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THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

7/19/2019

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A NATURAL WONDER OF THE WORLD
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, the reef is the largest living thing in the world. That's right. It's alive. It is the only living thing visible from space.
Image Credit: NASA - Photo Source:                   Image Credit: NASA/Gsfc/Larc/Jpl, Misr Team                          Image Credit: NASA - Photo source:
www.pinterest.de/539235755362862894/             Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef         www.impactlab.net/2009/Great Barrier Reef
 
​This 1,800 mile long ecosystem was deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981. It encompasses hundreds of tropical islands and three thousand reef systems and coral cays. It houses a multitude of species: 6oo types of soft and hard corals, 100 species of jelly fish, colorful fish, 20 types of reptiles, mollusks, crocodiles, turtles, 30 species of whales and dolphins, and sharks. Sizes range from microscopic to larger than you want to meet face to face, and the innumerable vivid colors boggle the mind.
                                                                                            
 Fish ▼ PhotoSource:                           Emperor angelfish ▼ PhotoSource:           Irukandji ▼PhotoSource:             ChristmasTreeWorm ▼ PhotoSource:
www.changesinlongitude.com/               www.australiantraveller.com/GBF             www.thetimes.co.uk/killer-jellyfish            www.GBR.com.au/worms 
Lion Fish  ▲  PhotoSource:                      Shark  ▲   PhotoSource:                        Green Sea Turtle ▲ ImageCredit:          Dugong  ▲  PhotoSource:
news.co.cr/tournament/lion-fish            guardian.ng/shark-great-barrier-reef     Photo by Poseidon Outer Reef Cruises      www.telegraph.co.uk/dugongs
​__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                 Sapsucking Sea Slug▼PhotoSource:    CrownOfThorns Starfish▼Image:         SpottedEagleRay▼PhotoSource:
 New species▼PhotoSource:      www.pinterest.com/30047522494940341        John Hanson/Wikimedia Commons              www.tripadvisor.com/barrierreef
                                                                                                                                    PhotoSource: www.seychellesnewsagency.com/​    
The Great Barrier Reef is also unique as it extends over 14 degrees of latitude, from shallow estuarine areas to deep oceanic waters. The average depth is 35 meters in waters close to shore, but some areas extend down to 2,000 meters.

In 1975 The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act was passed, which extends into the airspace above to the earth beneath the seabed. In 1981 it was deemed a UNESCO heritage site.
​
HOW IS A CORAL REEF MADE?
Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria [You really needed to know that, right? Sorry.] They live in compact colonies of many genetically identical individual polyps [nodules]. The polyps are small, only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in length. They are sac-like animals with a set to tentacles around a central mouth opening.
 ▼https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coral_polyp_en.svg
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​ The group that make up the colony includes reef builders that secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. This exoskeleton [the bony structure is outside the animal, rather than on the inside, like mammals] is excreted near the base of the polyp. It requires many generations for the colony to create a large exoskeleton which we call a coral reef.

Individual heads grow by asexual reproduction of polyps, but corals also breed sexually by spawning. Polyps of the same species release a specialized reproduction cell [male or female] with half the number of chromosomes. The cells unite to produce a cell which may develop into coral. About 75% of all corals reproduce sexually.

Corals catch fish and plankton using the stinging cells in their tentacles which carry venom, but the largest part of their diet and nutrition is obtained through photosynthetic cells [Symbiodinium]. These corals live in clear, shallow water, at about 200 feet.

Typically, each polyp harbors one species of algae. Via photosynthesis, these provide energy for the coral, and aid in calcification. As much as 30% of the tissue of a polyp may be algal material. Other corals that don't have a symbiotic relationship can live in deeper and colder water, surviving as deep as 9,800 feet, although the Great Barrier Reef does not have that depth.

CORAL IN A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT
Photos of coral living in the Great Barrier Reef. Coral are incredible. They come in many types and colors. asiNo wonder the Great Barrier Reef and others have become such tourist attractions, attracting divers from all parts of the world.
Although most coral polyps have transparent [clear] bodies and their exoskeletons are white, their vibrant colors are derived from the zooxanthellae [algae] living inside their tissues. There are several million of these organisims producing pigments in one square inch of coral, and these pigments are seen through the clear body of the polyp. The zooxanthellae use photosynthesis to survive. The coral reef itself provides, in addition to safety, the carbon dioxide needed by the organisms for photosynthesis.
Montastrea cavemosa                 Brain Coral                                 Soft Coral                               Goniopora Coral–PhotoSource:    Mushroom Coral              
https://kids.kiddle.co/Coral       marinebio.org/coral-reefs/   
THE ENDANGERED GREAT BARRIER REEF
There are a number of factors that threaten the continuation of a healthy Great Barrier Reef. Not only tourism, although essentially under control now, but also runoff from the mainland, climate changes, mass coral bleaching, and cyclical population outbreaks of the Crown-of-Thorns starfish. The combination has resulted in a loss of more than half the coral of the reef between 1985 and 2012.

● Tourism
Because The Great Barrier Reef is so beautiful and offers so many activity options, over two million visitors come to see the reef every year. As tourism grows, the concern over protecting the reef grows. The reef suffers from tourists walking on the reef, anchors dragged and dropped on the reef, pollution from boats and humans and, of course, the human propensity for breaking off parts of the reef to take home as a souvenirs.
 PhotoSource: www.thetourspecialists.com.au/great-barrier-reef                                        Photo Source: lostinaustralia.org/gallery     
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​Nonetheless, a large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which controls on much of the reef. Because the activities are spread over a huge area, and are not concentrated, tourism is not the biggest threat so far. Local operators understand the potential problems and are sensitive to protecting the reef, since it is their livelihood.

A great deal of attention goes to managing the visitors and local activities in a way that doesn't threaten the long-term health of the reefs and the ecosystem. After all, tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over 3 billion Australian dollars per year.

​● Coral Bleaching
Another major threat to the reef is coral bleaching. When corals are stressed from such things as heat, carbon pollution, or severe cold, they expel the zooxanthellae, their major source of food, leaving a transparent skeleton. Some coral are able to feed themselves, but most starve without the algae.
PhotoSource: www.pbs.org/newshour/global-warming
           ▼Normal                               ▼Bleached
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The bleached coral is not necessarily dead, and if the abnormal conditions cease and stability is maintained, the coral may regain the algae and eventually recover, but it takes a long time. For example, the ocean temperature rising one degree Celsius for a period of four week will trigger coral bleaching. If the temperature remains for over eight weeks, the coral begins to die and will not recover.
​                 PhotoSource:  https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/ ▼
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ccording to biologist Dave Vaughn of the Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration in Florida, according to studies, “even the fastest growing corals need 10 to 15 years to fully recover.” https://www.livescience.com/64647-coral-bleaching.html
​Then it will look like the photo to the right.

Unfortunately, the biggest threats to coral are global warming and carbon pollution in the air caused by the mining and use of coal. Recent reports indicate that coral bleaching is more widespread than believed previously. This is a serious situation, since at least 25% of all marine life depends on coral reefs at one point or another.
Crown Of Thorns Starfish ▼ ImageCredit: . John Hanson/Wikimedia Commons
PhotoSource: www.seychellesnewsagency.com/crown-of-thorns+starfish
Picture
● Crown-of-Thorns Starfish Infestations
Coral has natural enemies as well as its man-made adversaries. Crown-of-thorns starfish are marine invertebrates that feed on coral. Although they are natural inhabitants of the reef, certain conditions cause the population to expand, and they can wipe out the hard coral communities​.  Healthy reefs can recover in ten to twenty years, but those reefs already under stress take much longer.
​                                                                                                     Cyclone damage to GBR ▼ April 2014 - Image: Catlin Seaview Survey
                                                                                                                                     PhotoSource: https://mashable.com/2014/06/19/great-barrier-reef-cyclone/
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​● Tropical Cyclones
The coral reef’s natural resistance to the effects of weather events has not been able to adapt to the shifting weather patterns resulting from climate change. Harmful weather events [tropical cyclones, wind, and rain] are more intense and more frequent in the last twenty to thirty years and they affect different locations. Such storms do extensive physical damage to the reefs [as seen in the photo] and are considered a major threat.

Cyclones are low-pressure systems that derive their energy from warm tropical oceans — they form when sea-surface temperature is above 26.5°C.

PUT THIS ON YOUR BUCKET LIST TO VISIT 
​
Sources:
http://www.oceanwideimages.com/Large-Image.asp?pID=14154&cID=635&rp=search%252Easp%253Fs%253DFish%2BGreat%2BBarrier%2BRee
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8753630/Mass-starvation-of-dugongs-and-turtles-on-Great-Barrier-Reef.html
https://earthnworld.com/climate-change-turning-green-sea-turtles-female-great-barrier-reef/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/australia-s-great-barrier-reef-under-threat
http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/world/australia/newsletter-issue5-great-barrier-reef.html?_r=0
  https://www.barrierreef.org/latest/news/coral-bleaching-update
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef/facts-about-the-great-barrier-reef
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall11/clark_j/whatshappening.html
http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/03/amazing-close-up-video-of-great-barrier-reef-animals/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/photogalleries/marine-new-species-photos/photo6.html
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html
https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/
https://www.livescience.com/64647-coral-bleaching.html
https://metro.co.uk/2017/11/07/mysterious-hole-found-in-great-barrier-reef-leads-to-incredible-discovery-7059490/
https://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/killer-starfish-eating-up-great-barrier-reef.html
https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-polyps/
https://sciencing.com/coral-reefs-come-many-colors-5434662.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-global-warming-is-permanently-reshaping-the-great-barrier-reef
https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/
https://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/our-work/threats-to-the-reef/climate-change/storms-and-cyclones

Photo Sources only:
https://www.changesinlongitude.com/free-things-to-do-in-cairns-australia/
https://www.thetourspecialists.com.au/travel-tips/great-barrier-reef/travel-tips-great-barrier-reef-faqs.313.html
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/killer-irukandji-jellyfish-threaten-tourists-at-great-barrier-reef-s0q6ws8x5
https://guardian.ng/news/boy-bitten-by-shark-in-australias-great-barrier-reef/
https://tropicdays.com.au/great-barrier-reef-trip-coral-types/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g297910-d8831222-Great_Barrier_Reef_Taiwan_Snorkel_tour_at_reef-Taichung.html
https://news.co.cr/fishing-tournament-costa-ricas-south-caribbean-capture-lionfish/66233/lion-fish-2/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8753630/Mass-starvation-of-dugongs-and-turtles-on-Great-Barrier-Reef.html
https://www.australia.com/en/places/cairns-and-surrounds/guide-to-the-great-barrier-reef.html
https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-polyps/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/05/secret-coral-reefs-tiny-fish-excel-dying/590092/
http://www.impactlab.net/2009/07/25/legramazing-satellite-images-of-earths-natural-wonders-from-space/
 


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THE POWER OF THE FIRST LINE

7/12/2019

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Matthew 19:30 – “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

THE FIRST WILL BE LAST
The first line of your book may be the last you write to finalize your novel. The first line you write will be the place holder until something better comes to mind, but at the very end, after the book is finished, you’ll most likely end up writing a new first line.
​
My message here is “Don’t spend a lot of time writing the first line or first chapter over and over.” Move on. Finish the novel. Then rewrite the first line and paragraph.
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'RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES
Common Wisdom in the writing world claims the opening line sells your book and the closing line sells your next book. Whether that wisdom is accurate or not, most writers seem to agree the first line of a novel is oh, so very important. Some believe it can make or break your novel.
​
Think of the first line as a headline in a newspaper. This is what attracts the reader’s attention. It has to be intriguing enough to make the reader want to read the second line, and then the one after that.
Think about it. A reader wanders through the bookstore (or in this electronically oriented world, wanders through a website), spots a catchy cover, and picks up the book. Or, perhaps, this reader goes directly to the shelves holding the desired genre and studies the titles and author’s names. Next, read the cover blurb. “Hmm. That sounds interesting.” And then the reader opens the book and skims the first paragraph.

That’s when you have to hit ’em between the eyes. Knock ’em dead. It’s the first thing they read of the story itself, the first impression. You’ve only got a few seconds to sink in your teeth. It better be good.

If an author doesn’t make the effort to sculpt the words of the first line into a masterpiece, what level of attention has he/she taken with the key moments in the novel when interpretative pressure is at its peak, when capturing a complete fictional world is at its most pressing?  As one writer put it, “Screw up the opening, screw up the book.”

WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO
So, how does a writer come up with the perfect first line? I wish I knew. If there was a failsafe formula, someone would be out there selling it and making a bundle. Instead, there are a plethora of opinions and guidelines—things an author should and should not do—and those vary to some extent. They all agree it should be intriguing and capture the reader’s interest. It’s the how of it they disagree on. Well, maybe not even the how, but more what is interesting and compels the reader to go on.
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The Opening Line Should:
● Be intriguing,
● Hint of things to come,
● Be compelling,
● Establish an intriguing question
   Make the reader want to find out more,
● Set the tone and flavor of the book
   Show what kind of book it is,
● Incorporate the mood or theme of the story.
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Suzannah Windsor Freeman adds the following to the list:
(writeitsideways.com/6-ways-to-hook-your-readers)

“● Make your readers wonder.
Put a question in your readers’ minds. What do those first lines mean?  What’s going to happen? Intrigue with unanswered questions and they’ll keep reading.
● Begin at a pivotal moment.
  By starting at an important moment in the story, the reader is more likely to want to continue so he or she can discover what will happen next.
● Create an interesting picture.
  Description is good when it encourages people to paint a picture in their minds. Often, simple is best so it’s the reader who imagines a scene, instead of simply being told by the author.
● Introduce an intriguing character.
   The promise of reading more about a character you find intriguing will, no doubt, draw you into a story’s narrative. Most often, this is one of the main characters in the book.
● Start with an unusual situation.
   Show us characters in unusual circumstances, and we’ll definitely be sticking around to see what it’s all about.
● Begin with a compelling narrative voice.
   Open your story with the voice of a narrator we can instantly identify with, or one that relates things in a fresh way.”

In her book Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction author Patricia Highsmith suggest putting motion or a moving element (like a train or car) into the first line.

● Include something which moves and gives action 
  Highsmith encourages action rather than a sentence like, ‘The moonlight lay still and liquid on the pale beach’.” Showing rather than telling. “The movement needn’t be as noticeable as the examples I listed earlier. It can be more subtle like a door that closes and the character leans against the wall…”
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The Opening Line Should Not Be:
● Bland or trite … or just plain boring.
● An overused references to the weather or time of the year.
  If you choose to write about the weather, be careful. You run the risk of inviting comparisons to “It was a dark and stormy night,” (Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s classic first line from his 1830 novel, Paul Clifford) and your book won’t stand a chance.
● Overwritten
   Too often the writing sounds like the author is trying to impress someone (an agent or editor) with the prose, rather giving a sense of the story or drama.
● Cliché
   Watch out for both choice of words and/or the concept.
● Prologue
   Jeff Vasishta, writing for the Institute of Writers, includes prologues in the do-not category. “Take this one with a grain of salt. Many agents hate them but I’ve read a few books recently that have great prologues. Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest springs to mind. The author received $1,000,000 advance for the novel, which went on to be a best seller. So, agents don’t always know what they’re talking about.” www.instituteforwriters.com/opening-lines
The pro and cons of prologues is another topic which should be addresses separately.
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With the exception of the prologue issue, I’d venture to say that most authors, editors, and agents agree on the above don’ts. Beyond these, references include advice not everyone may agree with.
● Dialogue
   Suzannah feels dialogue is all right somewhere on the first or second page, but not in the first
   line. She feels the reader won’t know who’s speaking or care.
● Excessive description
   Some description is good, but not when it’s long winded. Skip the purple prose and opt for something more powerful.
● Irrelevant information
   The first few lines of your story are crucial, so give your reader only important information.
● Introduction of too many characters
   I’m not sure how you introduce too many characters in one line, but I suppose it is possible. Suzannah doesn’t like to be bombarded with the names of too many characters at once. How is the reader supposed to keep them straight?
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​WHAT FORM SHOULD IT TAKE?
The form of the first sentence is not the same as the opening should do or not do. Feel free to disagree with me, but I believe they are not the same thing … well, not exactly, anyway.
​
Jacob M. Appel, a Writer’s Digest contributor, provides the following direction by listing the seven things he believes are different approaches to writing the “Killer Opening Line.” (https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-ways-to-create-a-killer-opening-line-for-your-novel)

● A statement of eternal principle
   ▪ “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of
   a wife." (Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)
   ▪ “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” (Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina ).”

● A statement of simple fact
   Of course, these have to be telling facts. The examples listed do the job.
   ▪ “I had a farm in Africa.” (Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa)
   ▪ “It was a pleasure to burn.” (Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451)
   ▪ “I am an invisible man.” (Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man).

● A statement of paired facts
  One fact may not be particularly interesting or compelling. Paired with another fact that makes the reader think, “That’s odd,” raises a question and makes the reader want to find out more. The example Appel uses is from Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter:
   ▪ “In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together.”
Two mutes always together is unusual. So, what’s up?

● A statement of simple fact laced with significance
   The key to understanding the story, or solving the mystery, or discovering a character’s secret, etc. can be hidden in the first line. The reader usually forgets until the mystery is revealed.

● A statement to introduce voice
   A first line can be used primarily to introduce a distinctive voice, rather than character or plot. Appel writes, “Stories that begin with a highly unusual voice often withhold other craft elements for a few sentences—a reasonable choice, as the reader may need to adjust to a new form of language before being able to absorb much in the way of content.”

“● A statement to establish mood
     Contextual information not directly related to the story can often color our understanding of the coming narrative. Take Sylvia Plath’s opening to The Bell Jar: “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” While the Rosenberg execution has nothing to do with the content of the narrative, it sets an ominous tone for what follows.” Jacob M. Appel,

“● A statement that serves as a frame.
Sometimes, the best way to begin a story is to announce that you’re about to tell a story. English storytellers have been doing this since at least the first recorded use of the phrase Once upon a time.” Jacob M. Appel,
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​ASK YOURSELF “WHY?”
We all have our favorite first lines, .and it’s always interesting to compare advice with published books to assess whether or not the words of wisdom hold true. When you do that, however, don’t look at the same old first lines. Look at the contemporary best sellers.

Trends change. What editors and agents are looking for today may not be the same as ten years ago. At one point, advice was to begin with conflict but, in fact, it depends on the kind of novel. The field of fiction writing accommodates many approaches to writing, and they can all be good. If it works, it works!

Ask yourself why a particular opening or first line works for you? Literary agent, Rachelle Gardner, writes that when she considered her favorite first lines, and asked herself why she like them, “I found each one appealed to me for a different reason. It might have:
● been clever
● been thought-provoking
● brought an immediate smile (or stab) of recognition
● struck me as poignant
● painted a really cool word picture
● set up an intriguing mystery
● introduced a character I want to know better
● made me laugh
● drawn me into an unfamiliar world
● used words in a beautiful way

The one thing they all have in common is they make me want to read more. They immediately draw me into the universe of the novel by the unique voice that first line begins to establish.” (https://rachellegardner.com/that-all-important-first-line/)

A SHORT PARAGRAPH ABOUT PARAGRAPHS
The fiction writing industry usually talks about the impact of The killer First Line. It’s great to be able to hook a reader with a single line – they are very handy as tag lines -- but I believe what we should be talking about is first paragraphs.

Many of the great “first lines” are more than one sentence. My advice: as long as the reader will read the whole paragraph (or as many lines in the paragraph for the hook) don’t sweat it. Some books will require more than one or two lines to create the hook. Read the list of first lines below.

COMPARISONS
When I first wrote this article, I listed a sampling of the first lines I’ve collected over the years; some good, some not-so-good. There was quite a variety, and several were first paragraphs rather than first lines. Quite a few were penned by mystery writer Dick Francis who, in my opinion, is one of the Masters of the First Line.
​
For this edition, I took Jeff Vasishta’s advice and looked at books that have been on the best seller list in 2019. Some of them clearly need more than the first and second lines to create the impact the author wants. These are in no particular order.
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● WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens
“Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water grows into the sky.”
​
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● CRUCIBLE by James Rollins
June 23, 1611 AD
Zugarramurdi, Spain
“Behind the iron bars, the witch knelt on a filthy bed of straw and prayed to God.”
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● LIAR LIAR by James Patterson and Candice Fox
“SOMETHING WAS NOT RIGHT.
 Dr. Samantha Parish noticed an odor as she pulled the door of her Prius closed.”
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● AN ANONYMOUS GIRL by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
“You’re Invited: Seek women aged 18 to 32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality conducted by a preeminent psychiatrist. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. Call for Details.”
​
It’s easy to judge other people’s choices.”
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​● THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris
Prologue
Lale tries not to look up. H reaches out to take the paper being handed to him.  He must transfer the five digits onto the girl that held it.
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● THE RECKONING by John Grisham
Part I – The Killing
On a cold morning in early October of 1946, Peter Banning awoke before sunrise and had no thoughts of going back to sleep. For a long time he lay in the center of his bed, stared at the dark ceiling, and asked himself for the thousandth time if he had the courage. Finally as the first trace of dawn peeked through a window, he accepted the solemn reality it was time for the killing.
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● PLAYING FOR KEEPS by Jill Shalvis
“Sadie Lane walked through the day spa, closing up for the night, alone as usual. Her coworkers had left, but even if they hadn’t, they’d just be milling around with their expensive teas, complaining about how hard this job was.”
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● ANATOMY OF A DISAPPEARANCE by Hisham Matar
“There are times when my father’s absence is as heavy as a child sitting on my chest. Other times I can barely recall the exact features of his face and must bring out the photographs I keep in an old envelope in the drawer of my bedside table. There has not been a day since his sudden and mysterious vanishing that I have not been searching for him, looking in the most unlikely places.”
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● BEHOLD THE DREAMERS by Imbolo Mbue’s 
“He’d never been asked to wear a suit to a job interview. Never been told to bring along a copy of his resumé. He hadn’t even owned a resumé until the previous week when he’d gone to the library on Thirty-fourth and Madison and a volunteer career counselor had written one for him…”​
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● HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the l ast people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they didn’t hold with such nonsense.”


If you want to pursue this further, this is the link to the American Book Review List of the One Hundred Best First Lines in American literature (novels) http://americanbookreview.org/100BestLines.asp.

I can’t say that a lot of those 100 Best resonate with me. Quite a few break one or two of suggestions about what not to do when writing a first line. Others, while they are first lines from great works of literature, aren’t exactly catchy as stand-alone opening lines.

I believe the first lines considered good and great may vary depending both time and location. For example, in my opinion, British readers are generally much more tolerant of lengthy sentences and difficult words than American readers. Although I haven’t really studied this topic in detail or done extensive research, it seems there are differences in “best first lines” in books written in earlier centuries (such as Daniel Defoe’s  Robinson Crusoe written in 1719) and more recent works, as well as difference between literary fiction and popular fiction.
□
FIRST LINES BY DICK FRANCIS (my personal King of the First Line)

Flying Finish by Dick Francis
“You’re a spoiled, bad-tempered bastard,” my sister said, and jolted me into a course I nearly died of.

For Kicks by Dick Francis
“The Earl of October drove into my life in a pale-blue Holden which had seen better days.”

Risk by Dick Francis
“Thursday, March 17, I spent the morning in anxiety, the afternoon in ecstasy, and the evening unconscious.”

Hot Money by Dick Francis
“I intensely disliked my father’s fifth wife, but not to the point of murder.”

Straight by Dick Francis
“I inherited my brother’s life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited by brother’s life, and it nearly killed me.”

Twice Shy by Dick Francis
“I told the boys to stay quiet while I went to fetch my gun.”

Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (2008)
“I wondered if I was dying. I wasn’t afraid to die, but such was the pain in my gut, I wished it would happen soon.”

Wild Horses by Dick Francis
“Dying slowly of bone cancer, the old man, shriveled now, sat as ever in his great armchair, tears of lonely pain sliding down crepuscular cheeks.”

Banker by Dick Francis
“Gordon Michaels stood in the fountain with all his clothes on.”

FIRST LINES BY JANET EVANOVICH

Four To Score by Janet Evanovich
”Living in Trenton in July is like living inside a big pizza oven. Hot, airless, aromatic.”

High Five by Janet Evanovich
“When I was a little girl I used to dress Barbie up without underpants. On the outside, she’d look like the perfect lady. Tasteful plastic heels, tailored suit. But underneath, she was naked.”

Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich
“The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut. You don’t really know what it’s about until you bit into it. And then, just when you decide it’s good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt.”

FIRST LINES FROM OLDER MYSTERIES

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
“I have often recalled the morning when the first of the aonymous letters came.”

Unnatural Causes by P. D. James (1967)
“The corpse without hands lay in the bottom of a small sailing dinghy just within sight of the Suffolk coast.”

A Certain Justice by P. D. James (1997)
“Murderers do not usually give their victim notice.”

Devices and Desires by P. D. James (1989)
“The Whistler’s fourth victim was his youngest, Valerie Mitchell, aged fifteen years, eight months and four days, and she died because she missed the 9:40 from Easthaven to Cobb’s Marsh.”

“L” Is For Lawless by Sue Grafton (1995)
“I don’t mean to bitch, but in the future I intend to hesitate before I do a favor for a friend of a friend. Never have I taken on such a load of grief.”

“R” Is For Ricochet by Sue Grafton (2004)
“The basic question is this: given human nature, are any of us really capable of change? The mistakes other people make are usually patently obvious. Our own are tougher to recognize.”

The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman (1998)
“The body of Anderson Nez lay under a sheet on the gurney, waiting.“

Fear No Evil by Allison Brennan (2007)
“The sick and depraved had voted: Death by stabbing.
‘No.’
Kate Donovan’s whisper became a cry as she pocketed her cell phone, unable to respond to the text message her only remaining friend in the FBI had sent.”

Loves Music, Loves To Dance by Mary Higgins Clark (1991)
“The room was dark. He sat in the chair, his arms hugging his legs. It was happening again. Charley wouldn’t stay locked in the secret place. Charley insisted on thinking about Erin. Only two more, Charley whispered. Then I’ll stop.”

