scarlet red; russet = reddish brown. Note that most English speakers outside the U.S. spell colour with the added British 'u' rather than the American version color. Don't worry if the colours (or colors) in your universe don't match up with the definitions I've given for these words, though - I've been known to have skewed perceptions of reality ... I hope you have found this site to be useful.
100 Exquisite Adjectives By Mark Nichol Adjectives — descriptive words that modify nouns — often come under fire for their cluttering quality, but often it’s quality, not quantity, that is the issue. Plenty of tired adjectives are available to spoil a good sentence, but when you find just the right word for the job, enrichment ensues. Practice precision when you select words. Here’s a list of adjectives: Subscribe to Receive our Articles and Exercises via Email You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! 21 Responses to “100 Exquisite Adjectives” Rebecca Fantastic list!
100 Mostly Small But Expressive Interjections David Bier Thanks for this – what a fun post considering there’s no actual narrative in it! Cecily Some of these interjections are quite culturally and age specific, so if people need to be told what they mean, they should probably not be using them.For example, to many Brits, va-va-voom is not old-fashioned at all, but instead is firmly linked to the long-running ads that footballer Thierry Henry made for the Renault Clio. Himanshu Chanda Whoa ! What a biiiig list. And yes this ones really great. 45 ways to avoid using the word 'very' Writers Write is your one-stop resource for writers. Use these 45 ways to avoid using the word ‘very’ to improve your writing. Good writers avoid peppering their writing with qualifiers like ‘very’ and ‘really’. They are known as padding or filler words and generally add little to your writing. According to Collins Dictionary: ‘Padding is unnecessary words or information used to make a piece of writing or a speech longer. Synonyms include: waffle, hot air, verbiage, wordiness.’ Adding modifiers, qualifiers, and unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, weakens your writing. This post gives you 45 ways to avoid using the padding word ‘very’. Three Telling Quotes About ‘Very’ “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. If you enjoyed this, you will love: Top Tip: If you want to learn how to write a book, sign up for our online course. by Amanda Patterson © Amanda Patterson
Short Story Ideas and Creative Writing Prompts Here are lots of short story ideas that you can use as writing prompts. Use these story starters on their own or to get ideas for the CWN online writing courses. You'll also find links to more creative writing prompts at the bottom of the page. Any of these ideas can be used either humorously or dramatically... or you can try both. Do you like this page? Story ideas - three elements Choose a set of three elements and write a story that contains all three of them! Extreme challenge: combine three of the elements with one of the other short story ideas on this page. A stolen ring, fear of spiders, and a sinister stranger. More short story ideas Challenge: 4 stories in 4 weeks using these short story ideas. Extreme challenge: Why not write a book of short stories? A babysitter is snooping around her employer's house and finds a disturbing photograph... Even more short story ideas Your character starts receiving flowers and anonymous gifts. And still more short story ideas
The Top 10 Elements of Setting In a Story No matter if you are just getting started or want to break into fiction writing, setting is a crucial element to any story. In order to create an imaginary world for your story, you’ll need to know the fundamental elements of setting first. Discover the basic elements of setting in a story from Between the Lines. Fiction has three main elements: plotting, character, and place or setting. But setting is more than a mere backdrop for action; it is an interactive aspect of your fictional world that saturates the story with mood, meaning, and thematic connotations. Here is a list of the specific elements that setting encompasses: Locale. Plus, read more daily writing tips. This excerpt comes from Between the Lines by Jessica Morrell, from which you can learn more about the craft of writing. Buy Between the Lines now! You might also like:
101 of the Best Fiction Writing Tips, Part I What if someone went through the biggest and best blogs on the internet, and pulled out the very best-of-the best tips for fiction writers? That’s what I’ve attempted to do here. I can’t guarantee there aren’t some amazingly helpful writing tips that I haven’t included, but this is a good start. I’ve also tried to steer clear of really obvious tips like “show, don’t tell” or “make your characters unforgettable,” in favour of ones that are less often discussed. To learn more about the tips, click through to their original articles. Thanks to all these amazing bloggers for their valuable advice! Now, head over to: Connecting Your Characters to Settings in Your Novel We’ve been looking at settings in your novel: the overall milieu or locale that your story takes place in, as well and the various locations your scenes are set in. I’ve encouraged you to take the time to come up with fresh, significant settings instead of defaulting to the easiest and first location types that come to mind, such as restaurants and coffee shops. We spend a lot of our time at work and home, and occasionally at those restaurants and coffee shops, but that is ordinary life. So the challenge for novelists is to come up with settings that are interesting. Settings That Trigger Emotion I had you think about places in your past that are emotionally charged to you. Does your protagonist, for example, have a strong emotional connection to one or both parents (who may still be living or have died before your story starts)? Let’s say your protagonist has just had a huge fight with her mother over the man she plans to marry. Conflict, Conflict, Conflict! One Last Very Important Thing
Creating memorable fictional characters UWA Extension Fictional characters must possess sufficient strength of character to handle difficult dilemmas. In other words, they must be up to the demands of the plot. John Harman will show you how to create convincing characters, even those of the opposite gender. A story may be structured like a journey with a: Compass – the premise, theme, threadsMap – the plotEngine – the motivation of the protagonist (plus other central characters)Fuel – the dialogue The depth, dimensionality and authenticity of the story’s characters are vital. What comes first: plot or character? Students will benefit from watching the film ‘Thelma and Louise’ prior to attending this course. This course is held at Love House, on the Corner of Broadway and Cooper Street in Crawley. Lunch is not provided but you are welcome to bring your your lunch or to purchase from a nearby cafe.
Get Me Writing » 5 Interactive Fiction Authoring Tools EmailEmail If you want to get into writing Interactive Fiction (IF) it can be hard to know where to get started. So here is a list of five IF authoring tools so you can pick the approach that’s best for you. This is an update of a post I wrote way back in 2010. Because this is a long one, here are some quick links in case you came here for a specific tool:Twine Inform TADS Quest ADRIFT Twine (Mac, Windows, Linux) Summary Visual interfaceProduces HTML-based stories (that require javascript)Has limited support for basic programmingGood entry-level system Twine is the simplest way to create a text adventure, and therefore the easiest to use. The work is compiled in HTML format, and works on any browser that supports javascript (and has it turned on. The graphical interface makes it immediately obvious what is going on. Twine uses a graphical interface to show its simple text and links concept. If you want to “go deep” with Twine, you can add your own HTML and stylesheets. There is a caveat.
Top 10 first lines in children's and teen books | Children's books The boy and the old man arrived at the port at night. That's the first line in my debut novel, Close to the Wind, and I'm rather proud of it. The line doesn't shout out at you, but it does a lot of work establishing the tone of the book and giving you the setting and characters without any fuss. It's always difficult to know how to begin a book. Of course, I objected. An opening sentence should draw the reader from their own head and take them somewhere completely different. It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried out bed of the old North Sea. 1. Is this the best ever opening line from a children's book? The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. 2. A great book that's all about the voice and he nails it in the first line. There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. 3. 4. Elegant prose that's solid as a rock. 5. This one breaks all the rules. 6.
Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story By Maria Popova The year of reading more and writing better is well underway with writing advice the likes of David Ogilvy’s 10 no-bullshit tips, Henry Miller’s 11 commandments, Jack Kerouac’s 30 beliefs and techniques, John Steinbeck’s 6 pointers, and various invaluable insight from other great writers. Now comes Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922–April 11, 2007) — anarchist, Second Life dweller, imaginary interviewer of the dead, sad soul — with eight tips on how to write a good short story, narrated by the author himself. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.Start as close to the end as possible.Be a Sadist.