Till human voices wake us, and we drown


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amandaonwriting: Types of Love

amandaonwriting:

Types of Love

60 words to describe writing or speaking styles - Writers Write 

amandaonwriting:

  1. articulate - able to express your thoughts, arguments, and ideas clearly and effectively; writing or speech is clear and easy to understand
  2. chatty - a chatty writing style is friendly and informal
  3. circuitous - taking a long time to say what you really mean when you are talking or writing about something
  4. clean - clean language or humour does not offend people, especially because it does not involve sex
  5. conversational - a conversational style of writing or speaking is informal, like a private conversation
  6. crisp - crisp speech or writing is clear and effective
  7. declamatory - expressing feelings or opinions with great force
  8. diffuse - using too many words and not easy to understand
  9. discursive - including information that is not relevant to the main subject
  10. economical - an economical way of speaking or writing does not use more words than are necessary
  11. elliptical - suggesting what you mean rather than saying or writing it clearly
  12. eloquent - expressing what you mean using clear and effective language
  13. emphatic - making your meaning very clear because you have very strong feelings about a situation or subject
  14. emphatically - very firmly and clearly
  15. epigrammatic - expressing something such as a feeling or idea in a short and clever or funny way
  16. epistolary - relating to the writing of letters
  17. euphemistic - euphemistic expressions are used for talking about unpleasant or embarrassing subjects without mentioning the things themselves
  18. flowery - flowery language or writing uses many complicated words that are intended to make it more attractive
  19. fluent - expressing yourself in a clear and confident way, without seeming to make an effort
  20. formal - correct or conservative in style, and suitable for official or serious situations or occasions
  21. gossipy - a gossipy letter is lively and full of news about the writer of the letter and about other people
  22. grandiloquent - expressed in extremely formal language in order to impress people, and often sounding silly because of this
  23. idiomatic - expressing things in a way that sounds natural
  24. inarticulate - not able to express clearly what you want to say; not spoken or pronounced clearly
  25. incoherent - unable to express yourself clearly
  26. informal - used about language or behaviour that is suitable for using with friends but not in formal situations
  27. journalistic - similar in style to journalism
  28. learned - a learned piece of writing shows great knowledge about a subject, especially an academic subject
  29. literary - involving books or the activity of writing, reading, or studying books; relating to the kind of words that are used only in stories or poems, and not in normal writing or speech
  30. lyric - using words to express feelings in the way that a song would
  31. lyrical - having the qualities of music
  32. ornate - using unusual words and complicated sentences
  33. orotund - containing extremely formal and complicated language intended to impress people
  34. parenthetical - not directly connected with what you are saying or writing
  35. pejorative - a pejorative word, phrase etc expresses criticism or a bad opinion of someone or something
  36. picturesque - picturesque language is unusual and interesting
  37. pithy - a pithy statement or piece of writing is short and very effective
  38. poetic - expressing ideas in a very sensitive way and with great beauty or imagination
  39. polemical - using or supported by strong arguments
  40. ponderous - ponderous writing or speech is serious and boring
  41. portentous - trying to seem very serious and important, in order to impress people
  42. prolix - using too many words and therefore boring
  43. punchy - a punchy piece of writing such as a speech, report, or slogan is one that has a strong effect because it uses clear simple language and not many words
  44. rambling - a rambling speech or piece of writing is long and confusing
  45. readable - writing that is readable is clear and able to be read
  46. rhetorical - relating to a style of speaking or writing that is effective or intended to influence people; written or spoken in a way that is impressive but is not honest
  47. rhetorically - in a way that expects or wants no answer; using or relating to rhetoric
  48. rough - a rough drawing or piece of writing is not completely finished
  49. roundly- in a strong and clear way
  50. sententious - expressing opinions about right and wrong behaviour in a way that is intended to impress people
  51. sesquipedalian - using a lot of long words that most people do not understand
  52. Shakespearean - using words in the way that is typical of Shakespeare’s writing
  53. stylistic - relating to ways of creating effects, especially in language and literature
  54. succinct - expressed in a very short but clear way
  55. turgid - using language in a way that is complicated and difficult to understand
  56. unprintable - used for describing writing or words that you think are offensive
  57. vague - someone who is vague does not clearly or fully explain something
  58. verbose - using more words than necessary, and therefore long and boring
  59. well-turned - a well-turned phrase is one that is expressed well
  60. wordy - using more words than are necessary, especially long or formal words