Visions In Death by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) (2004)
“She’d gotten through the entire evening without killing anyone. Lieutenant Eve Dallas, cop to the bone, figured the restraint showed enormous strength of character.”

FIRST LINES FROM OLDER NOVELS

Gone For Good by Harlan Coben
“Three days before her death, my mother told me—they weren’t her last words but they were pretty close—that my brother was still alive.”

Berg by Ann Quin
“A man called Berg, who changed his name to Greb, came to a seaside town intending to kill his father.”

Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler (2001)
“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.”

A Frolic Of His Own by William Gaddis (1994)
“You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.”

Death In A Sunny Climate by Diane Shalet (1994)
“I sat at Michael’s desk, buried under a mountain of third-class mail. October 7, 1983. The second plea from Newsweek: YOU HAVE NOT RENEWED. PLEASE TELL US WHY. I answered for him: Because I died. Then I signed his name.”

Her Secret Agent Man by Cindy Dees (2005)
“Huge snowflakes drifted down around him in a winter-wonderland scene, and the boughs of the pine trees passing beneath his feet sagged under a heavy blanket of white. Neon-garbed skiers whooshed past, laughing, but up here on the ski lift, all was silent. Peaceful. Bucolic. And his palms positively arched with a need to kill the woman he was here to meet.”

The Medusa Game by Cindy Dees (2006)
“The bus the terrorists had demanded was just pulling up in front of the Olympic village apartment building. The casual observer wouldn’t see the dozen German army snipers lying in wait around the street, but Isabella Torres was no casual observer.”

The Reef by Nora Robers (1998)
“James Lassiter was forty years old, a well-built, ruggedly handsome man in the prime of his life, in the best of health. In an hour he’d be dead.”

Agnes And The Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (2007)
“One fine August evening in South Carolina, Agnes Crandall stirred raspberries and sugar in her heavy nonstick frying pan and defended her fiancé to the only man she’s ever trusted. It wasn’t easy.”

The Spiral Path by Mary Jo Putney (2002)
“The trouble with reality was that it was so dammed real.”

A Time To Kill by John Grisham (1996)
“Billy Ray Cobb was the younger and smaller of the two rednecks. At twenty-three he was already a three-year veteran of the state penitentiary at Parchman. Possession, with intent to sell. He was a lean, tough little punk who had survived prison by somehow maintaining a ready supply of drugs that he sold and sometimes gave to the blacks and guards for protection.”

All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
“The last time I saw Mason City I went up there in that big black Cadillac with the Boss and the gang, and we burned up that new concrete slab, and it was a long time ago—nearly three years ago, for is it now into 1939. But it seems like forever."

Evening In Byzantium by Irwin Shaw (1973)
“The plane bucked as it climbed through black pillars of cloud. To the west there were streaks of lightning. The seat-belt sign, in English and French, remained lit. The stewardesses served no drinks. The pitch of the engines changed. The passengers did not speak.”

I’ll Remember You by Barbara Ankrum (1999)
“Dusk seemed to hold its breath as the gunshot’s echo reverberated against the canyon’s rocky walls. Birds fell silent. Even the steady coastal breeze, which had only moments earlier relieved the thick summer evening, stilled as the two men stood at the top of the precipice, staring down into the well of darkness below.”

The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follet
“It was a slow Sunday afternoon, the kind Walden loved. He stood at an open window and looked across the park. The broad, level lawn was dotted with mature trees: a Scotch pine, a pair of mighty oaks, several chestnuts and a willow like a head of girlish curls.”

The Parasites by Daphne DuMaurier (1949)
“It was Charles who called us the parasites. The way he said it was surprising, and sudden. He was one of those quiet, reserved sort of men, not given to talking much or stating his opinions, unless upon the most ordinary facts of day by day, so that his outburst, coming as it did towards the end of the long wet Sunday afternoon, when we had none of us done anything but read the papers and yawn and stretch before the fire, had the force of an explosion.”

My Cousin Rachael by Daphne DuMaurier (1952)
“They used to hang men at Four Turnings in the old days. Not anymore, though.” [The novel also ends with this line.]

Baited by Crystal Green (2006)
“As another scream tore through the island forest, Katsu Espinoza stopped in her tracks, trying to get a lock on where the sound was coming from.”

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (2008)
“Since Maria had decided to die, her cat would have to fend for itself. She’d already cared for it far beyond the point where keeping a pet made any sense. Rats and mice had long since been trapped and eaten by the villagers.”

Key Witness by J. F. Freedman (1997)
“Early dark, time suspended between sunset and true night, the barest sliver of dying sunlight fading on the western horizon, flickering dull yellow-vermilion patches visible through the thick clusters of trees that bracket the narrow two-land road.”

Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan (1991)
“It seems there should have been some warning, but I felt none. Events were already in motion.”

A Western, unnamed  (I think this may be from a movie, but I like it.)
“Quiet Town wasn’t.”

1984 by George Orwell
“It was a bright cold day and the clocks were striking thirteen.”□

Sources:
http://www.blog.ljboldyrev.com/2010/06/importance-of-first-line.html|http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/fiction/2006/04/that_allimporta.html
http://kaitnolan.com/2007/08/30/the-importance-of-opening-lines/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2007/may/10/openingsentencesblog
http://alternativereel.com/includes/top-ten/display_review.php?id=00117
http://www.bluecubiclepress.com/store.htm|
http://www.thefirstline.com/
https://www.thefirstline.com/https://www.thefirstline.com/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4679283_write-first-chapter-novel.html
http://murderby4.blogspot.com/2009/11/your-first-line-hook-that-gets-your.html
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art48800.asp
http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0934311.html
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html
2019 Sources
https://www.instituteforwriters.com/opening-lines-the-most-important-part-of-your-story.aspx
https://rachellegardner.com/that-all-important-first-line/
https://www.liternauts.com/how-to-write-the-first-paragraphs-of-your-novel/
https://writeitsideways.com/6-ways-to-hook-your-readers-from-the-very-first-line/
https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-ways-to-create-a-killer-opening-line-for-your-novel
Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith
doc/writing/blogs/RochelleWeber-First Lines
07/25/2011 – updated May 29, 2019


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It Took More Than A Village To Put a man on The Moon: Margaret Hamilton, Software Engineer

7/5/2019

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APOLLO 11 – A CAST OF THOUSANDS
This month is the fiftieth anniversary of mankind’s first landing on the moon. July 1969! The BIG 5-0! The Apollo 11 mission was a “big deal” at that time in our history, and it is still a “big deal.”
Apollo 11 crew - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin Photo y NASA - NASA Human Space Flight Gallery
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102412
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No doubt celebrations will be held, and we’ll be hearing a lot about the historical event in the media. I’m sure the movie will be on TV every night for longer than many of us would like. Possibly we’ll even hear from some of those who denied the event ever happened and believe the moon landing to be the biggest hoax of all times.

During this momentous anniversary, we focus primarily on the men who made the nearly 500,000 mile journey … as we should … but let’s not forget the other 400,000 people who made the flight possible. All those others scientists, engineers, technicians, and support staff necessary to deal with a vast number of system and subsystems necessary to put these men on the moon. That's a fair-sized city, not a village; one and a quarter person per mile.

I’m hoping, instead, that the American people in general will be exposed to one or all of the several American women who made the moon landing possible, in particular Margaret Hamilton, even though the US has yet to send a woman to the moon. Shame on us!
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PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR MARGARET HAMILTON
​Without her, there would have been no moon landing.  
Official photo for NASA, 1989 - Photo source
scientificwomen.net/hamilton-margaret
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Margaret Hamilton (née Heafield) was born in Indiana in 1936. After studying at the University of Michigan for a while, she transferred to Earlham College and graduated in 1958 with a B.A. in mathematics and a minor in philosophy. There she met James Hamilton and they subsequently married. After graduation she taught high school math.

Hamilton and her husband moved to Boston, where James planned to attend Harvard Law School. Her plan was to attend Brandeis University to study abstract math after her husband graduated, but she accepted an interim position as a programmer at MIT, working on programs to predict weather. While she was at MIT she also did postgraduate work in meteorology. In the early 1960s she transferred to MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory where she worked on military air defense systems and wrote programs to identify enemy aircraft.
Hamilton at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 1962
Credit: Margaret Hamilton; photo source:
Photo source: futurism.com/margaret-hamilton
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FLY ME TO THE MOON
Hamilton moved on to a position at MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory (which later became the independent Charles Stark Draper laboratory) and was there when NASA contracted with the Lab to develop the guidance systems for the Apollo Program.

She headed the team responsible for developing the software for the guidance and control systems of the in-flight command and lunar modules. In later interviews (years after the fact) Hamilton said that computer science and software engineering were not yet disciplines at the time. The scientists and programmers simply learned by doing -- apparently over and over -- until it worked.

She and her colleagues developed the paradigm ideas in programming writing the code for the world’s first portable computer. “When I first got into it, nobody knew what it was that we were doing. It was like the Wild West. There was no course in it. They didn’t teach it,” Hamilton said.

In his article for Wired.com, Robert McMillian quote Hamilton’s response to an interview question about what it was like being a female in that environment.
    “Then, as now, “the guys” dominated tech and engineering. Like female coders in today’s diversity-challenged
     tech industry, Hamilton was an outlier. It might surprise today’s software makers that one of the founding fathers
    of their boys’ club was, in fact, a mother—and that should give them pause as they consider why the
    gender inequality of the Mad Men era persists to this day … The world didn’t think much at all about software
    back in the early Apollo days.”

As the project progressed, it soon became apparent how crucial the software was to the success of the mission. By 1965, Margaret was responsible for all the onboard flight software.
                                                                                                                 Margaret Hamilton inside mock-up of the command module.
                                                                                                                                                Credit: MIT  Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org//Margaret_Hamilton\
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  ASTRONAUTS DO NOT MAKE MISTAKES There are many significant achievements in Hamilton’s career; I won’t bother with the details. If you’re interested, I have a good list of sources.

In my opinion, there’s a significant reason why Hamilton stands out among the many thousands of engineers, programmers, scientists, and all the people who contributed to the success of Apollo 11. Her foresight saved the mission.
​
In addition to being the Mother of the field of Software Engineering, Hamilton was also a real mother with a daughter, Lauren, who, at this time, was about four years old. She would bring Lauren with her to work in the evenings and
on weekends, and the child would sleep or play while her mother                           Margaret and her daughter, Lauren
other wrote programs for the Apollo’s command module computer.                     Photo source: hackaday.com/margaret-hamilton 
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As the story goes, Lauren was playing with the MIT command module simulator’s display and keyboard unit when an error message appeared. The child had “crashed” the simulator by accidently activating a prelaunch program called P01 while the simulator was in flight.

As a result, Hamilton wanted to add error-checking code to prevent a crash under these circumstances, but was overruled by her NASA superiors. This was not something that could happen in space because, Hamilton was told, “Astronauts do not make mistakes.” Instead she programmed a “program note” available to NASA engineers and astronauts that said “Do not select P01 during flight.” And as it turned out, the event that “could never happen,” happened.

On the fifth day of the Apollo 8 mission, Jim Lovell inadvertently selected P01 during the flight, which deleted all the navigation data the mission had collected. Without it, the computer wouldn’t be able to plot the course back to earth. Hamilton and her team spent nine hours figuring out a way to save the day, and brought Apollo 8 home to earth. After that Hamilton had no trouble convincing NASA to let her design error and recovery software for future missions.

And sure enough, there was a critical moment in the Apollo 11 mission where Hamilton’s foresight saved that mission as well. Just minutes before the Lunar lander neared the Moon’s surface, alarms went off indicating a computer overload “with interrupts caused by incorrectly phased power supplied to the lander’s rendezvous radar.” The alarms meant the computer couldn’t handle all the tasks at once. Because of the alarms built into the flight software’s error detection and recovery techniques, the mission, which came close to being scrubbed, managed to land on the moon. Dr. Paul Curto, senior technologist who nominated Hamilton for a NASA Space Art Award, called Hamilton’s work “the foundation for ultra-reliable software design.”

WHERE NO WOMAN HAS GONE BEFORE
Hamilton remained with MIT until the mid-1970s, then left to work in private industry. She cofounded several software companies, and in March 1986, she became the founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was developed around the Universal Systems Language (USL) and its associated automated environment, the 001 Tool Suite, based on her paradigm of Development Before The Fact for systems design and software development. Her contributions to the field have continued throughout her career.

Based on what I read, one of the things that impressed me most about Margaret Hamilton was her constant focus on the human-computer connection, particularly in relation to the Apollo Missions.  In 2009 she describer for MIT News her contributions to the Apollo software.
     “From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching
     it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission.
     Not only did it (the software) have to work, it had to work the first time. Not only did it have to be ultra-reliable,
     it needed to be able to perform error detection and recovery in real time. … We took our work seriously, many of
     us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure.
     Dedication and commitment were a given. Mutual respect was across the board. Because software was a
    mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. We had to find a way and we did.
    Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers.”

The world can thank Hamilton for expanding the notion of just what humanity could do on earth and beyond.

