Jennifer Freitag's Blog, page 3

How To Identify Your Crutch Words & Destroy Them Forever

While I was editing Plenilune for publication, to my chagrin, it was brought to my attention that I relied heavily on two words, & that I needed to start cutting them because they were

a:: lazy, +b:: unhelpful

& guess what?  Because I'm such a perfectionist + it galls me to realize I've made a mistake, my two crutch words now have huge Minion sirens that go off whenever I use them - "BEE DOH.  BEE DOH.  BEE DOH."

HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR CRUTCH WORDS + DESTROY THEM FOREVER

VERY & LITTLE  ||  My two crutch words of note.  I used them all. the. time.  One might even say, very often, & not a little.  But don't, because that would be lame.

WHY ARE THESE ROTTEN?  ||  They're empty, indefinite.  They offer scant information to the reader, & as a result, the reader may (at best) ignore them or (at worst) find they bog down the narration.  Writing faux pas.

WHAT TO DO??  ||  Being as close to my writing as I am, I don't always notice when things go awry.  How am I going to notice these mistakes when I'm kind of programmed to overlook them?  HERE ARE MY TIPS.

a:: have someone (if at all possible, not yourself) read a sizable portion of your manuscript so they have an idea of which words reoccur + which shouldn't be used

b:: read it aloud (if you don't have anyone to read the manuscript for you +/or you can't stand the thought of anyone seeing your manuscript because i totally appreciate that sentiment) so your voice can catch repetitive words + bring them to your attention

c::  slow down.  think about what you're trying to say.  find the word you actually need rather than grabbing the literary equivalent of a poptart on your way out the door, late for class.

THERE'S HOPE FOR RECOVERY

Sayeth what??  Yes, it's true!  While I was tooling about on The Great Noveling Adventure blog, I came across a link to a Word Frequency Counter, & I thought, "Hey, this looks like fun + like it won't steal my manuscript, let's give it a go!"  The results were more encouraging than my pessimistic attitude expected.

I took a scene of 2,200+ words, plunked it into the counter, & this was my result!  HOO DA LALLY very + little don't even make an appearance in the entire scene!  I AM CURED.  

ARTICLES + PREPOSITIONS ARE NOT CRUTCH WORDS.  ||  The, a, of, I, + and are my top most-used words, but these are backbones to English so this is not a bad thing.  Just because a word shows up with a frequency in the hundreds does not mean you're relying on it too heavily: it could just be a staple of our language.

THE WFC ALSO LETS YOU KNOW USEFUL STUFF LIKE  ||  the fact that I (not shown) used the word "Lazarus" as a descriptive probably too many times in a scene.  It's a rare word & needs to pack its punch, not be swinging so many times that overuse renders it exhausted.  Thank you, WFC.

MY TAKE-AWAY RECOMMENDATIONS

Try this out on a scene like I did.  Scenes are semi-self-contained stories which, all together, build the entire novel; in order to make sure each brick is as solid as it can be, take them individually & check on their word frequency.  Is a key word overused?  Are building-block English words the mainstay of your scene?  Are there areas you need to polish?  This will help clue you in.

At the same time, don't be neurotic.  Yes, we all have issues + particular tendencies to literary sins, but do be gracious with yourself (this is the proverbial crab tell her proverbial son to walk straight, i know).  We all have crutch words.  It's not the end of the world.  Just do your best to figure out what your particular weakness are, & work on strengthening your manuscript around those points.

so now, take a scene + plug it into the counter.share your results!

thank you so much for reading.see you soon!xoxo, jenny

read is the hook of a great novel actually criminal? on the penslayer

3 Ways Social Media Can Help Explode Your Library

spoiler alert! i'm going to be soliciting your book recommendations so stick around like a bug on fly paper!

via @infinitelynovel

 3 WAYS SOCIAL MEDIA CAN HELP EXPLODE YOUR LIBRARY

#bookstagram is no joke.  With nearly 1o,ooo,ooo entries on Instagram, there are TONS of folks linked together in the grand game of gramming books.  & a lot of those pictures give me book-envy.  Because really, do we pick up new books solely by their synopsis?  No.  No, we do not.  Book blurbs are universally obnoxious creatures to create, & most of the time they do the book NO justice.  It's sad.  Sad, but true.