(Source: h-e-r-o-i-n)

10 Terms to Describe the Anatomy of a Book 

amandaonwriting:

1. Leaves
No, no, they’re not green. This is another name for the pages of a book.
2. Endpapers
The papers glued to the inside cover of a hardback book are called endpapers. The side of the page that is glued to the cover is a paste-down and the other side is a free endpaper.
3. Edges
This means the edges of the leaves. It’s not a very exciting term in and of itself, but it opens the door for amazing things, like gilt edges and painted fore-edges. If you’ve never seen a book with a tiny painting on the edges of the pages, you’re missing out.
4. Wire lines and chain lines
It used to be common practice in paper-making to lay the wet paper pulp in a frame criss-crossed with wire and shake the water out of it. Nowadays only fancy paper is made this way. The wide-spaced lines are called wire lines. The closer-together lines perpendicular to the wire lines are called chain lines. If you have an old book or a piece of high-end stationery handy, try holding one of the pages up to the light to see if you can see the wire lines and chain lines.
5. Signatures
Much could be said about the way books are assembled. Usually groups of sixteen pages, called signatures, are sewn together. Carter says this term comes from a small notation in the corner of each group of pages that was meant to help the bookbinder put them in the correct order.
6. Manuscript
A manuscript, in book-collecting circles, means a book that was written by hand, not printed.
7. Head-piece
This is an ornament (sometimes called a vignette) printed at the beginning of a chapter or to mark a new section of the book.
8. Half-title
Also called the bastard title, this is the name for the leaf in front of the title page. You probably didn’t know there was a name for that.
9. Foxing
This is the word for the yellowish-brown discolourations you sometimes see on the pages of old books. The pages would be described as “foxed.”
10. Diaper
Not that kind of diaper. This refers to a diamond or lozenge pattern on some bindings.

amandaonwriting: Historical Romance - How to add layers to your scenes by Anthony Ehlers for Writers Write In terms of historical fiction, we look back. We look back because that is where the answers lie. It is all about context. The research must be fun. It must also fit your story, and lift the narrative.Show us the ‘personality’ of that era, so that the historical setting becomes almost another character: show the sexual, gender and social politics, the mood of the times etc. Five ways to add context History itself. Who was in power at the time? Why? What was the main trade? What were the marriage laws? Historical detail is a great way to inform or give impetus to the plot, such as the London Season for Debutantes, etc. How circumstances affect characters. We must never just lay on historical information, but rather weave into the story and it should ideally be seen through the lens of the character. How does she feel about how society treats women, etc.? Sense it. Make use of the senses—the smell of the docks, the latest French perfume, the sight of a new ship or a building, the type of music in vogue, etc. – and tie those to the historical ambience of the world Dress it. Make sure you know what your heroine is wearing, what undergarments support it, what was considered appropriate or risqué, and what kind of dress would suit your character best Detail it. Go for small details that signal the reader that you’re building an authentic world – the dress, the dinner plate, the food, a cherished pet, an artwork or an objet d’art etc. Other details that may lift the narrative: modes of transport, whether it is a carriage or a horse (what kind?), the architecture,  furniture, the literature of the day, details of places of worship and churches, the type of medicine, etc. We need to go under the surface of the story, to know what life was like in that era and how your character is experiencing it. Remember that your reader may not know anything about the period or time—they need the writer to build the world, paint the picture, give colour, texture and emotion. The characters don’t live in a vacuum-we need to build the characters’ world through details, sensory description; the world must be believable and entertaining. Five exercises to help you Print images from Internet or collect photocopies from books and create a collage of these for your writing desk Describe the interior of the heroine’s bedroom as if you were writing for a nostalgia magazine or for a new experiential museum Describe the morning ritual of the hero: how he shaves, dresses, what ritual he may follow Create a dinner menu for a typical social meal of the time, and source ingredients for it – imagine the trip to the market Imagine a time traveller from the present happens upon your setting —have her write a dispatch back home to describe this extraordinary experience!

