As I write this, Hurricane Milton is barreling, charging, barging, and otherwise on its way to wreak havoc on Florida.
The hurricane is supposed to go up the state’s west coast, but hurricanes are unreliable. Their paths can shift any moment.
Don and I live in a condo on Florida’s east coast near Miami, where the state is only 110 miles wide. We’re supposed to just get sideswiped by Milton.
Right now, a tornado is twisting down Alligator Alley, the main road across the southern part of the state. The tornado is currently 16 miles from my house. We’re also under a tropical storm warning and a flood warning.
The wind is gusting outside, and condo residents have been warned not to walk across the pool deck that joins our two buildings. At least one resident was knocked over by the wind.
And we aren’t even in the hurricane’s direct path. We weren’t ordered to evacuate.
Since there’s a chance we can lose internet service or electricity on Thursday, I’m writing a blog that you can jump in and add your comments. Recently TKZ’s Deb Gorman invited us to pet our peeves here: bit.ly/3U0gFoQ
I’d like to continue that thread with some of my favorite – and not so favorite – new words and phrases. Here goes:
Weather event: Webster says an event is “something that happens.” Or, “a noteworthy happening. A social occasion or activity. An adverse or damaging medical occurrence, for example, a heart attack or other cardiac event.”
So yes, a tropical storm, a flood, and a freaking hurricane are definitely “something that happens.” But they’re not an event. Nobody wants to attend these events. Not when innocent people are killed. So call these disasters out by their proper names.
I was today years old: This translates as “I just realized.” Some of these observations are fun to read, like this one from Jay on X: “I was today years old when I found out California has a bigger population than Canada.”
But jeez Louise, that’s a clumsy phrase. Let it fade away soon.
“Clean” as a noun. Clean is creeping into commercials as a noun. Hucksters for various kinds of soaps tell us their product is “the best clean for my family.” Or the “best clean for my clothes.”
Stop this abuse. You’ve gone clean out of your mind.
Doomscrolling. Now that’s a new word I can embrace. It means “continually scrolling through and reading depressing or worrying content on a social media or news site, especially on a phone.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m doing a lot of doomscrolling right now. About the election, and the hurricane.
Which brings me back to the beginning of this blog. The hurricane that’s about to devastate Florida Wednesday night. If you want to help people, please check out the link below.
Meanwhile, wish me luck, and all the people in Milton’s path.
And tell me some of your words and phrases.
How can you help people hit by the hurricane? Here are some reliable organizations recommended by ABC News. bit.ly/3zVUvNR
The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. —Thucydides
* * *
Dr. Louis Slotin was a brilliant young physicist. Only thirty-four years old, he had been working at Los Alamos on the super-secret Manhattan Project since 1943. He was known to be a quiet, reserved man, and yet one who was attracted to dangerous assignments.
Perhaps that’s what drew him to an experiment that would ultimately kill him.
Most of us are in awe of the work done on the Manhattan Project. Names like Oppenheimer, Bohr, Fermi, and others who worked there defined much of nuclear physics research in the mid-twentieth century. Yet despite the magnificent brain power, one of the experiments that was required in order to construct an atomic bomb was surprisingly primitive.
“Critical mass” is a term that describes the condition that occurs when the amount of fissionable material brought together is enough to start a nuclear chain reaction. In an effort to determine critical mass in the Los Alamos lab, a human operator would bring two hemispheres of such material close together until the mass just started to go critical. A Geiger counter and a neutron monitor would gauge the radiation emitted by the two lumps of metal. The goal was to get the assembly to begin to go critical but stop before it became dangerously over-critical and released lethal amounts of radiation.
Louis Slotin had performed this experiment dozens of times using a simple screwdriver as a lever to control the approach of one lump of material toward the other. He referred to the procedure as “tickling the dragon’s tail.”
On a fateful day in May 1946, Dr. Slotin was in the lab. Amazingly, there were visitors in the room to observe the operation. According to an article on the Canadian Nuclear Society website,
The experiment involved creating the beginning of a fission reaction by bringing together two metal hemispheres of highly reactive, beryllium-coated plutonium.