APPEARANCES ARE IMPORTANT.  You may wish it was otherwise, but it is not.  Author note: I've lost track of the times people have expressed surprise over the cover of my novel Plenilune because "it doesn't look like it was self-published!"  THAT'S THE KEY, FOLKS.  That's the key...

okay, but why is social media important for your tbr list? i'm glad you asked. i'm glad you asked...
via @infinitelynovel
1. IT'S FREE + BEAUTIFUL MARKETING
**Angel choir.**  I go on Instagram & discover gorgeous #flatlays of books that are basically completely free eye-candy.  Some of these grammers are super good at photography.  Am I a sucker for good photos?  Yes.  Yes, I am.  Am I going to be interested in a book based on it's cover + arrangement in the photo?  Yes to that, too.  ("sign me up for the NEXT book club!" )

2. YOU MEET NEW NOVELS
Bee tee dubs, I had never heard of V. E. Schwab until @emileighlatham  + @paperfury gushed about her on Instagram.  Cue me, scrounging around our local library website for a copy of Vicious - which took an age to come in but cOME IN IT DID & guess what I'm really enjoying it.  BOOM.  Wouldn't have heard about this author except for the world's new marketing platform, Instagram.

3.  YOU WANT TO SHARE #BOOKSWAG 
("I said 'bookswag.'  I said 'bookswag,' Sam.")  Am I susceptible to the allure of sharing flatlays of my newfound novels on Instagram?  I totally am.  Social observation note: people who enjoy a book REALLY LIKE IT when you get that book too + start reading it.  When you tag them, link them, shout out to them that you're reading in their textsteps, they get really excited + BOOM a community is born.  It's an introvert-friendly community, too, so that's double the awesome.

via @infinitelynovel

#bookstagrammers i follow
@paperfury@infinitelynovel@emileighlatham@novelpursuit@bibliophilealley@theliterarybox@thatjennyfreitag (wait a sec...)

your quest, should you choose to accept it, is
a:: comment below with bookstagrammers you follow + love!b:: comment below with book recommendations for me + the other penslayer readers!

thanks so much for reading. see you soon!xoxo, jenny

read is the hook of a great novel actually criminal?

4 Character Tropes That IMO Need to Die

If you've read books that have living, breathing people in the cast, you've probably read some of the big relationship tropes in the biz.  Tropes happen, ya know?  There are a number of patterns into which things tend to fall, & relationships are no exception.  The problem is, if you think, "Oh lookie, this is Trope X," then the trope has failed.  Nine times out of ten, tropes should NOT be so obvious that you recognize what you're seeing (exception: outrageous parodies).  Here is a personal rant enlightening post on my top most annoying relationship tropes.

4 Character Tropes That IMO Need to Die

The Geometric Affection
I. hate. love triangles. so much.  If every heroine had Elizabeth Bennet's view of matrimony, so much the better.  I mean, sure: love is a tricky thing.  What is it?  How do you know when you love someone?  How do you know when you LOVE-love someone??  Well, I don't pretend to have those answers because they are not simple answers, but I can tell you that it does not involve yo-yoing the affections of two other people.  Authors.  I am so over this.  I have seen how awkward it is to be the recipient of two people's jockeying, & it is not fun, you guys.  THIS SHOULD NOT BE NORMAL.  THIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BECOME A TROPE.

"if you're in love two people at the same time, choose the second. because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second."
(ashamedly quoting the faceless actor)

The Engagement Ring
"Dude. I got this ring for X but I don't want her to see it before I'm ready to give it to her.  I trust you: hold on to this for me."