AWARDS
● 1986 - Hamilton received the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award, an honor bestowed by The Association for Women in Computing on individuals, men and women, who have excelled in two areas of endeavor: 1) Outstanding scientific and technical achievement, and 2) Extraordinary service to the computing community through their accomplishments and contributions on behalf of women in computing. (P.S. If you don't know who Ada Lovelace was, that will be coming.) 
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● 2003 - NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for scientific and technical contributions. The award of $37,200 was the largest awarded to any individual in NASA's history.

● 2009 - Outstanding Alumni Award from Earlham College.
​
● 2016 - Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama, the highest
 civilian award in  the United States.   PhotoSource: hackaday.com/2018/margaret-hamilton

​● 2017 - Computer History Museum Fellow Award, recognizing exceptional men and women whose computing ideas have changed the world.

● 2017 - A "Women of NASA" LEGO set went on sale featuring (among other things) mini-figurines of Hamilton, Mae Jemison, Sally Ride, and Nancy Grace Roman.

● 2018 – Hamilton was invested honoris causa by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

It saddens me (and angers me, a little) to point out that this is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, to which Margaret Hamilton made such a large contribution, and almost twenty years passed before she was honored for her work. The rest of the honors have been awarded after the year 2000. Better Late Than Never.
□
Sources:
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo/
https://publications.computer.org/software-magazine/2018/06/08/margaret-hamilton-software-engineering-pioneer-apollo-11/
https://futurism.com/margaret-hamilton-the-untold-story-of-the-woman-who-took-us-to-the-moon
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Hamilton-American-computer-scientist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(scientist)
https://sservi.nasa.gov/?question=first-woman-on-the-moon
http://news.mit.edu/2016/apollo-code-developer-margaret-hamilton-receives-presidential-medal-of-freedom-1117
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo/
https://hackaday.com/2018/04/10/margaret-hamilton-takes-software-engineering-to-the-moon-and-beyond/
https://www.makers.com/profiles/596e0f42bea17725160a95c1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories
https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo11.cfm
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/jul/02/apollo-11-back-up-team
https://www.space.com/18145-how-far-is-the-moon.html
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Hamilton-American-computer-scientist
http://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apollo-code-0817
 
 

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THE PHILOSOPHER’S CHICKEN: Which came First, the chicken or the egg?

6/28/2019

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AsapSCIENCE YouTube - Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown
DEATH OF A CLICHÉ
For lo those many years, perhaps for millennia, mankind has been plagued with the paradox of which came first, the chicken or the egg. The philosophical conundrum of the ages. How many zillion nights of sleep have been lost pondering this mind-bending, earth-shaking dilemma since Plutarch first posed the question in his essay “The Symposiacs” written in the first century?

We shall never know, but at last we can sleep soundly with the knowledge that modern science has settled the question once and for all. We can now retire this old cliché and relegate it to medieval lore.

Or can we?
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YOU STILL HAVE TO TAKE SIDES
Wait a minute before you start! You still have to take sides, but the matter is now a rhetorical question; an intellectual disagreement about semantics. Think about it.

This cliché – Wikipedia calls it a metaphoric adjective – is used in situations where it is difficult or impossible to discern which of two events is the cause and which is the effect. All chickens hatch from eggs, but first a chicken needs to lay the eggs. Catch 22 (an alternate cliché for the same dilemma, albeit one of more recent origin).
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In terms of the phrase or metaphoric adjective – not the situation to which it refers in real life -- the dilemma only occurs because we’ve been asking the wrong question, or at least being too vague. What kind of egg are we talking about?

THE ORIGINAL EARTH DWELLER
An Egg IS An Egg Is An Egg
Eggs came first. There is no question about that. Dinosaurs laid eggs millions of years before there was anything like a chicken. Fish laid eggs, primordial thingies that swam in the sea 500 million years ago laid eggs. None of them laid chicken eggs. An egg is merely a vessel completely surrounded by a membrane inside which an embryo can grow and develop until it is able to survive on its own.                     Comparison on hummingbird egg, Ostrich egg, and Elephant Bird egg
                                                                                                                                       (extinct) at Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Los Angeles, CA
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Going back millions of years, give or take, eggs needed water to survive. They were laid in the ocean, ponds and moist environments so the eggs didn’t dry up before they could produce offspring. Sometime between about 370 and 312 million years ago, amniotic eggs evolved which had three membranes and provided an all-in-one life support system, including nutrients, extra fluids, and a tough shell for protection.

This important event opened a world of opportunities for laying eggs on land rather than in water and for larger eggs. Evolution was and running. Today’s mammals, reptiles and birds are all descendants of the first amniotes.                       Photo by Rabarberian Jan, 8, 2018
                                                                                                                                                                                          https://imgur.com/gallery/jh6mY
The Question Redefined
Which came first: the chicken or the chicken egg?

Ah, ha!. Now that’s a question worthy of the Greek philosophers like Plutarch and Aristotle. When the question is about any old egg, science can produce a lineal time line showing that eggs preceded any kind of bird including a chicken. However, when the question defines what kind of egg, the cause and effect becomes a circular no-win argument.

Hats Off To Darwin
Using the redefined question about chicken eggs specifically, the answer is still the egg. How we get to that answer is less straightforward than the “random egg” conundrum.

The first species of anything on earth would take place as the result of genetic mutations over a long period of time. Some sources claim modern birds, including our philosopher’s chicken, evolved from small, carnivorous dinosaurs. The first intermediate species between birds and therapods, such as Archaeopteryx, lived during the late Jurassic, and the true ancestor of birds probably arrived during the late Cretaceous.
https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/which-came-first-chicken-egg

Fast forwarding from the first hard-shelled egg to 370-312 million years ago, to 58,000 years ago, we find the ancestors – the proto-chickens – cavorting around somewhere between India, Indonesia, and China. The male proto-chicken does whatever a proto-chicken does to attract a female and the result produces genetic mutation in the DNA of the zygot (a fertilized ovum). Two proto-chickens mated and produced the very first chicken with genetic mutations that replicated themselves in cell of the now-chicken growing in the egg.

As Neil deGrasse Tyson put it, "Which came first: the chicken or the egg? The egg—laid by a bird that was not a chicken."
Red Junglefowl                                                           Common Rooster
By Francesco Veronesi, Italy, IMG_5008, CC BY-SA 2.0                     Photo source and photographer Cath Andrews 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47310294        https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/why-have-rooster.html

ARE WE DONE YET?
No, not quite. It’s complicated. Who knew there was so much to write about chickens. Well, after all, humans have been putting together arguments on both sides of the bed for 3,000 years.
​
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​Pro-Chicken Arguments
The Pro-Egg supporters tout the scientific explanations above, but you haven’t heard the Pro-Chicken side.

A 2010 research study conducted by two British universities (Sheffield and Warwick) has identified a protein (OC-17) found in modern chickens which is produced in the hen in utero and causes formation of thickened calcium carbonate around the eggs.

The Daily Mail (UK) quotes Dr. Colin Freeman, from Sheffield’s Department of Engineering Materials as saying, “It had long been suspected that the egg came first but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first … The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process. … It's very interesting to find that different types of avian species seem to have a variation of the protein that does the same job.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1294341/Chicken-really-DID-come-egg-say-scientists.html
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The conclusion of the British study is that chicken eggs can only form with the help of the OC-17 protein found solely in the ovaries of a chicken. Because chickens lay more eggs more quickly than other animals, chicken eggs need the protein to accelerate the normal process. “Therefore, it would be impossible for a chicken egg to form unless it has emerged from within a hen’s body.”

This argues that the first hen hatched from a non-reinforced egg and then produced this protein for the first time, would be the first chicken.
​
ISN’T THAT THE SAME AS EVOLUTION?
It’s clear the little (inconsequential) question of which came first has been answered by science. Evolution. But that really isn’t what the question is all about.

It’s also clear in the realm of quantum mechanics. According to Dr Jacqui Romero (a quantum physicist at the University of Queensland, Australia) that, in fact, both came first because “In quantum mechanics, cause-and-effect is not so straightforward as being one event leading to another.” Who knew?

The big question Plutarch (46 CE – 119 CE) was posing dealt with whether or not the world had a beginning or whether it had existed forever and the implications that accompany the idea. I’m not going there.
□
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_or_the_egg
https://www.thestructuralmadness.com/2014/02/chicken-or-egg-causality-dilemma.html
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/finally-answered-which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg
https://youtu.be/1a8pI65emDE
https://www.science.org.au/curious/everything-else/which-came-first-chicken-or-egg
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/01/31/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg-heres-the-official-scientific-answer/#4bde9f6e8ab8
https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/which-came-first-chicken-egg
https://futurism.com/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg
http://time.com/4475048/which-came-first-chicken-egg/
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1013880/chicken-or-egg-what-came-first-quantum-mechanics-physics-philosophy
https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/question85.htm
https://www.valuewalk.com/2018/09/chicken-or-egg-scientists-answer/
https://www.theperspective.com/debates/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/
https://www.livescience.com/3072-eggs-chickens-scientists.html
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2562098
https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/02/11/171706769/the-egg-makes-its-move-in-a-new-version-of-which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-e
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1294341/Chicken-really-DID-come-egg-say-scientists.html



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Rhetorical And Literary Devices And Their Unfriendly Neighbors, The Clichés

6/21/2019

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Photo source: Clipart Library.com
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MEET THE DIVICES, RHETORICAL and LITERARY
Rhetorical and literary devices have been around since the time of ancient Greece, and they haven’t changed much since the Greeks identified and named them. Neither has human nature.

These “devices” are the way human beings use language to express ideas and meaning in spoken and written words. Literary devices help us communicate thoughts with imagination and artistic flair; rhetoric appeals to logic (logos), emotion (pathos), ethics (ethos) and finally to time (kairos).

A person doesn’t need to be an academic scholar to understand and use them. We all employ them in everyday life.
As writers, it is our job to know and use these powerful tools to communicate our stories, to capture readers’ attention and hold them in thrall, to make them cry or laugh. We do a good job at it, but sometimes “terminology” gets in the way. Authors may know how to use devices, but aren’t always sure what to call them … or maybe I’m the only one who gets confused.

Let’s meet part of the Device Family. These are only a few, but the most important of hundreds.

● Figure of Speech
A Figure of Speech is a distinctive spoken or written expression; a word or phrase that departs from straight-forward, literal language. Richard Norquist writes “A figure of speech is a rhetorical device that achieves a special effect by using words in a distinctive way.” https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818

They are also referred to as figures of rhetoric, figures of style, rhetorical figures, figurative language, and schemes. Too many names may be part of the confusion.

Figures of speech are figurative language. Literal language explains exactly what it meant. Figures of speech are imaginative and indirect, using a comparison of concepts to more familiar objects or ideas. Usually, figures of speech are classified in five categories, although Norquist indicates there are hundreds and lists twenty of the most common. I’ll stick to a smaller number.
Photo Source: https://penlighten.com/hyperbole-examples
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▪Hyperbole
Hyperbole overstates, emphasizes, or exaggerates a concept to emphasize or make a point and are descriptions are not intended to be taken literally.
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​▪Symbol
Symbols are images with non-literal meanings; they stand for something other than what they seem to be on the surface, such as a  heart as a symbol for love.

Poetry and creative writing make extensive use of symbolism. Yourdictionary.com uses an example from William Blake’s Ah Sunflower where the author refers to life cycle and uses sunflowers to represent humankind and how they desire everlasting life. “Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler's journey is done.”

Photo Source: K5learning.com       ▪Simile
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A simile compares two concepts or objects that are not alike. They demonstrate how even items that are unlike have some similarities. They also can be used to make a description particularly vivid and arresting, with the purpose of sparking an interesting connection in a reader's or listener's mind.

If the phrase includes the words “like,” “as,” “than,” or “resembles” for comparison purposes, then the phrase is a simile. Example: Happy as a clam.
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▪Personification
Personification treats animals and inanimate objects as if they were human with human characteristics. The use of personification allows readers to relate to animals and objects as they imagine them reacting or feeling the way a human would; transfers a human emotion to something that is non-living. Yourdictionary.com uses the following examples of personification.
“The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.”
“The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow.”            Photo source: Clipart Library.com
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​▪Metaphor
A Metaphor states that one thing is another thing. In metaphors the meaning is not literal, but the first thing mentioned shares common characteristics with the second. With metaphors, words or phrases that are ordinarily applied to one thing are applied to something you wouldn't necessarily pair it with.

Two metaphors in the same sentence (mixed metaphors) can create confusion. A metaphor does not contain the words “like” or “as.”  Examples from Yourdictionary.com include:
“He broke my heart. - Your heart isn't literally broken; you're just feeling hurt and sad.”
"You light up my life. - Of course, no one can provide physical light. This expression is simply saying that someone brings them joy.”
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▪Alliteration
The repetition of the beginning consonant sounds of neighboring words.
Example: "She sells seashells by the sea-shore."
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▪Euphemism
A mild, indirect, or vague term that often substitutes a harsh, blunt, unpleasant, or offensive term. Examples: “Passed away - instead of died; Put to sleep - instead of euthanized; Whacked - instead of murdered.”