amandaonwriting:

Historical Romance - How to add layers to your scenes

by Anthony Ehlers for Writers Write

In terms of historical fiction, we look back. We look back because that is where the answers lie. It is all about context. The research must be fun. It must also fit your story, and lift the narrative.
Show us the ‘personality’ of that era, so that the historical setting becomes almost another character: show the sexual, gender and social politics, the mood of the times etc.

Five ways to add context

  1. History itself. Who was in power at the time? Why? What was the main trade? What were the marriage laws? Historical detail is a great way to inform or give impetus to the plot, such as the London Season for Debutantes, etc.
  2. How circumstances affect characters. We must never just lay on historical information, but rather weave into the story and it should ideally be seen through the lens of the character. How does she feel about how society treats women, etc.?
  3. Sense it. Make use of the senses—the smell of the docks, the latest French perfume, the sight of a new ship or a building, the type of music in vogue, etc. – and tie those to the historical ambience of the world
  4. Dress it. Make sure you know what your heroine is wearing, what undergarments support it, what was considered appropriate or risqué, and what kind of dress would suit your character best
  5. Detail it. Go for small details that signal the reader that you’re building an authentic world – the dress, the dinner plate, the food, a cherished pet, an artwork or an objet d’art etc. Other details that may lift the narrative: modes of transport, whether it is a carriage or a horse (what kind?), the architecture,  furniture, the literature of the day, details of places of worship and churches, the type of medicine, etc.

We need to go under the surface of the story, to know what life was like in that era and how your character is experiencing it. Remember that your reader may not know anything about the period or time—they need the writer to build the world, paint the picture, give colour, texture and emotion.

The characters don’t live in a vacuum-we need to build the characters’ world through details, sensory description; the world must be believable and entertaining.

Five exercises to help you

  1. Print images from Internet or collect photocopies from books and create a collage of these for your writing desk
  2. Describe the interior of the heroine’s bedroom as if you were writing for a nostalgia magazine or for a new experiential museum
  3. Describe the morning ritual of the hero: how he shaves, dresses, what ritual he may follow
  4. Create a dinner menu for a typical social meal of the time, and source ingredients for it – imagine the trip to the market
  5. Imagine a time traveller from the present happens upon your setting —have her write a dispatch back home to describe this extraordinary experience!
amandaonwriting: Negative Body Language  - great resource for creating characters.

amandaonwriting:

Negative Body Language  - great resource for creating characters.

incidentalcomics: How to Make Write Illustration for the 3/31 NYT Sunday Review and NYT Opinionator Draft essay “Those Irritating Verbs-as-Nouns.” Thanks to AD Matt Dorfman!

incidentalcomics:

How to Make Write

Illustration for the 3/31 NYT Sunday Review and NYT Opinionator Draft essay “Those Irritating Verbs-as-Nouns.” Thanks to AD Matt Dorfman!

amandaonwriting: Supernatural Collective Nouns

amandaonwriting:

Supernatural Collective Nouns

“ We are the girls with anxiety disorders, filled appointment books, five-year plans. We take ourselves very, very seriously. We are the peacemakers, the do-gooders, the givers, the savers. We are on time, overly prepared, well read, and witty, intellectually curious, always moving… We pride ourselves on getting as little sleep as possible and thrive on self-deprivation. We drink coffee, a lot of it. We are on birth control, Prozac, and multivitamins… We are relentless, judgmental with ourselves, and forgiving to others. We never want to be as passive-aggressive as our mothers, never want to marry men as uninspired as our fathers… We are the daughters of the feminists who said, “You can be anything,” and we heard, “You have to be everything. ”

Courtney Martin (via czarinna)