Oh, nO ONE KNOWS HOW THIS WILL END.  Except that we do.  We all do. Not only does this one annoy me because it's so predictable, it stresses me out at the same time because the chucklehead protagonist is TOTALLY GOING TO LOSE THE EXPENSIVE RING.  This trope.  This trope needs to be buried.  Buried + not allowed to rise from the grave so help me amen.  

The Banter
 Banter has almost zero purpose in a novel.  Almost.  Maybe one time out of ten it serves a useful purpose to help display character personality/growth/something to help sketch the individual's character, but those other nine times?  It's just irritating, childish, flimsy, pointless verbiage.  (bitter much, jenny??)  Quit with the banter thing unless the dialogue serves to improve your novel.   Why are we writing this novel?  To tell a story!  Will this help build the perfect cathedral showcasing your amazing genius?  Probably not so INTO THE SCRAP HEAP WITH YE.

The Bickering
Oh but there's more.   I. HATE. THE BICKERING.  Note: this is coming from someone who thrives on contention.  I love being angry + complaining about stuff.  (let's all enjoy this meta moment).  HOWEVER.  Bickering is the cheap, knockoff replacement for meaningful character dialogue.  Countless times, I have seen "character development" which was nothing more than two protagonists (bonus points if they're love interests) nitpicking + sniping at each other in a manner that is unrealistic + implausible.

(i kind of feel like protagonists bickering + going on to save the world is actually proof of God's existence + common grace because i can't believe the protagonists would ever survive + succeed otherwise)

Hey, you made it through my pet-peeve tropes!  I give you two challenges:
a:: avoid these tropes
b:: use these tropes but in a manner so cunning that no one realizes what you're up to

got any special tropes that annoy you?share, please! misery loves companyxoxo, jenny

Is the Hook of a Great Novel Actually Criminal?

White Collar, Leverage, Squad 38, The Sting.  The premise of these shows/films is fundamentally illegal.  You're frowned on by the government when you lie to people + take their money, & ultimately, people hate you.  Yet the premise of these shows/films is equally crucial to pulling off the best sting in the book: the beginning.



does anybody know what "con" means?
The term "con" has floated off with its own grammatical uses: conning, for instance, which is the negative act of scamming people out of their belongings.  But remarkably, the actual term is confidence.  Confidence.  & that's vital to the whole game because ordinarily people won't give you their possessions if they don't trust you.  Before you can get anything, you must first gain their confidence.

If your reader is like me, he's going to be sceptical about a new book.  The blurb on the back might pique his interest, but it's the first page that is the real clincher.  In English grammar we call it a "hook," which is telling: we're trying to snag the reader & keep him on the line for the rest of the story. But a fish doesn't like being on the hook & a painful intro won't enamour the reader to you at all.

instead of writing a hook, think of it as a confidence game

"it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife."

We all recognize this opening line (& if you don't were you born under a rock??), but look at how perfect it is!  With brevity it combines

humourdesireomniscience
OMNISCIENCE  |  The author doesn't just settle at saying she knows this to be true - she states it as everybody who is anybody knows this is true!  You're an absolutely dolt if you don't & none of us want to be taken as a dolt so we immediately take her at her word.

DESIRE  |  If she is in the market, what girl in her right mind would say no to a:: an unattached young man + b:: significant quantities of money?  The author casually tosses both of these gems into the first line of her novel & suddenly you want those things right now so you keep reading.

HUMOUR  |  We like funny people.  When people laugh + tell jokes, we open up to listen.  When people yell + make arguments, we close down.  Which tactic is more likely to gain confidence?  That's right.  Humour.

You are the confidence artist.  Writing is your medium.  The reader is your mark.  In a world brimming over with published works, why should the reader give you his attention?  Why should he be interested in your story?  Why does he think it will have any benefit to him?

BECAUSE HE TRUSTS YOU

xoxo, jenny

catch how to end a novel so it leaves your reader wanting more in this previous post!

