“God, but life is loneliness, despite all the opiates, despite the shrill tinsel gaiety of 'parties' with no purpose, despite the false grinning faces we all wear.”
- Sylvia Plath
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Leading a Morgana Pendragon appreciation life. Searching in vain for Merdred fics. Loathing Theon Greyjoy profusely. Wasting away at community college in pursuit of a degree I don't need. Hi.
Air: allspice, anise seeds, bergamot, caraway, cardamom, chicory, dandelion, dill, hops, lavender, lemongrass, maple, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, pine, rosemary, sage, spearmint, star anise
Earth: alfalfa, barley, beets, buckwheat, corn, marjoram, oats, peanuts, potato, rye, tarragon, wheat, yeast
Water: aloe vera, apple, apricot, artichokes, avocado, banana, blackberry, blueberry, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, chamomile, lemon, lemongrass, melons, nori, poppy seeds, soy, sugar, tamarind, thyme
Fire: basil, bay leaf, black pepper, cayenne, chili peppers, chives, cilantro, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel seed, flax, garlic, ginger, mustard seed, nutmeg, peppermint, sesame
for any aspiring linguists out there. funny story: I chose the right field.
I got Phonetics, class :-)
Tinctures- A tincture is an extract of an herb in alcohol. Some herbs you would use in tincture form are wormwood, solomans seal, and willow bark.
How to make tinctures by Mountain Rose Herbs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dloPF1QDuw
Salves - A salve is like a medicinal cream that is used externally on the skin. A salve made of lavender, rose, chamomile, and mugwort, would be good to rub on the temples before going to bed or to calm down.
How to make salves by Mountain Rose Herbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqDq_VnZ8Ok
Liniments - A liniment is a healing liquid used externally. An infusion of rose and mugwort could be applied as a liniment to help with abdominal cramping.
Poultices - A poultice is a mass of mashed herbs that is applied externally. An example of this would be using plantain poultice on a wound.
How to make poultices by Mountain Rose Herbs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asqT4pkoVcM
Capsules - Capsules are pill shaped casings filled with powdered herbs or sometimes herbal oils. Examples: garlic oil capsules, horsetail powder capsules. Capsules are the least effective way to take herbs.
Decoctions- Decoctions are roots or tree bark that have been simmered over a long time or boiled for a short time in order to extract all of the medicinal qualities. You would need to make a decoction with something like blackberry root .
Herbal steam - A herbal steam is a pot of water filled with simmering herbs that produce steam. To use a herbal steam you need to lower your face over the pot of herbs and place a towel over your head so that none of the steam gets out. A good combination of herbs for a general skincare herbal steam would be rosemary, lavender, chamomile, calendula, and mint.
How to make an herbal steam by Mountain Rose Herbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN_02xKg134Infused oil - An infused oil is an oil such as olive oil that has been infused with a herb with heat or simply by letting the herb sit in the oil over time. Things like salves and lotions would use infused oils.
How to make infused oils by Mountain Rose Herbs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e095va7iAX0
Three simple ways to show and not tell
1. Avoid using abstract words when you describe a person.
Don’t write: She was a beautiful woman and David was sure that every man in the coffee shop thought so too. He felt jealous.
Do write: You look like an angel. Written in the foam of her cappuccino. David tensed as she smiled at the message from the unseen barista.2. Avoid adjectives. Use verbs. Adjectives tell. Verbs show.
Don’t write: She spoke in a drunk manner.
Do write: She slurred.3. Don’t generalise. Be specific.
Don’t write: There was a bird outside the room.
Do write: A robin perched on the windowsill.From Writers Write.
Note: Some words or phrases are repeated as they fit into two or more categories.
Additional Facts
- again
- also
- another
- and besides
- finally
- further
- furthermore
- in conclusion
- initially
- next
- to begin with
Restatement
- in brief
- in essence
- in short
- in other words
- namely
- that is
- that is to say
- to put it differently
Similarities
- as
- as though
- also
- comparatively
- coupled with
- correspondingly
- identically
- in the same way
- like
- likewise
- moreover
- similar
- similarly
- together with
Contrasts
- although
- but
- by the same token
- conversely
- despite
- either
- even though
- however
- if
- in contrast
- in spite of
- instead
- likewise
- neither
- nevertheless
- on one hand
- on the contrary
- on the other hand
- rather
- similarly
- still
- unless
- yet
This is a really good article about how quickly people actually die from cuts and punctures inflicted by swords and knives. However, it’s really really long and I figured that since I was summarizing for my own benefit I’d share it for anyone else who is writing fiction that involves hacking and slashing your villain(s) to death. If you want the nitty gritty of the hows and whys of this, you can find it at the original source.
…even in the case of mortal wounds, pain may not reach levels of magnitude sufficient to incapacitate a determined swordsman.
Causes of death from stabs and cuts:
- massive bleeding (exsanguination) - most common
- air in the bloodstream (air embolism)
- suffocation (asphyxia)
- air in the chest cavity (pneumothorax)
- infection
Stabbing vs cutting:
- Stabbing someone actually takes very little force if you don’t hit bone or hard cartilage.
- The most important factor in the ease of stabbing is the velocity of the blade at impact with the skin, followed by the sharpness of the blade.
- Stabbing wounds tend to close after the weapon is withdrawn.
- Stabbing wounds to muscles are not typically very damaging. Damage increases with the width of the blade.
- Cutting wounds are typically deepest at the site of initial impact and get shallower as force is transferred from the initial swing to pushing and pressing.
