Day 22 ‘V’ NaNoWriMo Types of verbs

“Words had an energy and power and I came to respect that power early. Pronouns, nouns, and verbs were citizens of different countries, who really got together to make a new world” (Audre Lorde, interviewed by Karla M. Hammond, Denver Quarterly, Spring 1981).

This will be a short post for the letter ‘V’

A verb shows the state of being, the subjects action, state of being ( am, are is, have been, was seem) or equation.

A verb shows an action: runs, jumps, is going, has been cleaning.

Typically verb tenses past, present, or future.

Helping verbs; had and been.

A two-word main verb: show up.

Complete verb  (I am paddling in the pool) or not complete verb  (I paddling in the pool)

Voices that are active, passive, middle (when the subject of the verb does action unto itself.) and imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, (same aspect as perfect yet results of that action moved farther into the past, translation for pluperfect is “I had loosened”) or aorist (this isn’t a tense at all it describes indefinite or underlined action. Latin word aoristos meaning ‘without boundaries or “I have loosened”)

Verb tense aorist: “… in Classical Greek, expressing action or, in the indicative mood, past action, without further limitation or implication.” ~

Then there are the moods: Indicative, Imperative, Subjunctive, Jussive, and Optative. Optative has shown up in the New Testament as a wish/prayer or potential statement.


Here is another ‘V ‘for today. ‘V’ For Valar.

The Valar, which are John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s creation.

As you are creating your own world, take some time to delve into the amazing world of Tolkien’s mythology.

The Valarare characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium. They are “angelic powers” or “gods” subordinate to the one God they are the most powerful of the Ainur who chose to go into the World (Arda) ~ Wikipedia

Day 21 ‘U’ University Presses find a publishers

Day 21



Example: “The Ballade of Dead Ladies,”
“Tell me now in what hidden way is
Lady Flora the lovely Roman?”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti [1828-1882] Read the rest HERE







Just to name a few:
University of Alabama Press
University of Illinois Press
University of North Texas Press
Manchester University Press
University of Notre Dame Press
Oxford University Press
The University of West Indies Press
Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Yale University Press

Check out the amazing list of University Presses.



‘U’ for University Presses.



Day 20 Nanowrimo letter ‘T’ Twain’s Stretchers

Twain’s humor











Thrown for snicks and grins, Shakespeare’s humor Example:




Yes, I know, ‘S’ Day 19.

Day 19 Nanowrimo  ‘S’ Narrative slaying choices

Day 19 *Narrative Slaying Choices



Finding a subject for today’s post was literally easy.
Just Googling: Googling the letter ‘s’ term in writing a novel

I found Scribendi : A Glossary of Fiction Writing Terms


Satire: I love this definition; “…criticize people’s stupidity or vices,..”
Setting: “place, time and condition “….a story takes place.
Simile: comparing one thing with a different thing using,’like or as’
Subject: “what the story is about”
Subplot: minor plot in a story flowing alongside the main plot
Symbol: “something that stands for something else”
Synecdoche: a word or phrase refers to a whole. Example: ‘sails’ referring to a whole ship, ‘hired hands’ referring to workers.
Syntax: Words put together to form dialogue, phrases, clauses

Those are great words starting with ‘S’ but not the one I decided to use for this example. Slayer. I read this term in ‘Story Structure Architect’  Writer’s Digest Books (2005)

This is where this word, ‘Slayer’ started along a slippery slope of selections. Even an anti-hero will choose to kill or not.

In this book, the use of ‘Slayer’ is used as a situation.

1. Slaying a family member for the greater good. (Justifiable homicide?)

2. Then there is the Slayer who is ‘not known’ to the protagonist, (kidnapper, serial killer)

3. Or the one that is known. (Maybe a Stalker, a neighbor, or the magic creature living in your garage)

4. Then there is the Slayer who challenges a situation. (I know this one. Here you stand up for what you believe in and get fired. )

All four of these are situations; situations used with a choice to kill, metaphoric or literally. Subplots or main plots.With  situations that needs to be overcome with Chutzpah (audacity; nerve.)

An example of this type is in the story ‘The Transporter’ where the main character goes against what he was hired to do. He decides to not follow the ‘rules or laws that harm’ this is where the protagonist’s beliefs come into play, what he or she thought was right, no longer works for the protagonist.