Seven people watched as Slotin brought one hemisphere close to the other. The Geiger counter ticked a little faster.
Then Slotin’s hand slipped, and the upper hemisphere of metal fell onto the lower one causing a hard release of radiation. The Geiger Counter went crazy, then stopped completely, and people in the room reported a strange blue glow.
Slotin lunged forward and flipped the top hemisphere of beryllium off and onto the floor. Nine days later, Dr. Louis Slotin died in a hospital from the results of radiation poisoning. Miraculously, none of the other people in the room succumbed.
* * *
I have read “The Strange Death of Louis Slotin” by Stewart Alsop and Ralph E. Lapp several times. Each time I read it, I’m surprised by the crude contraption used to determine critical mass. The scientists at Los Alamos would have known better than anyone else how dangerous a mistake could be.
I’m even more surprised by the willingness of anyone, especially someone with a clear understanding of the risk, to volunteer to run the experiment. But there are those people who not only enjoy a sense of danger, but even seek it out. Those to whom “tickling the dragon’s tail” is an essential part of their lives.
* * *
It makes me wonder. Who are these people who enjoy living on the edge? Are there many of them?
Last week, Alan mentioned a test pilot friend of his had died while flying an experimental aircraft. It reminded me of books I’ve read about test pilots, and I wonder what it takes for a man or woman to climb into a contraption that’s never been tested before, and take off. I think of the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh, and Chuck Yeager.
And what about those ultimate test pilots, the astronauts? Can you imagine sitting on top of a rocket with a few hundred thousand gallons of fuel underneath you, and blasting off to be the first to land on the moon? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were willing.
Maybe those are the extreme examples. More down to earth (pun intended) are police and fire fighters whose livelihoods embrace danger.
And then there are fictional characters who refuse to back away like Atticus Finch, James Bond, or Sam Spade. How about Nancy Drew?
Writing mysteries, thrillers or suspense means we create characters who deal with danger in a variety of ways. Some are attracted to it, some run away, and others don’t seek it out, but stand and fight.
So TKZers: Do you have favorite fictional characters who love to push the envelope? How about the characters in your books? How do they handle danger?
* * *
Private pilot Cassie Deakin doesn’t go looking for danger, but she lands right in the middle of it when she searches for the key to a mystery—and finds a murderer.
Awhile ago, I picked some of your brains (such as they were…#sorrynotsorry) to get some ideas for Friday posts. Just kidding… 🙂
This gem of an idea came from our own Elaine Viets.
Book covers are important.
To the author because after toiling for months or years on a book, getting to the point of actually hating the sight of the manuscript, then voila! Seeing the cover energizes like nothing else. I know you know what I mean.
To the reader because it’s like an appetizer for what comes next. Like a doorway into another world that the reader wants to step through, but is kind of scared to…should I leap through the door or sneak through? I know you know what I mean (again).
The questions to follow are from Elaine, and I thank you for them, friend!
How much does the cover of an author you don’t know influence whether you buy the book?
If you like cozies, does it help if you see a dog or cat on the cover?
For hard-boiled, do you prefer weapons, cars and other symbols of action?
(Please share your favorite covers in the comments if you want, either yours or your favorite author’s.)
***
Here are two of mine. And I might be biased, but I love them! 🙂
While people-watching, I overheard an inquisitive young man ask his mom a series of questions. All her answers were quick and untrue. Not at all helpful. And I couldn’t help but think, she’s not a writer. Probably not a reader, either. Can’t recall the exact questions posed, but the following is close. Only this time, I’ve included a writer/reader’s response as well. 😉
Why is the sky blue?
Easy answer: So birds can see where they’re going.
Writer says: Sunlight reaches Earth’s atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered more than any other color because it travels as shorter, smaller waves.
Why are leaves green?
Easy answer: So they look pretty, honey.
Writer says: The green coloration of leaves occurs due to a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll plays a crucial role in the process of photosynthesis, which is how plants convert light energy into sugar to fuel their growth and development.
