I love new words, real ones and those that are made up accidentally through conversation. I once heard one of my favourite authors (C.C. Humphreys) tell a great story about inventing the word “moonspill”. Super cool, I was very inspired. So I am on the look-out for great new made-up words to use in my writing, and in life. This week a friend introduced me to a new one I thought I would share. “Preponed”. You don’t recognize it you say? Neither did I, its a great new made-up word; the opposite of postponed…a synonym would be “moved up”, but doesn’t preponed sound better? Let me use it in a sentence so you can get the feel for this great new (made-up) word. “Hey Jim, are you still meeting with your accountant tomorrow?” “Nope, that meeting was preponed, I saw my accountant today instead.”
Why be held back by reality? Your welcome. 🙂
Writing Exercise:
Open yourself up to a new idea. Each writer has dozens of stories drifting in their heads waiting to be released. Sit in a comfortable place to write, with a pen and paper or keyboard at the ready. Close your eyes and relax your body, breathing deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth try to relax everywhere. When you open your eyes write the first thing that comes to mind, whether it is a word, or phrase, and without judgment of that use what you have written to begin a story. Write for ten minutes and then stop briefly to ask yourself where the story is going? (You will probably have an idea at this point.) Give yourself no more than thirty seconds to ponder that question, then turn the answer on it head, and take the story in the completely opposite direction. If you were writing a love story, make it about hate. If you were moving toward a destination, change it, or make the character now desperately need to avoid that destination. Think opposite. Write for another ten minutes in your new direction. Happy writing.