 ▼Photo source: commongunsense.me/the-irony-gun-lobby-logic
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▪Irony
Irony occurs when there's a marked contrast between what is said and what is meant, or between appearance and reality. Sarcasm is an extreme form of irony, but in addition implies a little bit of a mean twist or a derogatory statement. In their purest form, that's a good way to distinguish the two whenever you're uncertain. Examples of verbal irony:

Saying, "Oh, fantastic!" when the situation is actually very poor
Saying something confusing is “...as clear as mud.”
A food critic telling the chef, "Your steak was as tender as a leather boot."
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▪Onomatopoeia
The term for a word that sounds like what it is describing.
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▪Oxymoron
Two contradictory terms used together. In fact, the word itself is an “oxymoron.” “Oxy” is Greek for "sharp" and "moron" means "dull".
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▪Synecdoche
Occurs when a part is represented by the whole or, conversely, the whole is represented by the part. Example: “Do you like my new wheels?” = “Do you like my new car?”

Here endeth the Figures of Speech. Let's go on to other Rhetorical and Literary Devices.
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● Analogy
An Analogy is a comparison of two things to show their similarities. Sometimes the things being compared are quite similar, but other times they could be very different. Nevertheless, an analogy explains one thing in terms of another to highlight the ways in which they are alike. A comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on resemblance of a particular aspect(s) or similarity, typically used for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

An analogy is also an inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some respects they will probably agree in others. The implication of likeness is in relationships, rather than appearance or qualities, such as an analogy of seasons of the year as compared to the stages of life.

We all make comparisons in speech and writing, and as you have seen similes and metaphors, both figures of speech, also make comparison, but in a specific manner. Analogies are not figures of speech because they are more like a logical argument. Examples given by Your Dictionary: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/analogy-ex.html

“▪Finding a good man is like finding a needle in a haystack: Finding a small needle in a pile of hay takes a long time, so the task at hand is likely to be hard and tedious.
​
 ▪That's as useful as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic: It looks like you're doing
  something helpful but really it will make no difference in the end.
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● Turn Of Phrase
A Turn of Phrase is an expression worded in a distinctive way, especially one which is particularly memorable or artful; a manner of expression; spoken or written expression; a way of saying something. The following examples are from Wikipedia.

A Turn of Phrase may be a Figure of Speech, but not necessarily.

▼ Photo source: www.cdouloff.com/hosting
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● Idiom
A group of words established by common usage as having a meaning not logically deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., raining cats and dogs, see the light). It doesn’t mean what the words say.

It can also be the grammatical or structural usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (such as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (such as ride herd on for "supervise")

Examples: http://www.scholastic.com/printables/promosite/pdfs/0439237785_e039.pdf
“▪ We’re in hot water. – We’re in trouble.
 ▪ We don’t see eye to eye. – We don’t agree.
 ▪ It’s no skin off my nose. – I don’t care, because it doesn’t affect me.
 ▪ The cat has your tongue. – You can’t say anything"

​● Expression
An expression is the process of making known one's thoughts or feelings; the act, process, or instance of representing those thoughts and feelings in a medium, such as words. Symbolism.
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● Adage
A well known and wise saying or short statement expressing a general truth that has become widely accepted as a general truth and reflection of life. They are pithy and philosophical. Examples: ▪The early bird catches the worm.
▪ A penny saved is a penny earned.   ▪ Eat to live, and not live to eat."
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​● Aphorisms
An opinion-based, concise statement accepted for truth, short and often witty. Aphorisms are considered to be definitions or concise statements of a principle, a matter-of-fact sentiment, and generally accepted as truth. ​ Examples: ▪ A bad penny always turns up.
▪ A barking dog never bites.   ▪ A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
                                                                                                 Photo source:  twitter.com/idiomland/status
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●Proverb
A phrase or short sentence that expresses ideas well-known by many people, words of wisdom, truth, or morality based on common sense and practical experience; a basic truth or rule of conduct which should be followed by all. Examples:
▪ Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.
▪ Money doesn’t grow on trees.  ▪ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
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​WAIT JUST A DARN MINUTE!
Every example here qualifies as being a cliché. Now you’re telling me these are all perfectly acceptable literary devices? I can use a metaphor but I should avoid clichés like the plague? No wonder I’m confused.

MEET YOUR UNFRIENDLY NEIGHBORS, THE CLICHÉS
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Ever since I began writing with the intent of becoming published, I’ve battled with the cliché. I know what a cliché is -- personally, I like cliché; it’s my best language -- but I know they are a writing weaknesses most disliked by editors and possibly by readers.
So, in my pursuit of excellence, I’ve tried to pin down the pure essence of the cliché with the intention of avoiding them as ordered. There are plenty of definitions available.
●Oxford English Dictionary
“▪ A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.
 ▪ A very predictable or unoriginal thing or person
 ▪ A stereotype or electrotype”
●Merriam Webster
“▪ A trite phrase or expression also: the idea expressed by it.
 ▪ A hackneyed theme, characterization, or situation.
 ▪ Something (such as a menu item) that has become overly familiar or commonplace.”
●Stephen Wilbers
“▪ A phrase or expression used so frequently that it has become trite and tedious.”
●Grammar Monster
“▪ An overused and worn-out expression used to convey a popular thought or idea.”

Okay, okay! I get it. A cliché is an action, opinion, thought, story plot, phrase, event, fashion statement, name – pretty much anything -- that has been overused to the extent that it loses both the original/ true meaning and its novelty, becoming very predictable and boring.

However, frequent use of a word in writing and speaking is one of the major requirements for a word or phrase to be included in the dictionary. We can thank modern communication technology and the rate of change in our society for speeding up the process to the point that by the time a word or phrase is used commonly enough to put in the dictionary, it has become a cliché. Just sayin’.

Because these phrases are used often, everyone understands what they mean in the current context. The original meaning may not be the same, but they say something true about the world we live in. Something about the human experience, something enduring. That is, perhaps, why they may outlive the original meaning. They are clichés for a reason. In fact, some words have been saved from extinction primarily because they were imbedded in a lasting adage, proverb, or idiom. In the 21st century, we probably wouldn’t say we wend our way to through the park. We would say “We went through the park.”

Here’s another problem: A phrase that is familiar and boring to one person may be different for someone else.

YA GOTTA KNOW WHEN TO CHOOSE’EM; KNOW WHEN TO LOSE’EM
Relax! Hopefully, humanity won’t be facing any more plagues, and the Cliché Police won’t arrest you if you use one. All of us use them, particularly in speech.

Is Nothing Simple?
There are two types of clichés: figurative and literal.
● Literal cliché = A common overused phrase which can be translated literally.
“All’s well that ends well,” means exactly what it says.
● Figurative cliché = A common overused phrase which, if translated in any other language, they will not make any sense at all. “It’s raining cats and dogs,” if translated, wouldn’t make any sense. P.S. It doesn’t mean anything in English, either.

Really! These need separate names? Oh, come on.

When To Use Them
Leslie Jamison writes that “Clichés lend structure and ritual and glue: They are the subterranean passageways connecting one life to another … They allow us to look outward, to recognize the ordinariness of our experience, to understand the resonances between our own lives and the lives of others. They privilege commonality over singular self-expression. They humble us toward one another.” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/books/review/why-do-we-hate-clich.html

That’s a big job for a little cliché. I’m not sure I agree with all of it, but I do understand how clichés can connect our lives. In my opinion, the use of clichés in our writing is all right if it is thoughtful and there for a purpose:
● When they make sense and aren’t easily misunderstood.
● When you want to be in sync with readers who use the same language style.
● In dialogue, when that is the way your character(s) speak.
● When their use can make a complex topic easier to understand.
● When you want to befuddle a foreign listener who doesn’t speak much English.
● When you can give it a little twist to make it more imaginative.

Leah McClellan  say, “Seriously, people. Don’t worry about them too much. The cliché naysayers are clichés themselves and fit right in with the grammar Nazis.”

When To Lose Them
Clichés are general and lacking in specificity and complexity; thus their appeal and acceptance to a wide range of people. For the same reason, they do not make memorable or profound contributions to your writing. They are thought of as “bad” because they imply no thought was given to them. They don’t represent any original thinking or imagination.

Readers skip over them. So, if you are writing about something you feel is important, you don’t want the reader to be blind to your words. If they don‘t see your clichés, they won’t see the rest of the text. Lose the clichés because they:

● Make you seem boring. By using a cliché, you’re telling your reader that you lack originality, making them want to yawn and stop reading your book.
● Make your writing interchangeable with anybody else’s.
● Are vague. Specific details and explanations make better evidence than generalizations and trite phrases.
● Give the appearance of laziness and avoiding creative work.
● Make the author lose credibility. Your reader will not trust you as an authoritative source if you can’t come up with a better description than a cliché.
● Are poor substitutes for actual evidence, and are not strong commentary for making a point.
Clichés work against an author when they replace the writer’s own voice and message and supplant our thoughts.

THE REVELATION
The big news is that a cliché is not a part of speech or a literary device. Any words, concept, idea, etc. used too often becomes cliché. Any of the figures of speech or literary and rhetorical devices can be a cliché; anything can. Fashion, ideas, words, actions, colors … you name it.
​
Just as you look for inappropriate clichés in your writing, you should look for them in your characters and plot as well.□
 
Sources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818
https://penandthepad.com/list-five-types-figures-speech-8443530.html
http://www.idionconnection.com/proverbs.html
https://literarydevices.net/figure-of-speech/
http://www.literarydevices.com/symbolism/
http://learnersdictionary.com/qa/Idioms-metaphors-similes-and-hyperbole
https://www.britannica.com/art/figure-of-speech
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-cliches.html
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/28878/when-should-i-use-archaic-and-obsolete-words
https://www.merriam-webster.com
http://www.wilbers.com/FigurativeLanguage.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/clicheterm.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/qaaboutrhetoric/f/whatarecliches.htm
http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/12-cliches-all-writers-should-avoid
http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/cliches.htm
http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-tips-to-bypass-cliche-and-melodrama
https://tobiasmastgrave.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/what-is-a-cliche/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clich%C3%A9#Alternative_forms
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/books/review/why-do-we-hate-clich.html
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/cliche.html
http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/cliches.html
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/cliches/
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-cliches.html
http://www.clichelist.net/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq-words-into-dictionary
https://literaryterms.net/cliche/
https://literaryterms.net/figures-of-speech/
https://literaryterms.net/how-to-write-an-aposiopesis/
https://literaryterms.net/trope/
https://literaryterms.net/figures-of-speech/
https://literaryterms.net/zeugma/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2015/mar/03/why-the-oed-are-right-to-purge-nature-from-the-dictionary
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818
https://www.britannica.com/art/figure-of-speech
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device
https://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm
http://udleditions.cast.org/craft_ld.html
https://knowyourphrase.com/raining-cats-and-dogs
http://simplewriting.org/why-cliches-can-be-good-for-your-writing/
http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/cliches.html
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/cliches/
https://unravellingmag.com/articles/euphemisms/
http://www.oogazone.com/2018/top-singing-clip-art-library/top-girl-singer-clipart-library/
https://www.topsimages.com/images/silly-cartoon-laughing-7e.htmlhttps://twitter.com/idiomland/status/1025013895692513281
http://www.cdouloff.com/hosting/99_kyunghwa/idiom3.html
https://lifebeyondthekitchen.com/creatively-crafty-link-party-153/
https://commongunsense.me/2015/04/28/the-irony-of-the-gun-lobby-logic/
 
 
 
 

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ACHITECT MARION MAHONY GRIFFIN

6/7/2019

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My formal training is in architecture and, although that part of my life has been relegated to a box in my closet, along with other faded souvenirs of past existences, architecture still remains a passion. Sometimes I really miss it.

I spent most of my career in urban planning, a related field of endeavor, at times requiring many of the same skills as architecture, but not architecture. When I’m feeling nostalgic, I wonder why I took that path. Then I remember how difficult it was for a woman to get a job in the field, even in my generation, and I recall some of the pioneers in my field who did “make it” and made a lasting impression on the world.

MARION MAHONY GRIFFIN
Marion Mahony Griffin, a woman you’ve probably never heard of, was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, but she was also the first employee of Frank Lloyd Wright, a name you are likely to be familiar with know. One of the twentieth century’s most renowned architectural critics, Reyner Banham, once described Marion Mahony Griffin (1871–1961) as “America’s (and perhaps the world’s) first woman architect who needed no apology in a world of men.”
​Marion Mahony the same year she went to work for Frank Lloyd Wright
Photo source: historyrat.wordpress.com/marion-mahony-griffin
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Their pleasant existence there tragically ended when Marion was eleven. Her father died and later, after their house burned down, her mother Clara and the five children moved to Chicago. An aunt, Myra Perkins, moved in with them to take care of the children while Clara Mahony studied for and passed the examinations to become an elementary school principal.

A family friend funded Marion’s higher education. Influenced by her cousin Dwight Perkins, she attended MIT and studied architecture. She graduated in 1894, the second woman to receive a degree in architecture from that university (Sophia Hayden was first and an associate of Marion’s), and went to work for her cousin Dwight in Chicago.  Below, the three female graduates from MIT 1894: Marion Mahony, Harriet Gallup, Sara Hall, the first women to receive degrees in Architecture.                                          Photo Source: chicagopatterns.com/marion-mahony-griffin
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​Wright’s “Capable Assistant”
Cousin Dwight happened to share a building (Steinway Hall) with several other young and progressive-minded architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright. After working for her cousin for two years, Mahony was hired as Frank Lloyd Wright’s first and, at the time, only employee. Mahony worked for Wright off-and-on for over fourteen years and became good friends with Wright and his wife, Catherine Tobin Wright (Kitty) and the rest of Frank’s family.