How To End a Book Like a Concert

That feeling you get when you end a particularly good song & you're still soaring on the last notes, loving it + sorry it's over?  That's an awesome feeling.  It's the feeling that keeps you hitting "repeat" until you're sick of the song. XD  But this kind of magic isn't exclusive to music, you know.  Writers use it, too.


I think almost any form of artistry is a form of magic.  Like Uncle Iroh + the four elements, I also think different forms of artistry can inform + improve across mediums.  This definitely goes for music + writing.  

cadence + resonance

If you have the choice between grammatically correct & technically-incorrect-but-sounds-awesome, go with the second option.  People are not going to remember your grammar, but they will remember how your words sounded.  Words play a melody in our minds.  Why do particular songs get stuck in our heads?  Because the cadence of the words resonates with us so our subconsciousness continues to vibrate with them long after we have ceased to listen. 

As a writer, you want your words to stick with people.  As a writer, you want your whole book to cling to the reader's subsconsiousness & haunt them long after they have finished the story (because that's not creepy at all, right??).  How do you do that?  Pretend your book is a concert.

writing novels is a performance art

In a world where you can simply download an artist's music on iTunes without leaving the comfort of your home, why do people choose to go to concerts?  It's not even strictly the same music because you can't do everything on a stage which you can do in a sound studio.  They go because they want to be part of the performance.  They want to experience the hypnotic magic of the singers + the lights + the bass.  They want their senses to ring in time to the music.  They want to soar.  They want to be limitless.  And when everything is over, they want that last display of lights & that last crash of notes to leave them resonating before the free-fall, out in constellation sky without gravity.  That's the awesome they want.

Beginnings are important because they hook the reader's interest for the immediate story, but ends are even more important because they impress the story into the reader forever.  When concluding your story, my advice is to end before the emotional resonance of the scene fades out of perception.  Leave the reader with that "high," whether it is an explosion like a firework or one tiny ring of struck crystal.  Let the music go on.

xoxo, jenny

2017 + Stuff About Me You May Not Know

It's March??  I'm telling you, next thing you know it's going to be Christmas - again!  Our weather, which is usually just beginning to be yucky, has gone from one brief semi-winter moment to some serious springtime temps.  I think I just saw a polar bear walk by wearing shutter shades.

 me as a person, if i am still that

I have a two year old + a two month old, & despite my best efforts I am flat-out tired.  (jenny. you just said you have an infant. duh you're tired.)  The children are honestly pretty good about sleeping (usually), but all the same I have zero stamina & most days I feel like I'm hanging on by my fingernails to get to my favourite lying-down-in-a-prone-position-in-my-comfy-king-size-bed time.  & yep, despite my best efforts, that's me physically + emotionally right now.

me as a better person, maybe??

My best efforts include exercise because people tell me that exhausting yourself with exercise makes you less tired.  Something about your body increasing its resistance to stress.  I laugh.  I cry.  But it's for my good.  & I can't really complain because the real hard stuff hasn't even begun; I'm working gently on my inner-inner core which rules out ALL standard abdominal exercises because those can just make the damage worse.  (most difficult bit is the "TVA squeeze" 'cause you haul in the hugest breath, suck in your belly button to your spine, & let the breath out as slowly as possible. i have successfully not passed out while doing this.)

mamamoo

me as a person trying new things (screaming emoji)

WHAT THE HECK IS MAMAMOO.  I have no idea.  I looked & I can genuinely say, I have no idea.  But the four-girl Kpop band wrote + performed "Girl Crush," which I finally gave in + listened to; turns out, that's basically me.  O___o

i just wanna be awesome girl girl crush!
Being smart may be better than being pretty, but can't I be both?? XD  Well, maybe not, but I do my best with what I've got.  I was never the fashionable, popular girl - I didn't know what that thing was.  Now I know, & that sounds cool.  Cool + kind + at least able to fake intelligence because that's what most of us do anyway, right...?

