Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts

Archaic Words and Phrases

Hello all!

Summer is so ending and I eagerly await cooler temperatures as days begin to grow shorter. I find I have more time to be at my laptop and it's been a while since I did some archaic words and phrases, so let's see what I have here. As in the past, I chose words that are archaic and originated before the 16th century. The English language is ever changing but as a writer, I am still interested in these old terms from long ago. I hope you can use some of these in your writing!


Askance - Origin Unknown - First Known Use: 1530
adverb
: in a way that shows a lack of trust or approval
:  with a side-glance :  obliquely
:  with disapproval or distrust :  scornfully <they eyed the stranger askance>

Troth - Middle English - First Known Use: 12th century
noun
Loyal or pledged faithfulness :  fidelity <pledged my troth>
One's pledged word <I don't remember the details or, by my troth, even the gist — Stanley Elkin>; also :  betrothal

Dingle - Middle English, deep hollow - First Known Use: 13th century
noun
A small wooded valley :  dell
A deep hollow, usually shaded with trees
 
Fraught - Middle English - First Known Use: 14th century
archaic
a :  laden
b :  well supplied or provided
Full of or accompanied by something specified —used with with <a situation fraught with danger>
Causing or characterized by emotional distress or tension :  uneasy <a fraught relationship>

Damsel - Middle English - First Known Use: 13th century
noun
A girl or young woman who is not married
archaic :  a young unmarried woman of noble birth

Wist - alteration of wis - First Known Use: 1500
verb
transitive verb
archaic : to know
  
"Wist you not that I be about my father's business?"
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There is not overmuch to do here.  (too much)

She showed pluck in getting up on stage.   (courage & determination)

Medieval Christmas Terms




Since the world of Tiaera is basically a medieval fantasy world --  set somewhere between the 12-17th centuries of Earth --  and since we are in the holiday season, I thought I would post a word list of some archaic terms appropriate for this time of year.  Sadly, Tiaera is not Earth and so there is no Christian celebration of Jesus' birth. There is something called "Wynterfest" that all tiaerans celebrate as the first day the world was created by the goddess.  It's not very important as far as worldbuilding is concerned, but the made-up tiaeran holiday is a good excuse for writing Wynterfest (Christmassy) stories during this holiday season.  

Why isn't God or Jesus on Tiaera as we know of him here on earth in real life? I am a Christian, but right now, I am not a Christian writer. What I mean is that I don't write Christian stories, but I am a writer and a Christian. I am still learning a lot with every blog post I write and every book I publish, so I am taking it one day at a time. It's hard enough right now to write what I do, so I write what I can. I do not believe in a pagan goddess by any name, especially Astria. She is a character of my imagination and nothing more. She is not my alter-ego and I do not worship her. She is like a puppet that lives only on the pages of my books and on my blog. Her purpose is to be a benevolent deity of some sort to help save the day. If I am ever inspired to write a Christian story or novel, I will do so. I am trusting God will lead me to what I am supposed to do in his name. Till then, I'll continue to experiment and learn by writing medieval fantasy romance fiction for the amusement of my readers.


Now some Medieval Christmas terms: 

 
Alms - (12th cent) Charitable gift of money or goods to the poor and needy.


Boon - (12th cent) A favor, benefit, blessing or gift.


Carol - (14th cent) To sing and dance in a circle.


Carouse - (15th cent) archaic - a large draft of liquor : toast. Drunken revel.


Cristes Maesse - (1038) "Christ's Mass" or Christmas - found in a book from Saxon England in 1038. 


Cookery - (14th cent.) The art or activity of cooking food.


Flagon - (15th cent) Large mug or jug for beer or wine.


Feast - (13th cent) A special meal with large amounts of food and drink : a large formal dinner: a religious festival


Great Hall or Hall -  (12th cent) The building in the inner ward that housed the main meeting and dining area for the castle's residents. Principal room in a medieval house, used for meeting and dining.


Holiday - (12th cent) Holy day  A day when a religious festival or holiday is observed.  One usually doesn't work.

 
Merrymaking - (1618) A gay or festive activity.