She passed her state licensing exams in 1898 and was probably the first women licensed as an architect in the United States. During this time she designed her own buildings but also heavily influenced Wright’s designs and did the drawings of Wright’s projects. Her renderings became identified with his work and were key in establishing his reputation.

The only credit she got was being called by Wright “His capable assistant.”
David Amberg House, Grand Rapids 1909  Mahony      Irving House, Decatur, Ill., 1909  Mahony with von Holst      Mahony House, Elkhart, Ind., 1907 by Mahoney
PhotoSource:www.historygrandrapids.org/amberg        PhotoSource:www.mcnees.org/decatur_Mahony​                 PhotoSource: commons.wikimedia.org/mahony

Mahony rendered drawings in a fluid style derived from Japanese woodblock prints and, with it, she blended the natural environment surrounding the elevations as integral to the design. Her artwork was defined by her innovative representations of nature in which the land and architectural forms were inseparable.

This was a new technique which people identified as Wright’s hallmark (and attributed to Wright himself) and soon her style of rendering became the standard for architectural presentations throughout the profession.

PRAIRIE STYLE ARCHITECTURE
Frank Lloyd Wright is considered the father of the Prairie Style of Architecture, although the movement involved others, a reaction of young American architects in the Midwest to the then-currently dominant Revivalist style.

The group of architects working at Steinway Hall were dedicated to creating a new American architecture suitable to the American Midwest that was independent of historical styles. They didn’t call their new style the “Prairie school”; it was coined later by architectural historian H. Allen Brooks. Marion Mahony flourished working side-by-side with these architects in a vigorous intellectual and artistic debate.

Wright relocated his office to Oak Park outside Chicago, and it became the Mecca of the new style of architecture. In addition to Frank Lloyd Wright, inspired by Louis Sullivan and the Arts and Crafts movement, the architects associated with the New School of the Middle West “included George Elmslie, Myron Hunt, George Washington Maher, Dwight Perkins, William Gray Purcell, Thomas Talmadge, and Vernon Watson, as well as Wright’s later associates Marion Mahony, Walter Burley Griffin, William Drummond and Francis Byrne.” https://flwright.org/researchexplore/prairiestyle

Even today, Mahony is identified as a “later associate” even though she was his first employee. What’s with that?
​
A major characteristic of this style is its integration and unity with surrounding landscape and horizontal lines intended to reflect and amalgamate the structure with the native prairie landscape of the Midwest. The style is earmarked not only by the horizontal emphasis, but flat or hipped roofs with broad eaves, windows marching across the façade in horizontal bands and restrained decoration with natural motifs.
Adolph Mueller House 1911 Designed by Marion Mahony
Photo source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/527906387542891944/?lp=true
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THE WASMUTH PORTFOLIO
In 1909, when Wright left for Europe to publish a book on his designs (The Wasmuth Portfolio), he offered to leave the studio’s commissions to Mahony, who wisely declined. Hermann von Holst wasn’t as smart and took over only to find that Wright had been paid most of the money in advance.

Wright, the money, and Wright’s married client and neighbor, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, were in Europe together, and it soon became apparent that none of them were coming back soon.

Mahony was incensed that Wright had abandoned his family and marriage. There were no kind words for Frank Lloyd Wright from Marion Mahony, and there were hard feelings between them. She was hired back into the firm by Von Holst on the condition that she had full control of the designs. In that position she designed several of Wright’s commissions for which Wright reaped the credit.
​
In 1910 the Wasmuth Portfolio, the book of Wright’s designs, was published in Germany, and the project made Frank Lloyd Wright world famous. It is now believed Marion Mahony created over fifty percent of the drawings (possibly more) in the Wasmuth Portfolio. She wasn’t even mentioned as draftsman or illustrator, much less as an architect or collaborator on the designs.

​Unity Temple 1905                                                               Wasmuth Library  
PhotoSource: www.curbed.com/mahony                             Photo source: www.timeout.com/chicago             
 Bock Ateliers 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio Plate LXII        Photo source: Pinterest
PhotoSource: www.steinerag.com/Bock_Ateliers            2.bp.blogspot.com/_ILuyCbeYKOc                 Photo Source: hoydenabouttown.com/macdonald-and-mahony
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Lance Tawzer, curator of exhibits for the Elmhurst History Museum where an exhibit of Mahony’s work was shown, says, "She was a woman doing a man's job at the turn of the century, which was of course very unusual. It's only recently that we're starting to see her legacy and her importance be recognized."
                                                                   
PhotoSource: https://www.classicist.org/articles/marion-mahony-griffin/                                                                                       
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LIFE GOES ON
In 1911, Mahony married architect Walter Burley Griffin, who also worked in Wright’s Oak Park office. They opened their own business together and ultimately designed and built hundreds of projects throughout the world. When they won the commission to design the new Australian capital Canberra, they moved to Australia. There they developed a construction method called knitlock construction.
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Although Mahony and Wright had a permanent falling-out when he left his family, Wright didn’t hesitate to emulate, inexactly, the Knitlock method in his block houses in California in the 1920s. According to placesjournal.org, he also never lost an opportunity “to reject and publicly renounce his former association with Mahony and her husband, both of whom had worked closely with him at Oak Park, one might easily wonder whether Wright’s very public expressions of disdain and disrespect for his former assistants were fueled by insecurities and disappointments exacerbated by their earlier closeness.”
The Saltar House in Castlecraig, Australia, is one of the few houses designed by Mahony that is still standing and has been restored. PhotoSource: http://www.7dayadventurer.com/2014/09/15/the-wizard-of-castlecrag-ii-keeping-faith-with-the-landscape/ 

Marion Mahony retired from the firm while in her sixties and spent time documenting Australia’s natural beauty and cataloging indigenous plant life, using the principles of her anthroposophical beliefs to guide her work of running a kindergarten, and supporting the arts and the community’s shared intellectual and religious pursuits.

In early 1936, Mahony’s husband was offered the design for the United Provinces Industrial and Agricultural exhibition in India. Marion came out of retirement to help him, for there were many buildings to be constructed in a period of eight months. In 1937, Walter died suddenly of peritonitis following surgery for a burst gallbladder. He was buried there. Marion was needed to settle the affairs of the Griffin architectural business, and the project was completed by another architect on the project.Mahony returned to the Chicago in 1938 and eventually wrote a memoir which was never published -- and which did not have any kind words for Frank Lloyd Wright -- and continued to lecture, design, and write, but refused to do any more architectural work until her death in 1961.
Marion Mahony Griffin in later years
Photo source: www.handeyesupply.com/marion-mahony
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CONCLUSION
Marion Mahony was a brilliant, gifted and versatile architect, draftsperson, designer and artist. She broke plenty of “glass ceilings” long before the term existed. I doubt anyone could say Marion Mahony Griffin had a bad life or was unsuccessful. Quite the opposite. She was a pioneer for women in architecture but also in the women’s rights movement.
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● Marion Mahony was the second woman to get a degree in architecture from MIT, and one of the first women licensed to practice architecture (perhaps in the world).

● She revolutionized the way architecture was presented within the whole profession worldwide.

● She played a strong role in helping to create a distinctly American style of architectural design.

● Her design work spanned continents, from envisioning whole cities, designing architectural projects large and small, to painting and designing decorative housing elements, and

●Last but not least, her designs and illustrations made many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous projects possible… some completely without him!

However, because she was a women, she never received the acclaim she deserved. Even in publications today, her husband Walter Burley Griffin is given the credit for the work of their firm, even when Marion was the sole designer.

At the time she was writing her memoir, she admits that her memory was not what it had been. Claire Zulkey writes in curved.com “Something that did not escape Marion’s memory, however, was her hatred of Wright, whose reputation enjoyed a revival at the time, as he worked on the Guggenheim, enjoyed a brisk private practice, and was the subject of an exhibit at the MOMA. Marion never names him directly, but it’s accepted that he’s who she had in mind in writing, “The Chicago School died not only because of the cancer sore in it—one who originated very little but spent most of his time claiming everything and swiping everything.” https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/8/15755858/marion-mahony-walter-burley-griffin-wright-drawings

At the age of 90, Marion Mahony Griffin died, financially poor, in Cook County Hospital. Her ashes were interred with no marker. There is now a small plaque in memory of her at Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery, which is also the final resting place of Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, and her cousin Dwight Perkins.

Sources:
https://historyrat.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/marion-mahony-griffin-breaking-through/
http://www.prairieschoolarchitecture.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Mahony_Griffin
https://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/marion-mahony-griffin/
https://www.revolvy.com/page/Marion-Mahony-Griffin
https://www.handeyesupply.com/blogs/hes/35145729-marion-mahony-griffin-the-artist-architect-behind-the-prairie-school
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/arts/design/01maho.html
https://www.classicist.org/articles/marion-mahony-griffin/
https://www.pbs.org/wbgriffin/marion.htm
https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/8/15755858/marion-mahony-walter-burley-griffin-wright-drawings
https://placesjournal.org/article/marion-mahony-griffin/?cn-reloaded=1
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marion_mahony_griffin,_vetrata_dalla_gerald_mahony_residence,_1907.jpg
https://flwright.org/researchexplore/prairiestyle
http://myfranklloydwright.com/2018/08/19/original-wasmuth-portfolio-frank-lloyd-wright-1910-1-of-only-30-remaining/
http://www.historygrandrapids.org/photo/4517/amberg-house
http://www.mcnees.org/architecture/prairie_arch_images/illinois/decatur/flw_irving_hse_decatur_west_3_remc.jpg
http://www.7dayadventurer.com/2014/09/15/the-wizard-of-castlecrag-ii-keeping-faith-with-the-landscape/
https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/01/arts/20080101_MORG_SLIDESHOW_index/s/morg5.html
https://www.handeyesupply.com/blogs/hes/35145729-marion-mahony-griffin-the-artist-architect-behind-the-prairie-school
​
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BACK TO THE SALT MINE

5/31/2019

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BACK TO THE SALT MINES
We all know the expression "back to the salt mines" means it's time to return to school, work or some activity that is hard and unpleasant (like finishing that last scene in a chapter that's been so hard to write), by implying the speaker is a slave to the salt mine.

Yet every year between 1.7 and 2 million people go back to the salt mine, at least one mine in particular, and they go because they want to – not because of forced labor. Not only that, the Wieliczka Salt Mine in southern Poland was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 and proclaimed by Poland as a national monument in 1994.

A salt mine?

Table salt is a commodity we take for granted these days. You can purchase it everywhere for a reasonable price, but that wasn't always true. In ancient times, it was quite precious, and until the industrial revolution, it was hard to come by. Roman soldiers were paid in salt, and as early as Roman times, being sent to work in the salt mines was tantamount to being sent into slavery with a very limited life expectancy.

​So why would a salt mine end up on the list of World Heritage sites?

THE WIELICZKA SALT MINE
Four hundred and forty-three feet beneath the City of Wieliczka (population 20,000, in the metropolitan area of Karków, Poland), the Wieliczka Salt Mine has continuously extracted table salt from the time it was constructed by a local duke in the 12th century. The salt mine was first mentioned in 1044 and didn't cease operations until 1992 (some sources say 1996 and 2007), due to heaving flooding. Regardless, it's one of the oldest and longest operating salt mines in existence and still produces brine.

That's impressive … but I'm really not all that interested in mines.

From the outside, the mine appears exceptionally well kept but ordinary, and on the interior, you will find the expected look and equipment of a salt mine.
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​Source Of Photos: https://experiencecracow.com/offer/Tours/discover-wieliczka-salt-mine/
This mine reaches depths of 1,075 feet and is over 178 miles long. The salt deposits formed here in the Miocene Epoch, some 13.6 million years ago. The rock is varying shades of gray in color resembling granite instead of the tiny white crystals we know and love. Interesting, yes. But World Heritage Site quality? I don't know.
Morton Salt underneath Lake Erie 
Photo Source: www.businessinsider.com/photos-salt-mine​
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    NOT YOUR GRANDMA'S ORDINARY SALT MINE
The salt mine itself, while interesting and now housing a museum of the history of the salt mining industry, isn't what attracts over a million visitors a year. Over the centuries, tens of generations of miners not only extracted salt, but they also left behind them a record of their time there in awesome sculptures and architecture, all made of salt.
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The tourists who visit have to descend 378 wooden steps to enter an unexpected and amazing world where they can take a 2 kilometer tour (some sources say 2 miles and 3.5 kilometers) of the mine corridors, sixteen lakes, twenty chapels (including the Cathedral), and incredible art works. (There is an elevator to go up to the surface which rises at twelve feet per second.)

