Story Lab: Writers Write

C.S. Lewis advice:
-be clear with what you mean, make sure that you aren't meaning something else in your sentence.
-use the direct word rather than a long, vague one.
-don't use abstract nouns, use concrete ones.. i.e. "more people died" instead of "mortality rose".
-don't use the adjectives we want people to feel but rather describe it in such a way that they will feel like that without us telling them to.
-don't use words to big for the subject or you'll not have anything else to talk about when needing that word i.e "infinitely" in place of "very".


Source: Rules for Writers by Amanda Patterson




All About Parts of Speech:
-parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection.
-noun: a naming word, identifies people, places, or things.
          common noun- identified with 'a', 'an', or 'the'.
          proper nouns- names given to people, places, days, months, ideologies, subjects or titles
          pronouns- substitutes for nouns.. i.e I, hers, myself, who
              4 types of pronouns: personal, possessive, relative and reflexive
          abstract nouns- something that cannot be seen, touched, or measured, such as a feeling or emotion
-adjectives: a word that describes a noun, 2 kinds
          attributive- stands next to a noun and describes it; usually in front of the noun
          predicative- when a verb separates it from the noun or pronoun it describes
-conjunctions: join words, sentences, phrases or clauses
    NEVER BEING A SENTENCE WITH A CONJUNCTION IN BUSINESS WRITING
-articles: give info about nouns; 'a' and 'the'
          indefinite article- 'a'
          definite article- 'the'
-pronouns: used in place of nouns referring to specific people or things
          subjective pronouns- personal pronouns: I, you, we, he , she, it.. act as the subject
          objective pronouns- personal pronouns: me, you, us, him, her, it, and them.. act as the object; being done to pronoun
           possessive pronouns: mine, yours, hers, his, ours and theirs
           reflexive pronouns- end in -self or selves
-adverbs: descriptive words used to qualify (mostly) verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
           9 type of adverbs: time, place, manner, degree, frequency, probability, duration, emphasis, interrogative
-prepositions: connect nouns and pronouns with other words in a sentence; usually give info about time, place, and direction
Source: All About Parts of Speech by Amanda Patterson

Parts of speech

Story Lab: Topic Research, Virabhadrasana's

This Wikipedia page about Virabhadrasana's or the Warrior poses is a good starting base for my research for my final story. I plan to combine all three of the Warrior poses into this story and show the progression of the story to the poses.


The first pose called Virabhadrasana I or Warrior Pose I derives from the story about Krishna's wife, Sati, killing herself because she was not invited to her father's ritual. When Krishna found out of his wife's death he snatched a lock of hair from his head, he threw it on the ground and stomped on it. From the lock on the ground rose a warrior who he named Virabhadra with Vira meaning "hero" and Bhadra meaning "friend". This warrior was created to kill Sati's father, Daksha. The pose replicates Virabhadra's arrival with swords in his hand moving up through the earth.

                  Picture information: Virabhadrasana I




The next of the series is Virabhadrasana II pose or Warrior II pose. In this pose, Virabhadra spots Daksha and moves swiftly towards him in order to kill him.

Picture information: Virabhadrasana II

The last of the series is Virabhadrasana III. Here Virabhadra beheads Daksha, Krishna arrives and sees that he is dead. Krishna then absorbs Virabhadra back into his original form and into a rabbit. After seeing the dead Daksha, Krishna is mournful and finds a head of goat to put on Daksha. This pose replicates Krishna bowing in humbleness.
In the end both Daksha and Sati are reborn.

     Picture information: Virabhadrasana III; humble warrior

Story Lab: EmpoWord

-Scope refers to boundaries of plot.. where and when it begins, the focus, background info that might be needed.
-Focus on important stuff to keep from boring the reader
-Sequence and pacing.. the order of the events and the amount of time given to each event
-Exposition- setting the scene, introducing characters, prepping for the journey
-Rising axn- things begin to happen, encounter conflict, set out on a journey, meet people
-Climax- peak of the axn, main showdown
-Falling axn- things start to wind down
-Resolution- everything is back to normal, things end
-In medias res- in the middle of things, start story with axn, then circle back to the earlier part of the story and fill in the blanks, continue on
-Can also bounce around in the story, fragments
-POV- impacts tone, mood, scope, voice, and plot
-Tone- emotional state of the narrator
-Mood- what emotions do you want your reader to feel?
- POV breakdown: 1st person (I, me, our) can include monologue, thoughts, etc
   2nd person (you, your) speaks to the reader, is the protagonist, or speaks to an absent or unidentified person.
   3rd person limited (he, himself, etc) observes and narrates but sticks near one or 2 characters
   3rd person omniscient (also third person pronouns) narrates from all knowing perspective , can include monologue and thoughts
   Stream of consciousness (uses inconsistent pronouns, or none at all) wandering and ungrammatical thought process of the narrator
-Characterization- development of characters thru axn, descriptions, and dialogue.. helps with building sympathy from reader
    Can introduce directly (thru description of them) or indirectly (thru behaviors, speech, thoughts)
-Round characters are very detailed, most important
-Flat characters are minimally detailed, briefly sketched or named, less important
-Static characters remain the same
-Dynamic characters change within the story, usually as a result of an event
-Dialogue- communication between 2 or more characters, connects reader to characters and let's them understand relationships
-Medium- way story is written via images, poetry, video, audio recording, "found" texts, illustrations, comics, journal entries, plays, blogs or social media


-See page 50 to review and get ideas on how to experiment with dialogue

Picture Info: Doge Meme

Source

Story Lab: Storybook Research

-Yoga is often used to be benefit people physically, spiritually, and mentally
-The spiritual aspects of yoga originated in ancient India and is one of the 6 schools of Hindu philosophy
-There are many schools of yoga that have been introduced and practiced throughout the many years
-The first evidence of yoga appeared in the Ramayana and Mahabharata
-There are said to be 84 classic Asanas that Lord Shiva taught

-Vriksasana or Tree Pose is probably one of my favorites and the story is said to come from the  Ramayana.. Sita was kidnapped by Ravana in hopes that one day Sita would marry him, she refused time after    time and was sent to dwell in the woods. Since Sita was the daughter of Earth she stood and chanted her husband Rama's name... here she felt even more connected with the Earth and the trees. Finally Rama sent Hanuman to rescue her. (definitely can use this story)

Picture information: Tree Pose with trees

-Virabhadrasana poses or the Warrior Poses are said to have originated when Shiva's beloved wife Sati killed herself due to her father's selfishness. When Shiva found out about her death he cut off a lock of his hair and threw it to the ground, a warrior sprung up. The three poses are the three aspects of the warrior.

Picture information:Warrior II Pose

-Akarna Dhanurasana or the Shooting Bow Pose originated in the Ramayana and was Shiva's bow which was too heavy for mortals to lift.. except for Sita. Sita's father held a contest when she was of wedding age to see who could move the bow and whoever could could marry her. Rama was able to move the bow and the rest was history. (maybe find another story, can't find any pictures labeled for reuse)

-Hanumanasana or Lord Hanuman Pose is named after Hanuman who is a demi-god. When Rama's brother Laksmana was injured in battle, Hanuman extended his legs and leapt away to Himalaya to find healing herbs.

Picture information: Hanumanasana pose

Here is a list of the Asanas