bullet journalling

When this was first introduced to me, I a:: zoned out because I am 100% not capable of fancy hand-letting, & b:: couldn't follow the mathematical purpose of the exercise.  But then I got frustrated with some bad habits of mine & started scrawling goals + notes down in a moleskin notebook (best notebooks, so cute + portable this post is not sponsored honest), & the next thing I knew, I was basically bullet journalling.  My how the self-righteous have fallen.

alpha reader (full-bore screaming)

I have never shown a work-in-progress to someone while it is in its ugly, barely-constructed stage, but Ethandune has been stumping me so badly that I scootched a la inchworm over to the brain behind Intuitive Writing Guide (which I still need to officially follow, bee tee dubs; I keep forgetting to do that), & asked if she would look over my manuscript + provide some feedback to help me see where I need to go - you know, the kind of stuff everyone else has been doing since the dawn of writing.  But I am a:: nervous, b:: shy, c:: my writing in a first draft is practically buck-naked + I'm not happy showing it to anyone; oh + d:: I'm passionately independent so of course asking for help goes against all of what is me.  But I did it.  & she said yes.  So here we go.

boom.  that's me.  not my most flowering time of life but thank you all the same for sticking with me + caring. until next time,xoxo, jenny

Beautiful People | Valentine's Edition

Irony seems to haunt me.  Musing briefly over which two characters to include in this Beautiful People post, the "couple" that I chose was probably the least qualified to fill the vacancy.  But since various demographics have been working long + hard at busting wider the defined borders of "Valentine's Day," I don't feel sketchy spotlighting a couple which is not really actually in any way a couple.

valentius the dead + chivalry which is probably likewise
You can read a lot about St. Valentine because nobody actually knows anything about him.  Because the playing field is so alluringly wide open, I'm going to casually ignore all amourous glosses on the concept; that leaves me with the notion of chivalry as such - which is the real root of the irony, for this couple exhibits a breed of chivalry which was never raised in the green fields of L'Occitanian.

ADAMANTINE + THE BLUE DUKE

1.  HOW + WHY DID THEY MEET?
Well, how would be telling, wouldn't it.  They met, or they chose to meet, because they were both fish out of water & both of them fish unable to swim back to their accustomed pools.  (yay, the old exile motif)

2.  WHAT WERE THEIR FIRST IMRESSIONS?

I jolted. Countersunwise to the light I looked round and found a doorway above me, stone-keyed and red-shaded by the earthen surroundings, and occupied by a fairy who looked back down at me with a hard-bitten, angular face devoid of any judgment. But it was devoid, also, of compassion, and in a blink I was put in mind both of Miss Coventry and of a moment in the hall of the Haloed Swan which my shock had swallowed until jogged by the fairy’s reappearance. I remembered him, like one remembering a premonition. There he had been as he stood now: on the periphery of things, with that same disinterested, dispassionate expression. My eyes in shock had seen him, the one colourless thing in that sea of screaming hues, and he had seen me. He had seen me with a look like a touch—I remembered that. But I remembered also that he had turned away, as if the brush were commonplace, and he had no desire to continue the connection.

3.  HOW WOULD THEY PROVE THEIR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER?
In defiance of chivalry...I don't believe they would "prove their love."  Their regard for each other is apparent to them both, & Adamantine is far too genteel - & the Blue Duke too unsentimental - to attempt such an uncomfortable venture as "proving one's love."  

4.  WHAT WOULD BE THEIR IDEAL DATE?

A flat, sardonic smile cut across his face for an instant. With a rustle-flutter of wings, he moved to my side and pried back the cover of the book. I sat like a hare under an eagle’s eye, electrically terrified that he was so close, smelling to me of the weird, the bizarre, and something indefinable which reminded me of home.
With a word—here? there?—he indicated a page for me, full of running text which leapt shouting out at me like crowds of babel. With a crooked finger, his blue-veined hand coursed the page downward, settling beneath a line so that I saw nothing else. With his other hand, he pointed across the enclosure the animals, belly-deep in shadow and munching on their hay.
He said a word. His finger tapped the page.
Dear Lord! I sighed. He is trying to teach me Latin.