Interior of Cathedral Highest space            Stairs from entrance, Photo Source:        Walkways through the mine
Photo source: www.tiqets.com/en/krakow       www.seekrakow.com/wieliczka                 Photo source: parenthoodandpassports.com/wieliczka
These works of art and architecture weren't created by great artists under commission to some King, but by the workers themselves, from the middle ages to the present, by hacking rock from the walls and sculpting statues and reliefs in the salt rock which resembles unpolished granite. These chapels were places where the miners could capture a few moments of retreat to worship during their labors. There are twenty chapels, the largest and most magnificent, the Cathedral.
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The Cathedral is astounding in terms of sheer size and the way in which the miners breathed their Catholic spirit into the cathedral and art works. It took 68 years to complete.
   Main Cathedral                             Floor of Cathedral - Photo Source:        St. John Chapel                                      The Salt Chandeliers: Photo by
   Photo by Michal Osmenda               https://krakville.com/wieliczka-salt-mine    Photo by steve_w on Flickr                     Matthew.kowal on Wikimedia Commons
Closeup of Chandeliers - Photo Source:     The St. Kinga Chapel - Photo source:   Joseph & Mary Carving - Photo source:      Photo source: added by Zanar1
 perceptivetravel.com/wieliczka-salt-mine/    sumfinity.com/wieliczka/kinga                 www.tinggly.com/tour-wieliczka                      www.fanpop.com/wieliczka
 
Many of scenes represent well-known stories from the Bible. Others represent other historical events and also the imagination of the miners. One wall is dedicated to the 14th century warrior Casimir the Great.

The legend of St. Kinga.                          The Last Supper Carving                       Elves - not all carvings religious                Bas-relief of salt in Staszic Chamber
​www.simplysaratravel.com/wieliczka                www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/                 www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/   
The origins of the mine are depicted in the Janowice Chamber. In medieval times, the Hungarian Princess Kinga, married Polish Prince Boleslaus the Chaste. When Mongols invaded Poland, Kinga went to her father asking that he help the Poles. In response, he gave her the sale mine of Maramaros, in Transylvania, where she threw her ring into the shaft. (No references explained why she did that.) The story goes the ring was found in the first block of white sand dug in Wieliczka, which ultimately provided a third of the income to the Polish crown. Below a knight is returning the ring to Kinga.

The amazing salt chandeliers are not simply sculpted from salt, but by using a process which requires the salt rock to be dissolved. Then the impurities are extracted, and solution dried to achieve a glass-like finish. Even the floor, which looks like tiles, is made of salt.

In the Spalone Chamber there are figures of the men who worked as the mine's "Pentinents". Before there was proper ventilation, these men were responsible for burning off the methane that accumulated in the ceilings of the mine's chambers. They dressed in wet clothing and crawled along the floor of the mine with a long pole hold a lit torch at the end. It was a dangerous task and those workers were rewarded with extra bags of salt, which was an extremely valuable commodity in the Middle Ages.

Visitors who commented on the many articles and blogs, tag the Wieliczka Salt Mine as a "don't miss" travel destination. Now I understand why it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and I can't wait to visit.
□
 
Sources:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Poland/Wojewodztwo_Malopolskie/Krakow-490219/Things_To_Do-Krakow-Wieliczka_Salt_Mine-BR-1.html
http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/08/wieliczka-salt-mine-astounding.html
http://www.lindsayfincher.com/wieliczka-salt-mine-goin-deeper-underground.html
http://www.insidethetravellab.com/wieliczkas-salt-sculptures/
http://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/visiting/pilgrims-route/wieliczka-chapels
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/04/wieliczka-salt-mine-polands-underground-salt-cathedral/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/wieliczka-salt-cathedral-polands-underground-wonder.html
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-underground-salt-cathedral-of-poland
http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/wieliczka.html
http://www.insidethetravellab.com/wieliczkas-salt-sculptures/
http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/c022ht_SaltMine.htm
2019 Research
http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8002151-wieliczka-salt-mine-record-breaking-tourists/
https://www.scenicsuitcase.com/wieliczka-salt-mine/
https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-salt-mine-2000-feet-below-lake-erie-2016-5
https://poland.pl/tourism/active-leisure/wieliczka-salt-mine-attracts-record-number-visitors-2017/
http://www.messagetoeagle.com/spectacular-multi-color-psychedelic-salt-caves-an-astonishing-natural-masterpiece/
https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-salt-mine-2000-feet-below-lake-erie-2016-5
https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/visiting/tourist-route
https://www.tiqets.com/en/krakow-c46/wieliczka-salt-mine-l146138
https://poland.pl/tourism/active-leisure/wieliczka-salt-mine-attracts-record-number-visitors-2017/
https://www.tinggly.com/experiences/tour-wieliczka-salt-mine-poland
https://www.tiqets.com/en/krakow-c46/wieliczka-salt-mine-roundtrip-guided-tour-p974909
https://www.seekrakow.com/en/wieliczka-salt-mine/
https://parenthoodandpassports.com/wieliczka-salt-mines-baby-toddler/
https://perceptivetravel.com/blog/2018/05/04/wieliczka-salt-mine/
http://www.simplysaratravel.com/home/wieliczka-salt-mine
https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/visiting/pilgrims-route
https://krakville.com/shop/8/wieliczka-salt-mine-tour
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/europe/images/41522201/title/wieliczka-salt-mine-photo
 





 
 



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STRUCTURING THE SCENES IN YOUR NOVEL

5/24/2019

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With enough practice and how-to reading, every author eventually learns to craft a scene in a novel. At that point, every author has an opinion regarding the way to write the best scene – at least a way that works for them. If a beginner wants to speed up the learning curve, there are plenty of articles and books available on the subject, and most of them hit the same points although they often give those different names.
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​SCENES ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A NOVEL
The scene is the building block of your work of fiction. One after the next, they create your story. Unfortunately, terminology can get in the way of understanding scene structuring, and I’m going to try to avoid some of the confusion by describing what scenes do vs. what they are called.
● What is a Scene?
Well, how many authors are there? Same answer. Let’s see what some writing experts say.

▪ Jane Friedman explains that a scene is “a self-contained mini-story with a rising energy that builds to an epiphany, a discovery, an admission, an understanding, or an experience. https://www.janefriedman.com/writing-scene/

▪ Jennie Nash says “a scene is the smallest unit of story.  Characters come onto the “stage” in one time and place, and one action occurs. As soon as you switch location, time, or point of view, you are switching the scene.” https://jennienash.com/how-to-write-a-book-blog/2016/5/3/zlpxr3nrtmogsmbtfcanpnanwjf3fr

▪ Jordan E. Rosenfeld writes “Any story or novel is, in essence, a series of scenes strung together like beads on a wire, with narrative summary adding texture and color between. A work of fiction will comprise many scenes, and each one of these individual scenes must be built with a structure most easily described as having a beginning, middle and end.” https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-ways-to-launch-strong-scenes

▪ K. M. Weiland, author of Structuring your Novel, writes “there are two types of scenes: Scene (action) and Sequel (reaction).” The Scene or action is where the conflict occurs. The Sequel is where the characters react to the action and get a little breathing space. “The three active parts of the scene: goal, conflict, and disaster. The three active parts of the sequel: reaction, dilemma, and decision.” “A scene is a section of your novel where a character or characters engage in action or dialogue. You can think of a scene as a story with a beginning, middle, and an end. Usually, you'll start a new scene when you change the point of view character, the setting, or the time.”
https://www.livewritethrive.com/2016/01/11/the-5-essential-components-of-scene-structure/

I told you! Together, all of these various definitions tell you what a scene in a novel is.
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● Placement of the Scene
Every scene needs a beginning, middle, and ending – that fits with the three active parts of each type of scene – and should end with a hook which leads the reader to the next one. But the placement of the scene in the novel determines what kind of information should be there. The first scene of a novel has different information in it than a climactic scene, a darkest moment scene, a transitional scene, ad infinitum. Some scenes need to move faster or slower than others; some need to be longer, some shorter.
​
In other words, the first thing to think about is where in the novel the scene is placed, and the type of novel [genre] makes a difference on length, pace, and placement. The great thing is that they are flexible and within reason can be moved around in the story. Some authors put a summary of each scene on 3” x 5” cards and move them around on a big board.
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ALL SCENES HAVE A PURPOSE
All fiction writers know each scenes needs a purpose, but there are two levels of consideration.
First, the purpose of the scene in the novel is usually expressed as follows:
▪ To advance the plot;
▪ To develop the characters or reveal something about them; and
                                        ▪ To develop the setting.

The scene should meet at least the first and second purposes, and preferably all three. Most important of all, it must be essential to the novel. If you could leave it out, then you should.

Second, there is a purpose for the scene in terms of the storyline [a fine distinction, but this is the way I see it]. My mentor, S. L. Stebel, always asks: “What happens?” Where do you want the characters in the scene to be emotionally and physically at the end? What is the reaction to what happened? Where does it lead the characters?
​
Author C. S. Lakin suggests writing a one sentence description of the purpose of the scene. Why does this scene need to be in the novel? What new information is revealed? Who changes? If this scene needs to be in the novel, every element of the scene should address the purpose.​
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STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS OF A SCENE
Once you know the purpose of the scene, it will need the following components. This is the order in which the writer thinks about the scene, not necessarily the order in which the components appear on the page.
● The Climactic Moment
This is the high point of the scene where the bomb is dropped; a piece of information, a clue, a revelation about the one of the characters, something that complicates things. It can be a big bomb or a little one, but it should fill the reader with new questions? These are usually the hooks for the next scene, where the reader sucks in a breath or shouts “O.M.G! What happens?” This “reveal” is often something unexpected and should encapsulate the purpose of the scene.

● The Action
This is how your characters arrive at the climactic moment. Start in the middle of the interesting and significant action without explanation. Leave out the boring parts which would be necessary to get to the action. It’s okay for the reader to wonder what happened before? If what happened is important, feed it in a little at a time

● Timing and setting
Scenes can be a continuation of what came immediately before, or can begin somewhere else at another time. It is important to let the reader know where and when the scene is taking place close to the beginning of the scene. Show the location through the viewpoint character’s eyes rather than describing it as an omniscient narrator.
Continuation of the previous scene is relatively simple, particularly if it begins with a reaction to what just happened. Be careful with changes to other times and places, and particularly with flashback or backstory.

● View Point Character
All scenes have a viewpoint character. If your novel has only one view point or only one person in the scene, then you don’t have as much work to do. Otherwise, most of the authors suggest using the character with the most to lose. Be sure it is clear to the reader what the view point character wants in this that particular scene.
Writing the scene in the view point of a character who can’t articulate their thoughts and reactions (a child, an invalid,) might be the best choice to show their thoughts and reactions the other characters can’t decipher. Lakin recommends asking yourself:
     ▪ “Who will react strongest emotionally?”
     ▪ “Who will change the most?”
     ▪ “Whose reaction would most impact the plot?”
I’d throw in a fourth question: “Which character will show their reaction and which will try to hide it?”

● Conflict or Tension
All scenes need an element of conflict, and if you go with Weiked’s approach, it is the scene. The majority of scenes will most likely have two or more characters in them, and each of them has an agenda … a goal within the scene which is not necessarily the character’s overall goal in the novel. Conflict occurs when those goals work at cross purposes. The conflict can be internal, external, or both.
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OTHER COMPONENTS OF THE SCENE
The structural components of the scene are not the only ones to consider, but I’m not sure there is a term for what I’m talking about — other than good writing. Because fiction storytelling is presented in scenes, these are considerations for every scene.
● Hooks
Every scene should begin and end with a hook. I know this is repetitive, but it’s important.

● Mood of the Scene
Every scene takes place somewhere, but it is not just the location. The setting should convey the mood of the scene. Weather and lighting are key factors in setting the mood. Meeting in a park on a bright sunny day, with children playing all around, sets a different mood than meeting in a cemetery on a dark cloudy day with the wind whipping around your ankles. Leave this out, and you’ve lost an opportunity.
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● Mood of the VP Character
The filter through which the characters view the setting as they enter the scene, can establish the mood of the character. A sad character who is walking or driving down a street of a to deliver bad news may notice for the first time how dingy the neighborhood looks, with peeling paint, broken shutters, and weedy lawns
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 Detail and The Five Senses
The writer shouldn’t overload scenes with too much visual detail, which tends to get boring, but most of us overlook using the senses, other than sight, in our writing. You can bring your scenes to life by engaging all the senses, and you can contribute to setting the mood of the scene and the characters by which senses you employ.

When you do use visual details, be selective. The reader should see the setting through the eyes of the viewpoint character, and they reflects that character’s values, interests, and to some extent what they are like. Detail also tells the reader what’s important, although it won’t be until later in the novel that the significance of some details pay off. Strive to paint enough a picture to help your reader see the scene as if on the big screen.

​● Accent Character Changes
If the character(s) has changed or is changing, show it in the scene.
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LAUNCHING A SCENE
I learned from Jordan Rosenfeld’s Writer’s Digest article that a scene break is call a “soft hiatus” [indicated by four blank lines or a symbol(s) such as an asterisk] and, contrary to popular belief, does not have to indicate a break in location or time. A new scene can pick up “in the middle of action or continue where others left off.” This is the reason for using the term “launching a scene” rather than “the beginning of a scene.” It is an invitation to the reader to come along.
● Start with a Hook
[Yes, again!] Your hook should be a startling or unexpected action. Rosenfeld says. “The key to creating strong momentum is to start an action without explaining anything.”