Why can’t Fido talk to me?
Easy answer: He’s a dog.
Writer says: He does. Dogs communicate all the time. Most can easily recognize at least a dozen or so words — never say “walk” or “treat” unless you mean it — and the smartest ones can reach vocabularies of hundreds of words. They don’t speak using human sounds because physiologically they can’t make the same sounds.
Other animals can speak in human language. Koko the gorilla communicates in sign language and has a vocabulary of around 1,000 words.
Even animals that have no contact with humans use some form of language to communicate. And many humans can decipher the words and expressions of all sorts of animals, from house cats to wild elephants. When all else fails, look at the body language. All creatures communicate, even if they never utter a sound. Pay attention and listen. Fido is talking to you.
Can trees talk to each other?
Easy answer: Don’t be silly. They’re trees.
Writer says: Trees of the same species are communal, and will often form alliances with trees of other species. Forest trees have evolved to live in cooperative, interdependent relationships, maintained by communication and a collective intelligence like an insect colony. These soaring columns of living wood draw the eye to their full canopies, but the real action takes place underground, inches below our feet.
“Some are calling it the ‘wood-wide web,’” says Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees. “All the trees here, and in every forest that is not too damaged, are connected to each other through underground fungal networks. Trees share water and nutrients through the networks, and also use them to communicate. They send distress signals about drought and disease, for example, or insect attacks, and other trees alter their behavior when they receive these messages.”
Scientists call these mycorrhizal networks. The fine, hairlike root tips of trees join together with microscopic fungal filaments to form the basic links of the network, which appears to operate as a symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi.
For young saplings in a deeply shaded part of the forest, the network becomes a lifeline. Without sunlight to photosynthesize, they survive because big trees, including their parents, pump sugar into their roots through the network much like human mothers suckle their young.
Why do whales breach?
Easy answer: Because it’s fun.
Writer says: Communication plays a vital role in the social lives of whales, and breaching is one way they send messages to others in their pod. The powerful splash and sound from breaching travels vast distances underwater, allowing whales to communicate with individuals far away. Breaching serves as a long-distance visual and acoustic signal, alerting other whales to their presence and/or signals important information, such as mating readiness or the location of food sources.
Also, territory is crucial for whales to establish dominance and secure resources. Breaching can display strength and power. When a whale breaches, they showcase their physical prowess and send a clear message to other individuals or competing pods that this area is their territory. This behavior helps establish boundaries and reduce potential conflicts between rival groups.
While breaching is visually striking, it also serves a practical purpose. The forceful impact with the water removes parasites that attach themselves to the whale’s skin and inside their mouth. The sheer force of the breach is enough to dislodge unwanted hitchhikers, which helps the whale to maintain good health and hygiene.
Breaching can also assist whales and dolphins in a successful hunt. The force and sound of a breach disorientates and intimidates prey. Orca — aka Killer Whales — who belong to the dolphin family, will launch out of the ocean to create the loudest impact. The family pod of Orca work as a team to breach around prey to disorientate, confuse, and panic that individual.
Breaching has also been used to assist whales and dolphins to get a better visual on their surroundings. Although not as common as a spy hop, a breach enables them to see above the ocean’s surface and navigate through busy areas near the coastline.
My point is, writers are curious creatures who view the world through a different lens. We’re filled with information from multiple trips down research rabbit holes, and we love to share what we’ve learned. Can’t put it all in our WIPs, so it often spills into real life. 😀
What have you learned during research? Ask and answer your own question using the same format. Or just tell us. We want to know.
I love epigraphs, those sparkling word gems that a writer places at the beginning of the novel. The epigraph is a chance for the author to share what was on his/her mind when writing the book, or perhaps an intriguing hint of what’s to come. If done well, it will compel the reader to turn the page and begin reading.
Back in August 2021, James Scott Bell wrote “The How and Why of Epigraphs.” While I can’t improve on Jim’s post, I’ll add a few things I’ve read recently.