Think of it in terms where you got this great job and loved following the rules. Then one day you saw that your company’s beliefs, and yours, had parted company. You can’t take it anymore, and told them so. You saw something happen that could potentially hurt others and you were done with it. This would be challenging the status quo. Slaying the dragon that is your boss or co-workers, then showing the backlash of that decision.

Slayer and recognized victim: the Slayer knows the victim and believes in his core with what has to be done. Could be a little off…did I say little! The Slayer needs to have his own internal dialogue that will convince himself to do the deed.

Think of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ she has her reason for killing, vampires, demons, and any supernatural evil being and as the reader we except this Slaying, we even agree.

Slayer and unrecognized victim: a person the Slayer is hired to kill then he decides not to. Example of the victims; kidnapped a hired killer, a person who gets in-between, accidentally and now is dragged along to save their life.

These are choices that the protagonist makes that move the story forward. They are made with using life or death situation.

I thought this could also be described as the choice that changes the character for better or for worse. Their inner conflicts and dilemmas and how your protagonist chooses, but with a little more close up detail on the need and want. Where we give our protagonist a reason to take a stand. Back him or her into a corner where they have to choose. Make that hard choice to show their hearts or let the voices in their heads take over.

Once they decide they become the Slayers of their demons then the story unfolds.
Their choices can be used as a subplot as in ‘Sophie’s Choice’ Slaying of a loved one.

I bet if you tried you can see this narrative choice running through your favorite stories. Some as main storylines other as subplots.

I recommend ‘ Story Structure Architect’   The author-Victoria Lynn Schmidt- places the Slayer situation with an example of Beginning -Middle and End.

Day 18 #NaNowrimo ‘R’ Research without telling a thumper

Research! Research! Research!




Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels

Finding this information on your own can be overwhelming.

The difficult history of Russian Jews


Nautical Language Here…





Check out your own local library online resources.

U.S. History: Here 

Internet History HERE

Teaching History

Authors Guild HERE

Ben Jelloun, Tahar La nuit sacrée


For images  check out pixabay

Day 17 ‘Q’ Questing plot asking Quem Quaeritis NaNoWriMo

Day 17 ‘Q’









Here are examples of a Quest plotline:

Beowulf  by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet
Jason & the Argonauts  from Greek mythology
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Raiders of the Lost Ark by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman.
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Harry Potter By J.K. Rowling
The Gunslinger By Stephen King
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
A Wizard of Earthsea By Ursula K. Le Guin


Photo by Simon Migaj from Pexels foot prints in snow

Day 16 Plot for Nanowrimo letter ‘P’ find your story’s why

This will be a short blog post. A winter cold caught up with me, and my head is aching.


“Let us define a plot. We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. ‘The king died and then the queen died,’ is a story. ‘The king died, and then the queen died of grief,’ is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it. Or again: “the queen died, no one knew why, until it was discovered that it was through grief at the death of the king.”— E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel

Narrative events. Dramatic action and structure of the story. The basic part of the story holds the ‘who, what, and where’. The plot is the ‘why’ of the story.

Going back to the queen you can read all the information showing you ‘who’ she was? The queen.

And where does she live, – in the castle

And what’s going on in her life?  Her husband just died.

I wonder why he died?  And, why did she die of grief?

Photo by Alain Frechette from Pixels

The curiosity of those ‘whys’ has the story moving along on its crisis, conflict, and the set up to the plot.


The plot. She died from grief.  So, we ask, ‘why’? Why did she die from grief?  Maybe the big question was, why did the king die? Finding those answers brings up to  the conflict the crisis, the plot.




Here is the link back to Day 15 ‘O’ for a kiss Outline-A simple  basic outline

Day 15 ‘O’ for a kiss outline Nanowrimo

Todays walk was cold, snowy, with pastel colors caught in the moment. Looking like a  Claude Monet winter scene painting.

And I forgot my camera…

Looking closer I spot tracks in the snow, rabbits, raccoons, opossum, rat, ground squirrels and the birds shaking down the seeds still holding tight to the tops of frozen wildflowers. Floating over the newly fallen snow.

Going out on a snowy day is like following an outline to the story of the day. Those tracks can steer me to newly dug borrows, traces of a fight, or an area packed down after a full nights sleep or a few minutes of catching their breath.

Who is your main character? The rabbit? The raccoon? Or a family of deer? How about tigers?

You will pick up companions that want to join the story.  You will follow those tracks picking up figurative breadcrumbs. Being shown new characters that joined the rabbit’s path.