● Action First, Then Reaction
According to Margie Lawson, human reactions occur in the following sequence.
     ▪ First, an instinctive visceral reaction from the inside; a reflex action that comes very quickly. An emotion like fear.
     ▪ Second, and almost immediately, a verbal exclamation. A gasp, scream, or so on.
     ▪ Third, and only then, can a human react rationally, act, think, and speak.
The important part of this is showing in your characters all three of these steps in consecutive order. Showing them out of sequence makes the reader feel something is wrong, and the scene will seem unrealistic.

Randy Ingermanson gives a very good example in his article, which I have paraphrased below.
     “The tiger dropped out of the tree and sprang toward Jack.
     This if objective, sharp and clean. No indication we’re in Jack’s view point.

     A bolt of raw adrenaline shot through Jack’s veins. He jerked his rifle to his shoulder, sighted on the tiger’s heart,
     and squeezed the trigger. “Die, you bastard!”
     Note the three parts of the Reaction:
     ▪ Feeling: “A bolt of raw adrenaline shot through Jack’s veins.” You show this first, because it happens almost
     instantly.
     ▪  Reflex: “He jerked his rifle to his shoulder . . .” You show this second, as a result of the fear. An instinctive result
     that requires no conscious thought.
     ▪ Rational Action and Speech: “. . . sighted on the tiger’s heart, and squeezed the trigger. ‘Die, you bastard!'” You
      put this last, when Jack has had time to think and act in a rational way. He pulls the trigger, a rational response to
      the danger. He speaks, a rational expression of his intense emotional reaction. It is legitimate to leave out one or
      two of these three parts. (You can’t leave out all three or you have no Reaction.) But there is one critical rule to
      follow in leaving parts out: Whatever parts you keep in must be in the correct order.”
Always be sure the actions are true to character.

● Avoid Too Much Narrative Summary
Stay away from using a lot of narrative or back story to launch a scene. It can work if you keep it short. The urge to use narrative summary and back story is more likely in the first and second chapters of the novel.

Because the launch of a scene needs to move quickly, it is sometimes appropriate to summarize the necessary information to move into the action. In fact, the following example used by Jordan E. Rosenfeld in his article made me realize that sometime a summarization can be your hook. “My mother was dead before I arrived.”
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WRITE NOW, EDIT LATER
The number of things to think about when writing is overwhelming, which leads most writers to this conclusion: Forget the rules/hints/tips/suggestions and write the darn scene.
​
To do that is procrastinating, yes, but necessary at the beginning. The work catches up with you when you edit. Using a checklist for all the things you want in a scene [or in your writing in general] and use that when editing. Author C.J. Lakin [ https://www.livewritethrive.com/ ], offers a downloadable checklist for this purpose at https://www.livewritethrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/8-Step-Scene-Building-Worksheet.pdf.

The good news is, the more you write and edit, the more all these rules/hints/tips/suggestions become second nature and you begin to do them automatically until, voila, you don’t have to think of them consciously anymore. But you still have to edit.
□
 
Sources:
https://www.margielawson.com/
https://romancetheguyspov.blogspot.com/2019/03/scene-structure.html?showComment=1552330612634#c1981647060450246975
https://jerryjenkins.com/8-steps-writing-perfect-scene-every-time/
https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-ways-to-launch-strong-scenes
https://www.janefriedman.com/writing-scene/
https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-structure-scenes/
https://www.livewritethrive.com/2016/01/11/the-5-essential-components-of-scene-structure/
https://writingcooperative.com/what-is-scene-in-a-novel-8f08df1dba94
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/190209.Scene_Structure
https://www.writersdigest.com/qp7-migration-books/90-day-novel-excerpt
https://carrotranch.com/2014/06/24/writing-a-novel-scene-by-scene/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scene_and_sequel
 

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DEAR HACKER

5/17/2019

0 Comments

 
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I’VE BEEN HACKED
Several years ago, I received, out of the blue, a dozen e-mails from friends asking if I was really in Turkey. They and others had received an e-mail, supposedly from yours truly, with pleas for money because my family and I were stranded in that country.
​A few years before I had traveled in Turkey and found it to be a beautiful and fascinating country, but I wasn't there without money to spend on Turkish Delight and other intriguing things. To clarify, this happened before the politics became so troubled, and I didn’t worry about traveling there.
​
Of course, my friends immediately recognized the scam. So did I, and I was pissed. I sat down and wrote an angry letter to the hacker with the reasons why his/her letter was such a failure. I didn't have a clue who the hacker was or how to reach that person, but decided to post it on my blog just for the heck of it.

​Cartoon By Ron Leishman
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"Dear Hacker,
I hope you enjoyed your trip to Turkey -- it's really a beautiful country – and made it home without further incident. I imagine by now you realize the significant mistakes you made hacking into an author's address book.

First, writers generally have other writers' e-mail addresses, and writers are not necessarily the best paid people on the Internet. The most you could expect to get from a writer is about five bucks, if that. [Plus, a writer's reaction might be to welcome the reduced competition and opportunity to leave another writer-friend stranded in a foreign country. You never know.] Unfortunately, you failed to indicate where to send the money and how to get in touch with you, which is sure to get you nothing.

Second, you need better language skills if you're going to convince writers that one of their own is in need. Most of my writer friends knew at once the verbatim e-mail, reprinted word for word and punctuation mistake for mistake, below, was a fraud.

         “I am so sorry to bring this to your notice, I and my family came down to Turkey on a short vacation, On getting
​          there we were seriously mugged at a gun point with bruises all over our heads. All cash and credit card and cell
          phones were stolen away away from us. Right now we have no means of getting back home. Our return flight
          leaves soon, we're having financial problems sorting our hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave
         until we sort the bills. We need your help with some money i will surely refund it back to you.”
 
Third, your letter isn’t written in critical panic mode. If I were stranded somewhere without money, and had the opportunity to e-mail someone for help, I wouldn’t waste my time on this kind of a communication. Plus, I’ve traveled enough to know you should never keep all your money and credit cards in one place and to always carry copies of your important documents.

WHY YOUR LETTER MISSED THE MARK
You, my dear hacker, really need to improve your writing and punctuation skills in English. If you intend to continue your career as an extortionist, I suggest you invest in a good grammar/spell check program and some English classes.
Further, it's unlikely I would bring something "to your notice". To your "attention" perhaps, but even that sounds rather affected in terms of colloquial English.
​
"I and my family"?
I don't think so. I would say "My family and I" and, also, I wouldn’t "come down to Turkey" since I would be traveling from California. In case you can’t read a map, Turkey is to the east of California – although I concede one can get from California to Turkey by going west also. Americans have a tendency to describe the direction of a geographic location based on where they live or start a trip.
​
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​"On getting there"?
Okay for prose, not for letters to friends or dialogue. Even the turns of phrase "Upon arriving" or "Upon our arrival" are somewhat formal. I'd use "When we got there …” Also note that if you are writing the message in Turkey, and you are stranded, you would be talking about "here", not "there"?

"Seriously mugged"?
I imagine all muggings are serious, particularly to the mugee. Please describe to me what an un-serious mugging would be like.

"With bruises all over our heads."?
This description evokes a lot of questions. Did you have bruises all over your heads to start with? Bruises on heads might be hard to see unless the hair is cut very short. If the mugger held you and your family at gun point, did he bash everyone on their heads with something else or with the gun? If he bashed one of you with the gun, then the rest of the victims couldn’t have been at gun point at the same time. Did this mugger act alone?

"Stolen away away"?
The phrase “stolen away” is not common usage in my part of the US. "Stolen away away from us", even less common unless the speaker is stuttering. Can one stutter in writing?

You should leave spaces (at least one) between sentences and end them with proper punctuation. Commas in the right places are nice too. And don’t forget to capitalize “I”. This was an e-mail, not a text message.
​
“Right now we have no means of getting back home.”
Here your English is fine, but your logic is lacking. If your flight was leaving soon, then you most likely had tickets. Ergo, you had a means of getting home. Based on the rest of your letter, what you lacked was the means to pay the hotel bill.

I'm sure the hotel manager would not allow patrons leave until they "paid" the bills. It's not much of a problem to sort them, but the hotel wants the money.

Finally, I might "repay" the loan, but I wouldn't even think of saying I'd "refund" it (although, technically, that may not be incorrect). I mean, everyone is a little sloppy in e-mails, and we all make mistakes, but come on!

I was gratified when my friends all greeted me with, "I'm glad to see you're back from Turkey. LOL!" I'm not sure what other people in my address book thought, since many of them are professional contacts and don't know me from Adam. It's a cinch they wouldn't send money to bail out a complete stranger.
I hope you had a nice vacation, and better luck next time.  
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Sincerely, R.A.S.

Alas, my sarcasm was wasted, since I had no place to send the e-mail, but I felt better. I'm climbing off my soap box now and won't bother my readers with this again. I promise!
□
​
0 Comments

PARAPROSDOKIANS: "I didn't say It Was Your Fault; I said I'm blaming you."

5/10/2019

0 Comments

 
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YES, VIRGINIA, THERE REALLY IS A PARADROSDOKIAN!
You may not find any paraprosdokian at the La Brea Tar Pits, but they exist. Really, they do! You can find them in Merriam Webster and most other dictionaries, snoozing between the pages.

However, you probably are familiar with this species which is commonly known as the ever- popular comedic One- Liner. Merriam-Webster defines paraprosdokian as “A figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to re-frame or re-interpret the first part.”
​
In fact, some paraprosdokians can change the meaning of the initial phrase and play on the double meaning of the words, creating a syllepsis.
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​No! That’s not a baby paraprosdokian or a sexually transmitted disease. Syllepsis is another figure of speech in which a word is applied to two others in different senses. (e.g., caught the train and a bad cold.)
 
WRITERS AND READERS, REJOICE!
The paraprosdokian figure of speech is one everyone is familiar with, but writers should understand its use as another writing tool.

If you're like I was, at this point you are saying—or perhaps yelling—"What the heck are you talking about?" Even stronger language may be appropriate.

It is much easier to give examples of Famous Pararosdokians:
● "He was at his best when the going was good."--Alistair Cooke on the Duke of Windsor
● "There but for the grace of God—goes God."--Winston Churchill
● "If I could just say a few words… I'd be a better public speaker."--Homer Simpson
● "If I am reading this graph correctly—I'd be very surprised."--Stephen Colbert
● "On his feet he wore…blisters."--Aristotle
● "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."--Groucho Marx
● "A modest man, who has much to be modest about."—supposedly Winston Churchill, about Clement Attlee
● "I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long."--Mitch Hedberg
● “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”
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NOW I GET IT!
We're all acquainted with these one-liners because they're frequently used in comedy. They're fun. They're also useful in writing for several reasons.

● First, because writers are constantly advised to avoid clichés and to come up with new and fresh ways of expressing the same old ideas. A writer can use this technique to invent new and interesting metaphors.

● Second, the use of this figure of speech can create humor or dramatic effect, or even for producing an anticlimax.
This device is used not only in comedy but in literature and frequently in films. Here are some examples of the use of the device in literature:

● Example #1 – My speech to the Graduates by Woody Allen
"Contemporary man, of course, has no such peace of mind. He finds himself in the midst of a crisis of faith. He is what we fashionably call ‘alienated.’ He has seen the ravages of war, he has known natural catastrophes, he has been to singles bars."
       The sentences goes along dealing with the meaning of life. The juxtaposition of final phrase contrasts so much
       with the serious topic, that it’s unexpected and, therefore, humorous.

● Example #2 - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
“Trin Tragula–for that was his name–was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher or, as his wife would have it, an idiot…”
       Trin Tragula is portrayed as "a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher”, all characteristics the reader would
       think of as good traits. Adams, however, ends his litany by mentioning how Trin Tragula’s wife perceives him (“as
        his wife would have it, an idiot”). This ending is a surprise to the readers and creates comic effect.

● Example #3 - The Cottage Maid by Patrick Branwell Bronte
“Religion makes beauty enchanting,
And even where beauty is wanting,
The temper and mind,
Religion refined,
Will shine through the veil with sweet luster...."
       While this one is truly incomprehensible to me, it is explained this way. "In this excerpt, the author is talking about
       religion through the first four lines. However, in the last line, there is a sudden shift of sense" which renders a 
       different meaning from the rest of the text. thttps://literarydevices.net/paraprosdokian/

JUST FOR FUN: HERE IS A SHORT LIST
There are many lists of well-known and not-so-well-known paraprosdokians. Here are a few:

● "I like going to the park and watching the children run around screaming, because they don't know I'm using blanks." --Emo Philips
● "I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long." --Mitch Hedberg
● "I sleep eight hours a day and at least ten at night." --Bill Hicks
● "I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat." --Will Rogers
● "On the other hand, you have different fingers." --Steven Wright
● “I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.”
● “Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
● “I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.
● “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”
● “The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on the list.”
● “Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.”

HAVE FUN WITH IT!

Sources:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/paraprosdokian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian
https://literarydevices.net/paraprosdokian/
http://www.economicnoise.com/2011/09/05/182-paraprosdokians/
http://www.clker.com/clipart-797642.html
Title contributed by Ali from Pakistan on 06-24-2017
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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

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