(Source: sassysluteverforever)

srslyuguyz: lovelisandro: (compiled by Pamela Haag at BigThink) Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan, an indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego): The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start. Oh yes, this is an exquisite word, compressing a thrilling and scary relationship moment. It’s that delicious, cusp-y moment of imminent seduction. Neither of you has mustered the courage to make a move, yet. Hands haven’t been placed on knees; you’ve not kissed. But you’ve both conveyed enough to know that it will happen soon… very soon. Yuanfen(Chinese): A relationship by fate or destiny. This is a complex concept. It draws on principles of predetermination in Chinese culture, which dictate relationships, encounters and affinities, mostly among lovers and friends.From what I glean, in common usage yuanfen means the “binding force” that links two people together in any relationship. But interestingly, “fate” isn’t the same thing as “destiny.” Even if lovers are fated to find each other they may not end up together. The proverb, “have fate without destiny,” describes couples who meet, but who don’t stay together, for whatever reason. It’s interesting, to distinguish in love between the fated and the destined. Romantic comedies, of course, confound the two. Cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese): The act of tenderly running your fingers through someone’s hair. Retrouvailles (French):  The happiness of meeting again after a long time. This is such a basic concept, and so familiar to the growing ranks of commuter relationships, or to a relationship of lovers, who see each other only periodically for intense bursts of pleasure. I’m surprised we don’t have any equivalent word for this subset of relationship bliss. It’s a handy one for modern life. Ilunga (Bantu): A person who is willing to forgive abuse the first time; tolerate it the second time, but never a third time.Apparently, in 2004, this word won the award as the world’s most difficult to translate. Although at first, I thought it did have a clear phrase equivalent in English: It’s the “three strikes and you’re out” policy. But ilunga conveys a subtler concept, because the feelings are different with each “strike.” The word elegantly conveys the progression toward intolerance, and the different shades of emotion that we feel at each stop along the way. Ilunga captures what I’ve described as the shade of gray complexity in marriages—Not abusive marriages, but marriages that involve infidelity, for example.  We’ve got tolerance, within reason, and we’ve got gradations of tolerance, and for different reasons. And then, we have our limit. The English language to describe this state of limits and tolerance flattens out the complexity into black and white, or binary code. You put up with it, or you don’t.  You “stick it out,” or not.Ilunga restores the gray scale, where many of us at least occasionally find ourselves in relationships, trying to love imperfect people who’ve failed us and whom we ourselves have failed. La Douleur Exquise (French): The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone you can’t have.When I came across this word I thought of “unrequited” love. It’s not quite the same, though. “Unrequited love” describes a relationship state, but not a state of mind. Unrequited love encompasses the lover who isn’t reciprocating, as well as the lover who desires. La douleur exquise gets at the emotional heartache, specifically, of being the one whose love is unreciprocated. Koi No Yokan (Japanese): The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love. This is different than “love at first sight,” since it implies that you might have a sense of imminent love, somewhere down the road, without yet feeling it. The term captures the intimation of inevitable love in the future, rather than the instant attraction implied by love at first sight. Ya’aburnee(Arabic): “You bury me.” It’s a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to live without them.The online dictionary that lists this word calls it “morbid and beautiful.” It’s the “How Could I Live Without You?” slickly insincere cliché of dating, polished into a more earnest, poetic term.  Forelsket: (Norwegian):  The euphoria you experience when you’re first falling in love.This is a wonderful term for that blissful state, when all your senses are acute for the beloved, the pins and needles thrill of the novelty. There’s a phrase in English for this, but it’s clunky. It’s “New Relationship Energy,” or NRE. Saudade (Portuguese): The feeling of longing for someone that you love and is lost. Another linguist describes it as a “vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist.”It’s interesting that saudade accommodates in one word the haunting desire for a lost love, or for an imaginary, impossible, never-to-be-experienced love. Whether the object has been lost or will never exist, it feels the same to the seeker, and leaves her in the same place:  She has a desire with no future. Saudade doesn’t distinguish between a ghost, and a fantasy. Nor do our broken hearts, much of the time. This post is beautiful.

srslyuguyz:

lovelisandro:

(compiled by Pamela Haag at BigThink)

