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Increase your emotional vocabulary: Editor's Notes #311 April 15, 2020 |
| Hello, my pen is my truest confidant, holding in check the passions and disappointments that I dare not share even with my beloved. —Stephanie Barron In this issue: 1. Increase your emotional vocabulary 2. Tickled my funny bone 3. Interesting Web site 4. Writing prompt 5. Writer’s Helper response to Covid-19 1. Increase your emotional vocabulary In the past two weeks, I’ve heard so many journalists addressing the fact that people are feeling grief that I stopped counting. In case you’ve missed the discussion, here is a link I suggest you click and read. https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief I believe people all over the world are grieving right now, and those who figure that out and deal with the grief will come out of this pandemic in better shape than those who miss this opportunity. Your grief may be because of the loss of a friend or loved one, or it may be because of your loss of personal freedom, or it may be because of loss of income. I miss the weekly walks I took with a good friend and that are not longer possible because of our circumstances. I grieve that loss. I encourage you to take some time to grieve whatever you have lost. All the focus on this major emotion related to Covid-19 got me thinking about the Primary classes in which I helped young children to grow their emotional vocabularies beyond glad-sad-mad. In conversations with adults, I discovered that children are not the only ones who need to expand emotional vocabularies. What about you? Try this. Grab a piece of paper and something to write with or open a blank page on your computer and list as many emotion words you can in two minutes. (Set a timer.) Don’t make rules for yourself; just write every word that seems to you to label an emotion. Would you like to have more? Happily, I found a wonderful list online, and it’s the Interesting Web site in this issue. Marinate yourself in the list. Meditate on it. Imagine you or one of your characters feeling some of the less common emotions. How would those manifest themselves? Find words that seem to you to be synonyms, then work out the subtle differences between them. How would those differences show up in something one of your characters says or does. I am not suggesting you use the words themselves in your writing, although you may decide to do so. What I advocate is that you deepen the well of emotions available to your characters by making them available to you because you write better from a deeper well. =========== 2.Tickled my funny bone Student test answer: The Hebrew slaves made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients. =========== 3. Interesting Web site Do click on this link and read the page. This may be one to bookmark. https://karlamclaren.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Emotional-Vocabulary-and-Weasel-List.pdf / =========== 4. Writing prompt Choose an emotional word from the list on the page in section #3 above, perhaps one that isn’t part of your daily vocabulary. Write a journal entry sparked by that word. =========== 5. Writer’s Helper response to Covid-19 I’m grateful for the support of our local community to this crisis, and I want to make a difference in return. Along with sharing information as it comes to me, I am offering a deep discount to writers for as long as this crisis continues. What follows is a copy and paste from issue number 309. It’s still in force for you and anyone you choose to tell about it. Along with the health threat hanging over the world, we are facing a huge financial hit. I’ve decided one thing I can do is to make quality editing less expensive during this trying time. For subscribers to Editor’s Notes and their friends, I am suspending the fee for the sample edit to anyone using the code EN19 until I cancel this offer. I intend to keep this offer open as long as the world is in crisis with Covid-19 and its aftermath, so watch this space. I will give a warning here before I pull this offer. You can submit your writing sample at https://www.writershelper.com/sample-edit.html Be sure to click the link below the heading "Promotion Code" to get to the special form for a free sample edit. If you find yourself at a form before clicking the special link, scroll slowly back up the page, and you should see the link for the code (EN19). But it gets better… When I return an edited writing sample, I include quotes for the full range of my editing services. Until further notice, I will give a true quote, but I will not charge writers the full amount. I am discounting my services 50% for subscribers to Editor’s Notes and their friends. I will give a warning here before I pull this offer. Feel free to pass this offer along to any writing friends you think may be interested. As long as anyone uses the code, I’ll honour the offer. This is what I can offer you in this time of crisis. I hope it encourages you as you face possible illness and financial uncertainty. All the best to you as you continue to write. =========== Join Writer's Helper Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WritersHelperEditor Follow me on Twitter @AudreytheEditor Link on LinkedIn https://ca.linkedin.com/in/audreyowen (Email me first so I know how you know me.) =========== If you know a writer who would appreciate receiving Editor's Notes, forward this issue. If someone has passed this on to you, you can get your own free subscription by signing up at https://www.writershelper.com/newsletter.html |
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