Possibly, at the stories  end  you would have seen  a herd of deer disappearing under trees. Magical helpers? Heroes?

Photo by Anthony from Pexels

An outline for a novel can have 60 or more scenes. So that Fuzzy rabbit will be a very busy-bunny-hopping around maybe humming a song, until he needs to find Ricky the raccoon, who didn’t come home last night.

You don’t have to lay out every hop, skip, and jump at this point.

Just get the entire plotline out on paper, just the basic outline.


Keep it simple stupid. {{GRIN}}

The first outline you write is very basic.
Who is your main character?
Where is the story happening?
What needs to be done?
Who or what is the antagonist?
How does the antagonist slow down the protagonist?
What happens at the end?

Act One:
The setup. Where is all this taking place?
The inciting incident-the crisis. What just happened?
Stakes are raised. If you don’t help what will happen?
Should I go and help or should I stay home? Why risk everything for Ricky the raccoon? When the pretty Susie Skunk bats her big eyes at him. Now, we know why he went looking for Ricky the Raccoon.

In Act Two:
You can add a ticking clock. A snowstorm was moving in, to follow those tracks you have a limited time before they are covered with snow.
Have roadblocks to jump out at Fuzzy.  They grow more difficult; until-Fuzzy needs to face the antagonist….

Act Three:

The final battle is where Fuzzy rabbit steps up and fights for her beliefs and saves Ricky Raccoon’s life. The fight can be a coyote, a human or that approaching snowstorm.

With a happy ending, they dance all the way back home.
Sad ending, we let the camera pan out over a battlefield.

Remember. Keep it simple stupid. {{GRIN}}

Day 14 ‘N’ for writer’s notebooks or Nanowrimo


Photo by Jess Watters from Pexels


Worrying Pearls

by Gerardine Baugh

A few words, in my notebook- of odd thoughts.
Surprising about today was the cold
it froze my nose as if January.
Ice beckoning to me, in one great fall,
while sun passed overhead, inline struggling
with melting ice, ice set to keep its shape.
I could taste the hint of snow in the air.
I realized, my snow thrower was checked
Inspecting its inners. Will it still work?
Nor did I check dark corners of the barn
brushing aside abandoned spiderwebs
digging out shovels. Winter has started.
I don’t want to give it deeper power
by conceding its power over me.
My Notebooks filling with lines of odd thought.
A few words or a full chapter scribbled
into many notebooks taking up space
like a gnome on my shelf, making me smile,
Releasing ideas for characters,
places to have them act out and struggle.
Spit, swear, surely worrying pearls with words
my notebook written one cold November.



I was flipping through W. Sumerset Maugham’s Writer’s Notebook.





day 13 the letter ‘M’ do you feed your Motivation

The Letter ‘M’ for  Motivation

I could use this word to swear, stomp my feet and bang my head on a feather pillow.

After pulling words out of my muse for the past 12 days, I will accept day 13 as my good luck day. Tuesday, November 13, 2018, a very lucky day.

Photo by Sudipta Mondal from Pexels

I have made it to day 13. I am still writing loads of horrible scat. I will use that word, ‘scat’   with the implication  of music, jazz with a beat, a sound that has me tapping my toes as my fingers dance across my keyboard.

Hey, don’t take that away from me, the music –words- are flowing –with coffee and lots of eye pain.

So let’s get on with this ‘motivating’ day, with a little swing in your step and broken lead in your pencils.

How to find motivation on this 13th day, of NaNoWriMo

First I set up what I want to get done in the morning the night before.

I don’t write down my schedule. What I do –as I am falling asleep is go over what I need to do first thing, starting at the moment I open my eyes.

Then as the day starts  before I even open my  eyes, I am going over my story ideas.

Before I even get out of bed- I stretch. Pulling out the kinks in my back. I spend some time on a few yoga stretches. Then, I roll out of bed and immediately fix my bed.

My day starts on myself. Then I feed my pets, make coffee, and turn on my computer. By the time I have butt-in-seat, my fingers are hovering over my computer’s keys dripping words out on the page.

My characters motivations: Physical such as food, water, a home, a family, painful death, beliefs, exercise, the hiccups even the taste for ice cream.

Characters have the same motivations as we do. Picture your characters motivation as your own. Feel their emotional side; love, hate, longing, your character’s motivations for dating, for hate, or sadness.

Motivations move my day along. A motivation for my characters moves the plot forward. Giving them a reason for moving through their story and mine.

My Walking Path