An epigraph is a short standalone quote, line, or paragraph that appears at the beginning of a book. The word epigraph is derived from the Greek epigraphein meaning “to write on.” The use of epigraphs varies from book to book, but generally, authors use them to set up themes or place the events of their story in context. Epigraphs are most commonly a short quotation from an existing work. Epigraphs usually appear offset by quotation marks at the beginning of a text, but there are no set rules dictating how writers use them.
Epigraphs can be quotes from other works, quotes from famous people, Biblical quotes, or they can be newly-minted words by the author for his/her specific work.
Here are ten examples of epigraphs to inspire and encourage us:
FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley
“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me Man, did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?” –John Milton,Paradise Lost
CORALINE by Neil Gaiman
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” –G.K. Chesterton
ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy
“Vengeance is mine, I shall repay, saith the Lord” –Romans 12:19
Version 1.0.0
DISTANT STAR by Roberto Bolano
“What star falls unseen?” –William Faulkner
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” –John 12:24
A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
“I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” –T.S. Eliot,The Waste Land
THE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham Greene
“This is the patent age of new inventions,
For killing bodies, and for saving souls,
All propagated with the best of intentions.” –Lord Byron
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann
“All the lives we could live, all the people we will never know, never will be, they are everywhere. That is what the world is.” –Aleksandar Hemon,The Lazarus Project
INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer
“Men play at tragedy because they do not believe in the reality of the tragedy which is actually being staged in the civilised world.” —José Ortega Y Gasset
THE END GAMES by T. Michael Martin
“Everything not saved will be lost”. –Nintendo “Quit Screen” message
So TKZers: What epigraphs have you used in your books? Do you have a favorite epigraph?
* * *
Here’s the epigraph from Lacey’s Star:
“The truth is bitter, but with all its bitterness, it is better than illusion.” — Ahad Ha’Am
Significant events can be individual, familial, national, or international.
I was at a family reunion last weekend, and seeing so many cousins in one place was a visual lesson in the strength of DNA. No problem knowing we were all related. What was missing was the generation that included some we fondly remember as the crazy old aunts. Looking around, the cousins of my generation realized that to a lot of the others in the room, we were now the old guard and undoubtedly would be thought of as the crazy old cousins.
Many of the maternal side of my family hailed from Danzig (now Gdansk), and were lucky enough that one of the crazy old aunts had the foresight to push the family into selling their goods and getting the hell out of there. Their arrival in New York was on the maiden voyage of the SS Noordam. A reporter was sent to cover the arrival of the ship, and when they saw the passenger manifest with Anker after Anker, they figured there was a story there.
Another branch of the family lived in Berlin, and their patriarch was of the “This too will pass” mindset. Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, opened his eyes, and they began their plans to leave. That’s a significant historical event that might be more significant to their family than others.
For most of us who are old enough to remember, September 11th, 2001 is a date that won’t be forgotten. We remember where we were, what we were doing, when we heard the news.
I was home, working on my part-time day job, which was entering registration data for an upcoming conference. As was typical, most of the attendees waited until the day before the early bird pricing was going to expire, and I was swamped. My husband called, said a plane crashed into the twin towers. My first reaction was, that’s a terrible accident, but I’m busy. He said to turn on the television, which was in his office in the next room. I did, and it took a moment or two to register that it wasn’t an accident at all. I turned up the volume, went back to my data entry, but turned on the ‘real’ television in the living room and bounced back and forth between work and watching for updates.
There are other major historic milestones. Another for me was the assassination of JFK. I was in high school history class, which was being taught by a ‘student teacher.’ I don’t know what they’re called in other regions, but this was part of the required curriculum for anyone wanting a teaching certificate in Los Angeles, and it was late enough in the semester that the teacher himself felt he could leave the room and leave her in charge. I don’t remember their names, but I remember he came into the room and interrupted the lesson and announced the assassination. Everyone’s first reaction was that he was playing up the curse that presidents elected in years with zeroes would come to a bad end. Then we noticed he was crying, and the shock hit us. School was dismissed for the day.