Mead - (12th cent) Wine made by fermenting a solution of honey. Spices were often added. Also another name for a meadow.


Mummery - (1530) A ridiculous, hypocritical, or pretentious ceremony or performance in villages or castles.


Minstrel or Bard - (14th cent) Poet and singer, also called a jongleur, who lived and traveled on the largess of the aristocracy. 


Tide - (12th cent)  obsolete :  a space of time :  period.  Example: Eastertide and Yuletide 


Tidings - (12th cent) A piece of news. 


Trenchers - (14th cent.) Thick slices of stale brown bread with a slight hollow in the middle. These were used as plates. 


Wassail - (12th cent.) Old English words waes hael, which means "be well," "be hale," or "good health." A strong, hot drink (usually a mixture of ale, honey, and spices) would be put in a large bowl, and the host would lift it and greet his companions with "waes hael," to which they would reply "drinc hael," which meant "drink and be well." Over the centuries some non-alcoholic versions of wassail evolved. 


Yule - (12th cent) The feast of the nativity of Jesus Christ :  Christmas
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Some link sources:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval_xmas.htm
http://godecookery.com/how2cook/howto06.htm


Medieval Manor Terms

It's time again to bone up on our medieval vocabulary with a terms that might come in handy with your next medieval/historical/fiction/fantasy story. I love to use archaic terms such as these for my medieval fiction and you might find other glossaries there useful. I have only chosen a several simple terms for this post but if you want to see more, I have included the link to this glossary by T. J. Ray: The Eclectic Eccentric.  

Manorial Terms

Amercement - Fine.

Bondman - Serf, q.v., villein.


Charter - Official document, usually deed or grant of privilege.

Cotter - Tenant of a cottage, usually holding little or no land. 

Croft - Garden plot of a village house. 

Distraint - Summons or arrest. 

Fair - A market held at regular intervals, usually once or twice a year. Fairs tend to offer a wider range of goods than normal markets. They are generally licensed by either the king, the local lord, or a chartered town. 

Hallmote - Manorial court.

Quarter - Unit of volume, eight bushels.

Ring - Unit of volume, four bushels.   

Tithe - Payment to church, consisting of a tenth of produce. 

Villein - The wealthiest class of peasant. Villeins usually cultivated 20-40 acres of land, often in isolated strips. 

Woodward - Manorial official in charge of the lord's woodland. 

I must caution the writers of medieval stories (fiction and non) to be careful when using the terms found in any of these glossaries. It will make readers tired or bored quickly if they have to look such terms up in a dictionary, and you don't want that! Provide a glossary of any terms you use at the back of the book as an appendix or at the bottom of the page where you used the term. 

And if you have any other suggestions on how to use these medieval terms without putting off the reader, please comment below. I am sure there are other clever ways to make the book enjoyable without confusing the reader by such words.

Here is the link where I got the terms above. Manorial Language  Enjoy and feel free to comment!
 

More Archaic Words and Phrases

Good morning, friends!

Its been a busy week so far. I am putting the final changes to The Priestess and the Ravenknight and while I was doing this I jotted down a few new words to share with you this fine cool October day. Again, I have looked these up using www.merriam-webster.com or www.collinsdictionary.com. I try to avoid any words that weren't invented until after the 17th century. The earlier, the better! For those readers who are new here, I have a fondness for archaic/old terminology in my writing. Those of you who write historical or medieval fiction may find these helpful and interesting.




Shrewed - Middle English - First Known Use: 13th century
1. archaic :  mischievous     2. obsolete :  abusive, shrewish   
3. obsolete :  ominous, dangerous
It now also means severe, stubborn, hard and savvy.

Bode - Middle English - First Known Use: before 12th century
1. archaic :  to announce beforehand :  foretell
2. to indicate by signs :  presage 
Evermore - First Known Use: 13th century
1. Forever, always, in the future, eternally, everlastingly

KnaveMiddle English - First Known Use: before 12th century
This word has changed a lot from it's archaic use. 
1. archaic : a boy or male servant. A man of humble birth.
2. A playing card also known as a jack.
3. A deceitful fellow.