5.  IS THERE SOMETHING THEY EMPHATICALLY DISAGREE ON?

"The Blue Duke, has he not lost the honour of his people?  Is he not chattel-chained to my command?  Is he not a reed shaken by the wind?  I have no fear of him."

6.  WHAT'S ONE THING THEY KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER WHICH NO ONE ELSE KNOWS?
If there is something, we haven't got there yet.  I guess you'll have to stick around until I find out myself.

7.  WHAT'S ONE THING THEY KEEP A SECRET FROM EACH OTHER?
On the Blue Duke's part, probably 98% of what he is thinking; on Adamantine's part, probably 2%. XD

8.  HOW WOULD THEIR LIVES BE DIFFERENT WITHOUT EACH OTHER?
Upon reflection, I think the Blue Duke is spared a quiet + unobtrusive suicide - not anything to make a statement, but just to finish things off.  Adamantine herself would not be totally destitute, but there is something to be said (nyuck nyuck) for someone you can actually converse with.  

9.  WHERE DO THEY EACH SEE THIS RELATIONSHIP GOING?
I dare say it's bound to go along much the way it has been; the only thing that would upset its course would be the future as wrangled by the powers that be.  As much as is possible between them, they constitute friends, & friendship, on a peaceable track, will only improve, not change, with age.

(i skipped the question about food because a: they would be unlikely to dine in the same vicinity + b: i have no thoughts on their food at present.  check back in another two years er so i don't actually know when i'll write this story for good)

hey! that was probably super boring but it made me write for the first time in two months, so i'm not even mad. one day i'll get to this story + i'm really looking forward to it. thanks for reading!xoxo, jenny

original linkup via cait drews @ paperfury      ||     previous beautiful people post: dammerung

The 5 Books I Would Rage-Quit Immediately

I'm going to take a brief break from the Plenilune Colour Collage series to fill out an angry a book-related blog questionnaire that I was tagged in.  This tag is all about books you would utilize in violent manners (rather than read) because you have such a low opinion of them, you don't mind them getting destroyed - but you're practical, so you want to use them somehow.  Or something like that.  Look, it's a blog tag; there isn't usually an abundance of logic involved.

oh, i have an unofficial resolution to read library books this year. i hate the pressure of having to return a book so then i end up not reading them.  i intend to change that this year; subsequently, the image below is one of my own & not pilfered off borrowed from pinterest!

i was tagged by "the splendor falls on castle walls"

The 5 Books I Would Rage-Quit Immediately

AN OVER-HYPED BOOK  ||  You are in a bookstore when the zombies attack. Over the loudspeakers you hear the military announce that over-hyped books are the zombies' only weakness. What over-hyped book will you chuck at the zombies?

I'm gonna go with One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  No, I'm gonna go with the whole shelf of them because the book isn't that large (thank goodness).   Inspirational Christian literature written by women usually gives me hives just thinking about; this one, I had the misfortune of trying to read shortly after my daughter was born & I was neck-deep in postpartum anxiety + depression.  Oh yeah, it opens with a retelling of her little sister getting hit + killed by a truck.  Thanks.  That's exactly what a hormone-ravaged young mother wants to read.  Sure thing.   HELL NO.

NOTE: if you want to know where God is when life is tough & why bad things happen to people, maybe spend some time reading the Old Testament & less contemporary Christian inspirational literature.

RUNNER-UP: Game of Thrones, even though I haven't actually read any of them.  Periodically, I think, "Oh, maybe those would be cool to - " SMACK.  JENNY.  GET IT TOGETHER. 

A SEQUEL  ||   You are caught in a torrential downpour and you're probably the type who melts when you get wet. What sequel are you willing to use as an umbrella to protect yourself.