Few of us still remember Pearl Harbor Day, but that was another one where people knew what they were doing when they got the news.
Today, we should take a moment to remember 9-11 and those who lost their lives, and the repercussions throughout the world.
How do you handle historical and significant events in your writing? If your characters are boarding a plane, do you consider the security hoops they have to deal with? Do they even know what it was like before the inspections were put in place? Do you include mention of the pandemic? I read books obviously written during the pandemic by authors who assumed it would be long gone before their books came out, and they got it wrong. Or elections? Do you mention current administrations? The floor is yours.
How can he solve crimes if he’s not allowed to investigate? Gordon Hepler, Mapleton’s Chief of Police, has his hands full. A murder, followed by several assaults. Are they related to the expansion of the community center? Or could it be the upcoming election? Gordon and mayor wannabe Nelson Manning have never seen eye to eye. Gordon’s frustrations build as the crimes cover numerous jurisdictions, effectively tying his hands. Available now in ebook, paperback, and audio. Like bang for your buck? I have a new Mapleton Bundle. Books 4, 5, and 6 for one low price.
New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings
Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”
“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
* * *
As we all know, stories are the recollection of events that happen through time. In January, I posted an article on flashbacks in story-telling. Today, I’d like to go in the other direction with foreshadowing.
* * *
To begin, let’s look at the difference between flash forward and foreshadowing.
A flash forward takes the reader to a point in the future. A good example is Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol where Ebenezer Scrooge is taken into the future by a ghost to show him what will happen after his death if he doesn’t change his ways.
* * *
But foreshadowing is different, and despite what Hawthorne said, a shadow may indicate events to come.
“Foreshadowing is a literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing is useful for creating suspense, a feeling of unease, a sense of curiosity, or a mark that things may not be as they seem.”
Foreshadowing may be direct or indirect.
* * *
Direct Foreshadowing overtly states an upcoming event or twist in the story.
For example, the prologue of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Julietspecifically states that the two lovers will die in the story:
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.”
Another example of this straight-forward form of foreshadowing is when the author simply makes a statement about the future.
I recently read the novel Tom Lake by Ann Patchett where the first-person narrator recounts to her three daughters the story of her love affair with a famous actor. Late in the book, the narrator explains to the reader that she has told all of her past to her children – well, almost all. “And I am done, except for this: I saw Duke one other time, and of that time I will say nothing to my girls.” So the reader knows that an event which is explained in detail to the reader will not be related to other characters in the book. (Sort of a negative foreshadowing.)
* * *
Indirect Foreshadowing is a more subtle way of hinting at future events or outcomes in the story.
“If you say in the first act that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third act it absolutely must go off.” –Anton Chekhov
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus talks to Jem about courage after the death of Mrs. Dubose.
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
That conversation foreshadowed Atticus’s own courage in defending Tom Robinson.
In an early chapter of Tom Lake, the first-person narrator betrays her best friend by stealing the other girl’s boyfriend. That event foreshadows a similar betrayal later in the book when the same thing happens to the protagonist.
* * *
So TKZers: Do you think foreshadowing is a useful device in novel writing? Have you used foreshadowing in your novels? Can you think of any examples in stories you’ve read?
* * *
Private pilot Cassie Deakin declares her distrust of handsome men in the first paragraph of Lacey’s Star. That statement foreshadows her flawed decisions on trust throughout the book and almost gets her killed.
“Every rereading of a classic is as much a voyage of discovery as the first reading.” —Italo Calvino
* * *
After a friend of mine shared a bunch of quotes about the classics by Italo Calvino, I went in search of a good list of classic literature. Well, it was like going in search of a glass of water and finding yourself on the shore of an ocean.
It turns out there are many different lists of classic literature, some with hundreds of books on them. It made me wonder who gets to decide what books are labeled as classics.