Tidings - Middle English - First Known Use: before 12th century
1.  a piece of news —usually used in plural <good tidings>
  
Villein/Villain Middle English - First Known Use: before 14th century
1. (in medieval Europe) a peasant personally bound to his lord, to whom he paid dues and services, sometimes commuted to rents, in return for his land
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We will be undone = We will be ruined or destroyed.

I bear no malice = I feel no anger towards someone/something. I feel no desire to harm.

Do not vex me. = Don't confuse or annoy me. 

I have a score of tasks to accomplish. = I have a great number (or lots) of things to do.

You have pluck! = You have courage!


 
 

Worldbuilding: Holidays for Fictional Worlds

It's October and it's time to break out the boxes of various holiday decorations and feverishly make new ones if I plan to participate in any of the several holiday craft fairs in my city. This thought brought me to wondering if I should create holidays for my fictional world. If you have read some of my previous posts, there is a festival of Wynterfest which is mainly celebrated up in the frozen country of Wynterlande.

The topic today is: Should a writer and world builder bother with creating holidays for their fictional world?

I did a little research this morning and the first place I went to was Middle Ages Holidays. Since Tiaera is basically a "parallel earth" with added magic and planetary differences, I tend to write about Earth's Middle Ages. Something one must consider is religion. Since Tiaera has no Christianity as a religion, I can't use any of the christian practices of the Middle Ages and as I see at that website, most of the holidays were church related. Tiaera is set in the Middle Ages, but it was created by a goddess I made up named Astria. Since she is not historical, I am free to make up any holidays and festivals as I see fit. Oh, this is going to be fun! LOL! But before I can begin this I need to get some ideas and figure out what to do.  A writer shouldn't create holidays just because they want to. Holidays should never interfere with your book or story.

If you are building a fictional world similar to earth, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you going to keep writing about your fictional world long after the book you're writing is done? It so, then time will pass... months, years, etc... and holidays may work to set the scene of your next story on that world.

2. What period or era are you writing about? Historical? Futuristic? Modern age?

3. Does your world have seasons and is it worth noting this in your writing?

4. Does your world have gods? If it is parallel to earth, are there religions and gods like our own?

5. What kind of holidays should you create? Religious? Meaningful and significant? Seasonal?

6. How are your inhabitants going to recognize such holidays? Festivals? Traditions?

The more I think about Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, the more I have to consider what I will want to use for future blog stories like my current one: Add a Spark for Valor.
As I (and sometimes Jack) continue with the chapters (posts) for this story, it will be fun to work on holidays as the background settings that can add to the plot much like we did in Realmwalkers.

I hope this post makes you think about your fictional world. Do some research and determine if your book or stories would benefit from such events. Soap Operas on TV used the holidays. Internet and video games use them. Books too. Let me know what you think about this. Are you going to add some holidays? If so, feel free to comment and tell me about them. I bet there are some great ideas out there!

Worldbuilding and Tiaera

A good friend of mine asked me the other day about the term "world building." I briefly explained it to him, but this morning I have decided to look into this a little deeper for those of you who read and/or write fiction. This might be useful should you ever decide to try making a fictional world of your own.

What is Worldbuilding?

Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe.[1] The resulting world may be called a constructed world. The term "worldbuilding" was popularized at science fiction writers' workshops in the 1970s.[citation needed] Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers.[2] Worldbuilding often involves the creation of maps, a backstory, and people for the world. Constructed worlds can enrich the backstory and history of fictional works, and it is not uncommon for authors to revise their constructed worlds while completing its associated work. Constructed worlds can be created for personal amusement and mental exercise, or for specific creative endeavors such as novels, video games, or role-playing games. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World-building

I have seen the term spelled a few difference ways i.e. world building, world-building and worldbuilding.

When Jack and I began writing our novel Realmwalkers, we realized we needed to make a fictional world because this would free us from any problems with reality based on earth and earth's history. We could start from scratch and use anything our minds came up with so long as it was plausible in the minds of our future readers. Since we wrote about science fiction and fantasy, it behooved us to try this in order to present our story in the most realistic way.