My original draft of Adamantine.  XD  I was going to go with my original draft for Ethandune, but the Adamantine draft was more substantial & would potentially provide more coverage + time to get me through the rain.  Yes, I have no qualms about using my old manuscripts as umbrellas.  They should not see the light of day anyway.

EDIT: I'm counting this as a sequel because it is looseishly tied to Plenilune & is therefore readable directly after my published novel & is kind of like a sequel if you squint + you're drunk + you don't look up the definition of "sequel" in the dictionary thanks.


A CLASSIC  ||  You're in English class and your professor won't stop going on about a classic that "revolutionized literature". Personally you think the classic is garbage and you decide to express your opinion by hurling the book at his head. What classic is that?

Ooh, that's a difficult choice.  I think I'll go with The Odyssey, followed closely (& literally) by Le Morte D'Arthur.  I can only conclude that editors were not an established demographic for literature during antiquity, otherwise the rambling saga of Odysseus' "journey" home would have been a lot shorter (I thought he didn't even want to go to Troy??).  And for being a book about the death of one of the greatest legends in British history, Le Morte D'Arthur is largely nonsense.  UTTER nonsense.  I feel like you could give the general outline of the plot to Tumblr, & Tumblr would craft a better, more interesting, + far more plausible story.

go for it, tumblr

A LEAST-FAVOURITE BOOK  ||  You're hanging out at a bookstore when global warming somehow manages to to turn the whole world into a frozen wasteland. Naturally, your only hope of survival is to burn a book. Which book would you not regret tossing into the fire?

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.  First of all, don't try rewriting so complex a book as Hosea; not a good idea.  Second: if you do, maybe try making it a little more subtle...?  Explicit allegory is good when, say, Bunyan does it - not when another inspirational female Christian author does it.  And thirdly: hEH BLEH don't write bodice-rippers in the name of Christ oh my lands.


A SERIES  ||  There's a flooded stream you have to cross on your quest and you can't get your feet wet. Which series (you have an undetectable extension charm on your purse) will you use as stepping stones?

Ironically, The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin.  I really wanted to like these!  I thought they were going to be a cool new world.  But alas, I was underwhelmed.  I am unabashedly in favour of the film "Tales From Earthsea" over the books, because the pose + plots were lacklustre to me, but the film was done by a Miyazaki, so how could you go wrong...?

there you have it, folks!  five books that make me angry + that i wouldn't hesitate to utilize at the expense of their existence.  p.s. we are of course vastly better than these books; standing on the moral high ground helps you throw when you have scant arm strength.

are you a human being? do you have an opinion? go ahead + make your own rage-quit-five posts, & be sure to share the links below!

[people who enjoyed this also enjoyed] 6 expert questions to improve the quality of your scenes+ are you a tear-jerking hack?

Plenilune Colour Collage || Indigo

Here is the fourth installment of the Plenilune Colour Collage series from yours truly the monochrome minimalist!  Irony is delicious & is best served hot.  This installment is also later than I'd like because Zzzzzzz...

[new to plenilune? not for long! kindle + paperback via amazon]

disclaimer: caveat emptor, none of these images belong to me, i'm just sayin'. but they're pretty awesome.  still just sayin'.

|| INDIGO ||

Watered down to periwinkle or concentrated into the deepest hue, what colour better embodies the changeableness of the sky? Indigo an elevating colour, indicative of advancement in the virtues; it is the colour of stability, masculinity, + lordship; it is associated with the supernatural, & in Plenilunar art it represents sapience + beatification (in tapestries + paintings, the Magi are always depicted in robes of indigo + gold for this reason).

o Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour + majesty. who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind
I notice that I use indigo least of the spectrum, & then usually as an intellectual indicator (dark blue), or to give the impression of purity (light blue). I have used it as a particularly significant motif (if it was subtle or not i don't know you'll have to tell me) as the dominant eye-colour of the House of Cheval: it goes hand-in-glove (body metaphors be jumbled) with the visionary + the ability to manipulate star-craft, also the motif functions as mental coordinates for the reader, letting him know roughly where he is + connecting him to other parts of the Plenilunar arc as a whole.