“We use the words “classics” for books that are treasured by those who have read and loved them; but they are treasured no less by those who have the luck to read them for the first time in the best conditions to enjoy them.”—Italo Calvino
* * *
Goodreads lists one thousand seven hundred and ninety (gulp) “must read classics.” The ranking on their list is driven by reader votes. Here are the top ten plus a few more that I thought deserve consideration.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. 1984 by George Orwell
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell
7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
8. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
10. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
“The classics are books that exert a peculiar influence, both when they refuse to be eradicated from the mind and when they conceal themselves in the folds of memory, camouflaging themselves as the collective or individual unconscious.”—Italo Calvino
* * *
Here are few more books that were further down the list. I had to stop the total list at twenty-five or I would never have finished this post.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Iliad by Homer
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
“The classics are books which, upon reading, we find even fresher, more unexpected, and more marvelous than we had thought from hearing about them.”—Italo Calvino
* * *
Some of the books listed above had an enormous impact on me. I’m afraid I may have read others when I was too young, and I need to revisit them.
So TKZers: How do you define a classic novel? Have you read any of the classics listed here? What books would you cite as classics that I haven’t included? Which books have you re-read? Which would you like to re-read?
* * *
It’s not a classic (yet), but Lacey’s Star is an entertaining and thought-provoking mystery.
A Japanese-born friend recently gave me a new challenge that pushed me to closely examine how to use words, language, nuance, and idioms.
Yoshimi Yamamoto-Derkshad been asked by her former teacher to translate his writings from Japanese to English. He is a Nature Essence producer and the subject was essences, described on this website. His series of short essays was a combination of poetry and philosophy meant to expand one’s thinking and emotions in more positive directions assisted by the use of various essences.
Yoshimi Yamamoto-Derks
Yoshimi also works with flower essences, as described on her website Inspired Energy Healing. In this photo, she demonstrated her techniques to me in the middle of a canola field in full bloom.
Yoshimi Yamamoto-Derks and Debbie Burke
When we initially talked about her translating job Yoshimi explained some concepts were already difficult to comprehend even in her native tongue. She asked me, “If Japanese people have a hard time understanding, how can people who speak English understand?”
Simply plugging Japanese characters into Google Translate to change the words to English wouldn’t work. A simple translation like “Where is the restroom?” is concrete and straightforward. But philosophical and emotional concepts are intangible and difficult to verbalize.
Yoshimi’s comprehension of English is excellent, especially in subtle differences of tone and nuance. But she was struggling with effective ways to express her teacher’s poetic writings. After she translated his essays from Japanese to English, she asked me to review the English version for comprehension and readability.
She sent a four-page Word doc which I red-penned, rearranging sentences for clarity and flow, deleting or changing a few words. But I still had a number of questions, so we met in person to discuss them.The screen shot below is blurry but shows the many strikethroughs, as we reworked the descriptions.
Each essence has a name that describes its purpose. For instance, the essence “Mercury 360 Degrees” improves communication. “360 degrees” refers to the ability to look in every direction for understanding.
Yoshimi’s initial translation read: “As if today were the very first day it was born, communication between people and between beings flows directly.”
The subject of the sentence needed to be more specific than “it.” We decided it meant communication and the writer was describing how communication begins. After rearranging the word order, we came up with: “If today were the first day of birth, communication flows directly between people and between beings.”
The next paragraph was more difficult: “Be free from any influences and transcend the filters of the world I create, and just to listen from anyone, and to create relationships in a new paradigm beyond illusion.”
We split those thoughts into two sentences and used parallel construction to make them easier to understand.
“Transcend the filters of the world I create to be free from any influences. Listen to everyone and create relationships in a new paradigm beyond illusion.”
Another essence name was “Respectful Concession.”
Original version: “Not to forget respect equally to everyone who you encounter and see.”
That one was easy: “Remember to equally respect everyone you encounter.”
Flame Sword essence said: “I cannot stay as I am. I would like to accomplish myself.”
Hmm. How does one accomplish oneself? In Japanese, the phrase works. But in English, the verb accomplish acts on the object myself, which doesn’t make grammatical sense.
Revision: “I cannot stay as I am. Without accomplishment, I cannot complete myself.”