- Cutting wounds have a huge number of factors that dictate how deep they are and how easily they damage someone: skill, radial velocity, mass of the blade, and the size of the initial impact.
- Cutting wounds along the grain of musculature are not typically very damaging but cutting wounds across the grain can incapacitate.
Arteries vs veins:
- Severed veins have almost zero blood pressure and sometimes even negative pressure. They do not spurt but major veins can suck air in causing an air embolism.
- Cutting or puncturing a vein is usually not fatal.
- Severed arteries have high blood pressure. The larger arteries do spurt and can often cause death due to exsanguination.
Body parts as targets:
- Severing a jugular vein in the neck causes an air embolism and will make the victim collapse after one or two gasps for air.
- Severing a carotid artery in the neck cuts off the blood supply to the brain but the victim may be conscious for up to thirty seconds.
- Stabbing or cutting the neck also causes the victim to aspirate blood that causes asphyxiation and death.
- Severing a major abdominal artery or vein would cause immediate collapse, but this takes a fairly heavy blade and a significant amount of effort because they are situated near the spine.
- Abdominal wounds that only impact the organs can cause death but they do not immediately incapacitate.
- Severing an artery in the interior of the upper arm causes exsanguination and death but does not immediately incapacitate.
- Severing an artery in the palm side of the forearm causes exsanguination and death but does not immediately incapacitate.
- Severing the femoral artery at a point just above and behind the knee is the best location. Higher up the leg it is too well protected to easily hit. This disables and will eventually kill the victim but does not immediately incapacitate.
- Cutting across the muscles of the forearm can immediately end the opponent’s ability to hold their weapon.
- Cutting across the palm side of the wrist causes immediate loss of ability to hold a weapon.
- Stab wounds to the arm do not significantly impact the ability to wield a weapon or use it.
- Cuts and stab wounds to the front and back of the legs generally do not do enough muscle damage to cause total loss of use of that leg.
- Bone anywhere in the body can bend or otherwise disfigure a blade.
- The brain can be stabbed fairly easily through the eyes, the temples, and the sinuses.
- Stabs to the brain are more often not incapacitating.
The lungs as targets:
- Slicing into the lung stops that lung from functioning, but the other lung continues to function normally. This also requires either luck to get between the ribs or a great deal of force to penetrate the ribs.
- Stabbing the lung stops that lung from functioning, but the other lung continues to function normally. It is significantly easier to stab between ribs than to slice.
- It is possible to stab the victim from the side and pass through both lungs with an adequate length blade. It is very unlikely that this will happen with a slicing hit.
- “Death caused solely by pneumothorax is generally a slow process, occurring as much as several hours after the wound is inflicted.”
- Lung punctures also typically involve the lung filling with blood, but this is a slow process.
The heart as a target:
I’m just going to quote this paragraph outright with a few omissions and formatting changes for clarity because it’s chock-full of good info:
…[stabbing] wounds to the heart the location, depth of penetration, blade width, and the presence or absence of cutting edges are important factors influencing a wounded duelist’s ability to continue a combat.
- Large cuts that transect the heart may be expected to result in swift incapacitation…
- …stab wounds, similar to those that might be inflicted by a thrust with a sword with a narrow, pointed blade may leave a mortally wounded victim capable of surprisingly athletic endeavors.
Essentially, the heart can temporarily seal itself well enough to keep pressure up for a little while if it’s a simple stab. The arteries around the heart, while they are smaller and harder to hit, actually cause incapacitation much more quickly.
Editing doesn’t just mean to fix your comma errors and check your spelling. It doesn’t just mean making sure you don’t have any run-on sentences. Editing involves looking at your whole piece of work and making sure that it makes sense.
When I began editing my web series, I printed out all 118 pages and read through the entire thing, correcting the grammar usage and spelling errors that I found.
I added dialogue. I took some away. Mostly, though, I kept everything the same. I didn’t change anything around. I didn’t move episodes. But when it came time to share my work with others, I was shocked when they found it hard to follow.
I had completely ignored an important rule of editing: I had not made sure my story made sense. Before you start correcting the small stuff in your own work, look at the big picture. Look at that over-arcing idea that you wanted to express. Did you do it? Or did you just tell a nice story that has no backbone to it at all?
If it is the latter, don’t sweat it. There’s still time to make sure that your idea is there.
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A trick that I have used in the past is to see the plot physically laid out in front of me. Honestly, this has helped me almost more than I’d like to admit.
First, separate your work into easy to manage sections. These could be into scenes, chapters, episodes, moments, whatever works best for your story. I broke my web series into scenes.
Then, condense those scenes into a few words that describe the gist of what is going on. Copy down those ideas onto a separate piece of paper. (I prefer to type them into Microsoft Word and print out what I have so I can hold the plot points in my hands.)
Once you have everything printed or written out, cut the pieces so only one plot point is on each strip.
The next bit is the fun part. Rearrange the slips of paper until your story makes more logical sense as part of your message. Take out some parts. Put new parts in. Be flexible when it comes to your writing. Don’t worry about how the scenes will be written or which character will do what specifically. Just focus on the overall idea.
When you have everything in the order that pleases you, compare it to your original work. Did anything change? Did anything stay the same? It’s good as long as your message is coming through loud and clear.
***
That is editing. Making sure your message is clear and if it’s not, fixing it.
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st. marie | tequila | thin franq | trajan pro [no download] | walkway | wankhands
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