The sunlight made the whole room amber-coloured, like a woodbank in autumn, and the professor looked like a grey, narrow heron on the woodshore, robed in faded blue shades like the sky of a world which is tired of living.
lamblight

And when I say I use this colour least, I mean I could barely find any instances of it as I poured amongst my manuscripts so MAYBE I SHOULD CHANGE THAT.  Blue + green are reputedly the two most favourite colours in the spectrum & I did not mean for this to happen but evidently ONCE AGAIN I am breaking the norm in my choices.  I don't mean to be a rebel, I was just born that way. (I can foresee indigo being used more in at least one upcoming eventual down-the-line novel, but that one isn't connected to Plenilune so I'm not including it here.)

do you have the blues?

Do you have passages in your stories that showcase your use of blue?  Does it signify anything particular, or do you just really like the colour blue?  Share in the comments!
HOW TO COLLAGE || I use the LAYOUT app with images saved off PINTEREST. That way I can arrange them however I want, & presto! I have a pretty collage. That's honestly all there is to it.

thanks so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed this perspective on blue.see you soon!xoxo, jenny

scarlet collage  ||  gold collage  ||  verdigris collage

Plenilune Colour Collage || Verdigris

Welcome back, darlings!  Oh my goodness, I had such a time putting this particular colour showcase together.  I pull from my Plenilunar Pinterest boards to help me construct the collages, & apparently I'm secretly adverse to green??  I had to dig + dig to find representatives for this post!  Which strikes me as super weird because I see Plenilune with lots of today's colour.  (Maybe I'm actually super picky about my greens & I just haven't found THE PERFECT GREEN images?  Is that likely?  I mean, I'm never picky or anything...)

 [new to plenilune? check it out on amazon in kindle + honkin' fat paperback!]

disclaimer: i have no idea who took these pictures but as i have marvelous taste, clearly these photographers are amazing + if i could give them full credit, i would.

|| VERDIGRIS ||

This colour, despite its lack of representation among my pins, is probably the first impression you get of Plenilune (belated spoiler warning...?).  Verdigris is a rich, sleepy, vital, established colour, a colour with roots.  It's the colour of the land & growing things, linked with the cycling of the year, with the memories of past generations + the promise of descendants.  If I had to pick a single colour to represent Plenilune, it would be this.

Verdigris was especially helpful for me when beginning Plenilune.  With an entirely new setting to present to the reader, while at the same time making sure the setting didn't feel conjured for the sole purpose of the reader's view, verdigris + it's sense of the evergreen was crucial in subconsciously informing the reader that this setting has been here, as far as you know, forever, with its own times + rhythms, histories + hopes.  

the colour of the commonweal

As such, verdigris is traditionally considered the mark of peace, linked to (among a few others) the third heavenly house (The House of the Two Brothers) & in star-craft is typically depicted by a shorthand illustration of an evergreen branch.  (Geeky author irony is not overlooked here, considering Plenilune features a house of two brothers who most distinctly did not exchange a Green Branch in even the sketchiest peaceful sense, okay geeky-author-moment finished.)

home || health || tranquility || durability || honesty || loyalty || promise of growth
Verdigris may be one of the least-flashy colours in the Plenilunar spectrum, but it is certainly not the least important.  Conscious or receding from awareness, anyone in Plenilune has that comfortable green sense of belonging somewhere in their genius.  (The question for first-time readers is: does Margaret...?)

what is your opinion on green? 

Do you find it plays a role in your stories?  Please share your thoughts with the class! & if you write your own blog post, please link to it in the comments so we can all enjoy! :D
HOW TO COLLAGE || I use the LAYOUT app with images saved off PINTEREST. That way I can arrange them however I want, & presto! I have a pretty collage. That's honestly all there is to it.

i hope you enjoyed this new glimpse into plenilune! i'll see you soon!xoxo, jenny

scarlet collage  ||  gold collage