The description goes on: “Burning away everything that appears in my path without hesitation, an unstoppable flame of complete accomplishment.”
After reworking: “An unstoppable flame of accomplishment burns everything in my path without hesitation.”
The next section titled “Retraction” was particularly tough:
“I have been bound by what I said and swore previously, remove the wedge from the ‘castle in the sand’ that I have built upon it.
Retract all what I said and swore that had created my world, and return to ‘myself’ that it is possibility itself.”
A comma splice in the first sentence joined two distinct thoughts that didn’t link to each other.
The first was how past statements restrict present thoughts and ideas. Okay, that’s easy enough.
But the “wedge” and “the castle in the sand that I have built upon it” stumped us. What did wedge mean? Driving a wedge into sand didn’t make sense because as soon as the wedge is removed, sand immediately fills the empty space. A castle built on sand indicates a lack of strong structure to support it. Was the wedge meant to represent a metaphorical Jenga game? Could a wedge be removed without the whole sandcastle falling down?
Yoshimi texted the writer in Japan, which is 15 hours ahead of our location in Montana, and asked him what he meant. A short time later, he texted back a photo of the interior wood framing of a building. An arrow pointed at the wedge, which is evidently Japanese construction jargon for a support piece that holds framing together.
He also included an example sentence: The business plan was built like a castle upon sand.
Okay, that matched our initial impression of a flimsy, unstable foundation. Once we removed the troublesome word “wedge” from the concept, it made much more sense in English.
Revision: “I have been bound by what I said and swore previously. I built a world out of illusions and now I must repeal those illusions to return to the possibility of myself.”
We also changed the section name from “Retraction” to “Repeal.”
Blue Dragon Eyes essence helps to:
“Discern what is not me and cut away and purge unnecessary energy.”
Because energy is generally perceived as a positive quality, the adjective unnecessary gave the wrong connotation. We consulted the online Thesaurus for better descriptors. We found superfluous, excessive, needless, exorbitant, etc. None sounded right.
I mentioned the English idiom of “spinning one’s wheels.” That means expending energy uselessly while accomplishing nothing. Yoshimi agreed that was the correct concept. We kept digging deeper in the Thesaurus. Unproductive, pointless, wasted, unprofitable. We finally settled on two possibilities: Unproductive or fruitless (which was more in keeping with the poetic style).
Yoshimi’s final revision: “Discern what is not me. Cut away and purge unproductive energy.”
The last example turned out to be funny.
Essence name: “Start to Create the New World.”
“You pen visions you truly desire.”
To me, you pen visions means that you write down your deepest wishes to help make them come true. I explained thatpen can be used as a verb in a poetic, somewhat archaic way to say write. For about 10 minutes, we talked about how to preserve the poetry in the writer’s thoughts yet still be clear to the reader.
Then Yoshimi reread the sentence again. “Oh!” she said. “That’s a typo. Pen should read Open.” We had a good laugh over how one small typo can inadvertently take on significance that was never meant.
After more than two hours, we had taxed our brains to the max.
As TKZers are aware, expressing yourself in your native language is challenging enough. Trying to understand and accurately interpret idioms, jargon, shades of meaning, nuances, and connotations is difficult. Converting them to a different language requires a whole ‘nother level of concentration and contemplation.
Even one word can change the meaning of a sentence. “Purge unnecessary energy” is quite different from “Purge unproductive energy.”
This exercise taught me insights into divergent thought patterns and styles of expression. Explaining the subtle underlying meanings of words and ideas forced to me sharpen my own verbal skills to make my explanations clear, accurate, and understandable.
Years ago, I worked at a business with mostly Spanish-speaking employees. One day, a young man named Ricardo was trying to describe how angry the business owner had been with an especially troublesome customer. Ricardo said, “The boss look like he was going to eat him.” You couldn’t say it more clearly and vividly than that!
One final essence is called “Repose in Dream.”
After our brain workout, Yoshimi and I both reposed well in dreams that night.