  1. Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan, an indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego): The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start. 
    Oh yes, this is an exquisite word, compressing a thrilling and scary relationship moment. It’s that delicious, cusp-y moment of imminent seduction. Neither of you has mustered the courage to make a move, yet. Hands haven’t been placed on knees; you’ve not kissed. But you’ve both conveyed enough to know that it will happen soon… very soon.
  2. Yuanfen(Chinese): A relationship by fate or destiny. This is a complex concept. It draws on principles of predetermination in Chinese culture, which dictate relationships, encounters and affinities, mostly among lovers and friends.From what I glean, in common usage yuanfen means the “binding force” that links two people together in any relationship. 
    But interestingly, “fate” isn’t the same thing as “destiny.” Even if lovers are fated to find each other they may not end up together. The proverb, “have fate without destiny,” describes couples who meet, but who don’t stay together, for whatever reason. It’s interesting, to distinguish in love between the fated and the destined. Romantic comedies, of course, confound the two.
  3. Cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese): The act of tenderly running your fingers through someone’s hair.
  4. Retrouvailles (French):  The happiness of meeting again after a long time. This is such a basic concept, and so familiar to the growing ranks of commuter relationships, or to a relationship of lovers, who see each other only periodically for intense bursts of pleasure. I’m surprised we don’t have any equivalent word for this subset of relationship bliss. It’s a handy one for modern life.
  5. Ilunga (Bantu): A person who is willing to forgive abuse the first time; tolerate it the second time, but never a third time.
    Apparently, in 2004, this word won the award as the world’s most difficult to translate. Although at first, I thought it did have a clear phrase equivalent in English: It’s the “three strikes and you’re out” policy. But ilunga conveys a subtler concept, because the feelings are different with each “strike.” The word elegantly conveys the progression toward intolerance, and the different shades of emotion that we feel at each stop along the way.
    I    lunga captures what I’ve described as the shade of gray complexity in marriages—Not abusive marriages, but marriages that involve infidelity, for example.  We’ve got tolerance, within reason, and we’ve got gradations of tolerance, and for different reasons. And then, we have our limit. The English language to describe this state of limits and tolerance flattens out the complexity into black and white, or binary code. You put up with it, or you don’t.  You “stick it out,” or not.
    Ilunga restores the gray scale, where many of us at least occasionally find ourselves in relationships, trying to love imperfect people who’ve failed us and whom we ourselves have failed.
  6. La Douleur Exquise (French): The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone you can’t have.
    When I came across this word I thought of “unrequited” love. It’s not quite the same, though. “Unrequited love” describes a relationship state, but not a state of mind. Unrequited love encompasses the lover who isn’t reciprocating, as well as the lover who desires. La douleur exquise gets at the emotional heartache, specifically, of being the one whose love is unreciprocated.
  7. Koi No Yokan (Japanese): The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love. 
    This is different than “love at first sight,” since it implies that you might have a sense of imminent love, somewhere down the road, without yet feeling it. The term captures the intimation of inevitable love in the future, rather than the instant attraction implied by love at first sight.
  8. Ya’aburnee(Arabic): “You bury me.” It’s a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to live without them.
    The online dictionary that lists this word calls it “morbid and beautiful.” It’s the “How Could I Live Without You?” slickly insincere cliché of dating, polished into a more earnest, poetic term. 
  9. Forelsket: (Norwegian):  The euphoria you experience when you’re first falling in love.
    This is a wonderful term for that blissful state, when all your senses are acute for the beloved, the pins and needles thrill of the novelty. There’s a phrase in English for this, but it’s clunky. It’s “New Relationship Energy,” or NRE.
  10. Saudade (Portuguese): The feeling of longing for someone that you love and is lost. Another linguist describes it as a “vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist.”
    It’s interesting that saudade accommodates in one word the haunting desire for a lost love, or for an imaginary, impossible, never-to-be-experienced love. Whether the object has been lost or will never exist, it feels the same to the seeker, and leaves her in the same place:  She has a desire with no future. Saudade doesn’t distinguish between a ghost, and a fantasy. Nor do our broken hearts, much of the time.

This post is beautiful.

(Source: cinderellainrubbershoes)

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