Well, Realmwalkers was finally written and has done very well in sales so far. I created this blog about the world of Tiaera to help promote the book. As some of you may have caught on, I came up with the name "Tiaera" which sounds like the Spanish word "tierra" meaning earth or ground. It is a parallel earth with trees, mountains and oceans, but with some differences. What are they? Well, read some of the stories here or read Realmwalkers to find out. Anyway, I realized I really enjoyed adding more details about this fictional planet called Tiaera.

And I am not alone. There are many sites on the Inet where one can go visit a variety of worlds based on books, TV, and games.

The way I started with Tiaera was by making a series of maps using MSPublisher, a desktop graphics program. I didn't have the luxury of a stylus and tablet at that time. Every drawing had to be done by drawing with a normal mouse or by drawing the map, scanning it and enhancing it using Adobe Photoshop. One of my first maps of the new planet looked like this.


I never made a world before so I just made little chunks of outlines to represent countries and Jack helped me determine how big it was going to be so that it made sense to the reader. It turned out it is actually smaller than earth, more like mars. Thanks again, Jack, for helping me with the technicalities of worldbuilding.

Then I experienced the fun of assigning names, much like Adam did when earth was created, and I found it was a lot of fun. I went to various fantasy name generators and tossed around some made-up names with Jack until all the oceans, countries, and islands all had a name. This was really fun to do while I waited for Jack to go over some chapters at his end.  Once I had the world done, I began to work on each continent.



There is no end to what you can do when it comes to worldbuilding. Many stories, movies, books and games can limit the amount of information about the world to just a few sentences or go all the way to graphic images and videos. It's up to the author or designer involved. Just remember that too much scenery and description shouldn't overwhelm the story at hand. Use just enough to set the scene and no more.

After the maps were done, I created lists of information about races, transportation, climate, languages and prominent landmarks. I used my previous experiences in games like D&D, Meridian 59 and Everquest 1 & 2. I also used recollections from the many sci fi-fantasy stories and movies. There is nothing wrong with stealing general ideas from others as long as you do not steal a copyright protected character or item. So be sure you research whatever you use that you did not fully create yourself.

I'm glad to have this blog now to further create more stories and invent new items through my creative abilities. I still don't use any special map-making software. I have looked at Dungeonjinni and ProFantasy Software, as well as others, but I decided to use the tools I already had. I still use pencil, ink, scanner, MSPublisher and Adobe Photoshop for maps and graphics. Such graphics may help me with future books or videos. It's a creative process that I really enjoy.

If you are thinking about worldbuilding, here are a few links that might help or inspire you. I've used a few of them for creating the world of Tiaera:

Seventh Sanctum
Pirate Name Generator
io9.com
World Building School
sfwa fantasy-worldbuilding questions
Free Fantasy Maps
Map Making for Authors
Wikipedia

Free Writing Meters

I'm heading out today for a four day trip to Stagecoach Trails Guest Ranch to do some writing, scrapping, drawing/painting, eating, resting, swimming and riding.  It's a lovely dude guest ranch and I can't wait. I'll be taking my laptop (no Internet tho) and art supplies and hope to enjoy this event along with twenty-two other ladies.

I know this has nothing to do with Tiaera so let's get down to why I am posting today!

I have found a neat website that offers not one, but 16+ FREE Writing Progress Tracking Meters and I wanted to share this find with you! I hope to pick one of these out for use here at my blog when I finally get back to working on my next story based on the world of Tiaera. It's still waiting for me to finish and I intend to use a meter to help remind me where I am at in getting it finished. It will also give you all an idea as to how close I am to completing it, in cause you are wondering.

Click here for Tia Ross' blog post about Free Writing Meters.

For you writers out there, I hope this info helps you find a good meter to help keep you motivated with your writing. It doesn't need to be used for a novel. You can also use a meter to help you keep track of how many words you have written this week or this month.  You can use a meter for projects, blogs, writing assignments, competitions and clubs. If you're a online content writer, novelist, blogger, short story writer, or journalist, a writing meter may be useful for you.

Check these out and see what you think. Send me comments here if you have have used one or are using one.

Well, it's time for me to mosey out and ride into the sunset. I hope to have the next post for "Add a Spark of Valor" ready for next week.

Yeehaaaa!! Happy writing/riding!