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TKZers: If you speak another language, what concepts, words, or jargon do you find difficult to express?
Please share your favorite idioms.
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“I think it’s fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we’ve ever created. They’re tools of communication, they’re tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user.” –Bill Gates
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I’m not sure I can agree with Mr. Gates about PCs being “the most empowering tool we’ve ever created.” There are a few other foundational things mankind has invented that are pretty good: the wheel, the printing press, indoor plumbing 😊. But Bill Gates isn’t the only person wired about the use of personal computers. You can find plenty of other quotes to store in the same file. For example:
“The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing.” –Douglas Engelbart
Whether you soar to such heights of computerized adoration or stay with your hands firmly fixed on the keyboard, there’s no doubting the obvious. Personal computers have revolutionized the practice of writing books.
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For example, Elaine Viets wrote a TKZ post a couple of weeks ago about typewriters that took us back to the days of mammoth Underwood machines, carbon paper, and whiteout and made us appreciate even more our personal computers and software.
“I am thankful the most important key in history was invented. It’s not the key to your house, your car, your boat, your safety deposit box, your bike lock or your private community. It’s the key to order, sanity, and peace of mind. The key is ‘Delete.’” –Elayne Boosler
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So it’s only right that we celebrate August 12 as IBM PC Day since that was the date in 1981 when IBM released its first personal computer, the 5150.
IBM was late getting into the personal computer market, arriving after Apple, Commodore, and Tandy had already grabbed a share of the new users. But given the opportunity for growth in that field, IBM jumped in and developed the 5150 in just one year.
In order to get to market quickly, IBM contracted with a little-known software company named Microsoft to supply the operating system for the new PC.
The reaction to IBM’s entry in the personal computer domain was immediate. According to Wikipedia,
Reception was overwhelmingly positive, with analysts estimating sales volume in the billions of dollars in the first few years after release. After release, IBM’s PC immediately became the talk of the entire computing industry. Dealers were overwhelmed with orders, including customers offering pre-payment for machines with no guaranteed delivery date. By the time the machine began shipping, the term “PC” was becoming a household name.
Sales exceeded IBM’s expectations by as much as 800% (9x), with the company at one point shipping as many as 40,000 PCs per month.
The phenomenal success of the IBM PC changed the face of personal computing and created a watershed moment in the history of writing.
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Although the ability to record words has been around for thousands of years, the strides made in the last fifty years have been dramatic. Along with the advent of the personal computer and word processing software, a host of applications have arisen to help authors get their books written well and published quickly. Thewritepractice.com lists ten of the best software apps for writers:
Scrivener
Google Docs
Dabble
Google Sheets OR Microsoft Excel
Vellum
ProWritingAid
Publisher Rocket
Atticus
Freedom
Microsoft Word
These advances (and more) help us write and deliver our books in a timely manner. But they are just tools for the writer. The real work comes from within as noted by JK Rowling below:
“I wrote first 2 Potters by hand and typed them on a 10 yr old typewriter. All a writer needs is talent and ink.” –JK Rowling
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So TKZers: How have PCs changed your life? What was your first PC? Do you use any of the software listed? What other apps do you use to help you get your books written and published?
It’s the twenty-first century. Cassie Deakin learns that cops may have sophisticated equipment, but it still takes clear thinking and hard work to corner a murderer.
Here’s the epigraph from Lacey’s Star:
Significant events can be individual, familial, national, or international.
There are other major historic milestones. Another for me was the assassination of JFK. I was in high school history class, which was being taught by a ‘student teacher.’ I don’t know what they’re called in other regions, but this was part of the required curriculum for anyone wanting a teaching certificate in Los Angeles, and it was late enough in the semester that the teacher himself felt he could leave the room and leave her in charge. I don’t remember their names, but I remember he came into the room and interrupted the lesson and announced the assassination. Everyone’s first reaction was that he was playing up the curse that presidents elected in years with zeroes would come to a bad end. Then we noticed he was crying, and the shock hit us. School was dismissed for the day.
Like bang for your buck? I have a 
