Baffled by Writing Conventions and/or Tricks of the Writing Trade?

Writing

Image via Wikipedia

What areas of writing would you like insight into?  What stops you in your tracks when you’re writing like a house afire?  What elements of fiction writing would you like clarified?

This is the place for some answers.  Please list your questions in the comments of this post.  Then I will select one (or more if I have time) a week and answer it from my years of experience as a writer and editor.  I will also invite others to publish their experience in those areas.  You can ask more questions as we go along.  When we’re finished, if you don’t have a helpful answer (and you have to be honest :P ), I will write a limerick just for you :)

Thanks, Guys

 I just wanna say thanks to the top commenters on my site in 2011.

Photo

In the number one spot was Nancy Hatch at 40 comments.

Photo

Stephanie Ciofalo (Kally or Kallysti) ran a close second at 38.

Photo

Haley Whitehall, our resident civil war fiction writer, followed at 19.

Photo

Finally, bringing up the rear were Dorky Deb at 17…

Photo

…and Huffygirl at 15.

Thanks, guys, for all the support and encouragement.

100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language

StumbleUpon

Image via Wikipedia

I found this list from a suggestion by StumbleUpon.  The spotter was a fellow named Shonara, and his source is credited at the end.

It’s a lovely list.  Got any favorite words you’d like to add?

Ailurophile A cat-lover.
 
Assemblage A gathering.
 
Becoming Attractive.
 
Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
 
Brood To think alone.
 
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.
 
Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.
 
Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.
 
Comely Attractive.
 
Conflate To blend together.
 
Cynosure A focal point of admiration.
 
Dalliance A brief love affair.
 
Demesne Dominion, territory.
 
Demure Shy and reserved.
 
Denouement The resolution of a mystery.
 
Desuetude Disuse.
 
Desultory Slow, sluggish.
 
Diaphanous Filmy.
 
Dissemble Deceive.
 
Dulcet Sweet, sugary.
 
Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.
 
Effervescent Bubbly.
 
Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.
 
Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
 
Elixir A good potion.
 
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
 
Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion.
 
Emollient A softener.
 
Ephemeral Short-lived.
 
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
 
Erstwhile At one time, for a time.
 
Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
 
Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
 
Evocative Suggestive.
 
Fetching Pretty.
 
Felicity Pleasantness.
 
Forbearance Withholding response to provocation.
 
Fugacious Fleeting.
 
Furtive Shifty, sneaky.
 
Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
 
Glamour Beauty.
 
Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk.
 
Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
 
Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.
 
Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.
 
Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
 
Imbue To infuse, instill.
 
Incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
 
Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible.
 
Ingénue A naïve young woman.
 
Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth.
 
Insouciance Blithe nonchalance.
 
Inure To become jaded.
 
Labyrinthine Twisting and turning.
 
Lagniappe A special kind of gift.
 
Lagoon A small gulf or inlet.
 
Languor Listlessness, inactivity.
 
Lassitude Weariness, listlessness.
 
Leisure Free time.
 
Lilt To move musically or lively.
 
Lissome Slender and graceful.
 
Lithe Slender and flexible.
 
Love Deep affection.
 
Mellifluous Sweet sounding.
 
Moiety One of two equal parts.

Mondegreen A slip of the ear.
 
Murmurous Murmuring.
 
Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy.
 
Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore.
 
Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.
 
Opulent Lush, luxuriant.
 
Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones.
 
Panacea A solution for all problems

Panoply A complete set.
 
Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources.
 
Penumbra A half-shadow.
 
Petrichor The smell of earth after rain.
 
Plethora A large quantity.
 
Propinquity Proximity; Nearness
 
Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses.
 
Quintessential Most essential.
 
Ratatouille A spicy French stew.
 
Ravel To knit or unknit.
 
Redolent Fragrant.

Riparian By the bank of a stream.
 
Ripple A very small wave.
 
Scintilla A spark or very small thing.
 
Sempiternal Eternal.
 
Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem.
 
Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else.
 
Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny.
 
Sumptuous Lush, luxurious.
 
Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky.
 
Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania.
 
Susurrous Whispering, hissing.
 
Talisman A good luck charm.
 
Tintinnabulation Tinkling.
 
Umbrella Protection from sun or rain.
 
Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate.
 
Vestigial In trace amounts.
 
Wafture Waving.
 
Wherewithal The means.
 
Woebegone Sorrowful, downcast.
 
 
 
Source: So Much To Tell You

2011 in review

Happy New Year, everyone, and thanks for dropping by and viewing my offerings.  I wouldn’t have this review if it wasn’t for all of you.  Here’s to a great 2012 for all of us.  Woohoo!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

 

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,700 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.