#editorial vocabulary

[md-rizwan-ansari]

All Newspaper Editorial Vocabulary 111-120

The Hindu Newspaper Vocabulary 111-120 111. Abetment (Verb) – बहकाव Meaning – To encourage, support, or countenance by aid or approval, usually in wrongdoing. Synonyms – aid, assist, assistance, hand. Antonyms – disapproval, discouragement, hurt, injury. Example – Now Esther herself was offering her own abetment in almost the same terms. 112. Vendetta (Noun) – प्रतिशोध Meaning – A…

[shiranuieditorial]

Vocabulary list for writers: EXPLANATION

📚✍️ Looking to spice up the way you explain your explanations? Check out these cool options!

List summary: Account, accountancy, aide-mémoire, alibi, amplification, analysis, anatomising (also spelled anatomizing), annotation, apologia, argument, assay, assessment, breakdown, briefing, caveat, clarification, commentary, confession, construction, contextualisation (also spelled contextualization), and counsel.

💭 Uhh, why this topic in particular? 🤔

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You see, we’ll be doing a lot of explaining, discussing, analysing, surmising, and whatnot during our

🗨️ Q&As

🗨️ Consultations

🗨️ Creative collaborations

(That’s a promise! 🫵🏼)

So, I thought, “What could be a better list to write than EXACTLY about the sheer level of clear communication we’ll practice?”

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Anyway, anyway... I bet you won’t believe I originally intended this list to have only around 5–10 words! 🤯

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🦗🦗🦗

[Crickets suddenly stop in shock]

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Yep, it’s true! I overdid myself with this one… 😅

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Now that you’ve read the first 21 out of 77, why not stay tuned for more vocabulary fun?

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The next parts to this Masterlist of Words Similar/Related to “Explanation” will launch soon! 🚀 ...enough. Hold on to your rockets, fellas 😂

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🍔 QOTD 🍔

Which word here is your favourite?

Yes, you have to choose just one!!! 🔪

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‼️ DISCLAIMER‼️

I’m not claiming these words are true synonyms (i.e., having the exact same meaning as one another). They are not at all synonymous with each other, but they convey ideas or actions that resemble, complement, or specify the word “explanation”, which—if used with caution—can enhance the quality and impact of your writing, speech, and even your own thoughts and mindset.

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In any case, it’s always a good idea to expand our vocabulary, even if we don’t use these new words right away. After all, science says language learning is good for brain health, so, why not? 🧠

[wordtowords]

Losing on "Jeopardy"?

jeopardy - noun - exposure to or imminence of loss or injury

Looking to find a basic definition, I googled "jeopardy," and guess what I came up with? The television game show, of course! Jeopardy has been on the box for forty seasons, boasting over nine thousand shows. Which says a lot. It says that enough people out there in TV Land (network TV Land) are interested in seeing just how much they learned in all of their years of schooling. Ergo, for decades, they have played along with the three contestants chosen from a deep pool of erudite individuals. But as we all know, when it comes to Hollywood, nothing is as it seems to be, especially in a town that invents fantasies and perpetuates them.

Today, my daughter and I drove onto the Sony Pictures' lot in Culver City (definitely one of my favorite L.A. sub-cities) unprepared for what the morning and a portion of the afternoon would bring us as members of Jeopardy's studio audience. Personally, I thought the experience would be more like being in the house at Jimmy Fallon's show where one observed an even taping and only had to applaud when the flashing light labeled APPLAUSE warranted it. It was more of a live broadcast. Being in the stands at Jeopardy was quite different, like being an extra on a movie set sans the omnipresent catered cuisine and eventual paycheck. We volunteers had to do a lot of cueing up and waiting in corralled herds (common on movie sets), listen to and follow through with multiple directives, and maintain patience while the production crew corrected misspellings on the board and overdubbed some of Ken Jennings's and the contestants' words. We, about a hundred naive tourists, were put in jeopardy as human flaws were being perfected in real time. Of course, no one in the audience realized that the studio system was taking advantage of them since both the parking and ticket to the show were free and so few things in life are free. On the other hand, as P.T. Barnum once said, "There's a sucker born every minute." And Hollywood makes no exceptions. 

On the totally positive side, while we were lined up single file outside against the wall of the soundstage, polished Ryan Seacrest, Dick Clark's successor and new host of Wheel of Fortune, drove up in his new muted-gray Austin Martin (yes, I know how much they cost), parked parallel to our firing line, stepped out three feet in front of me and gave me, my daughter and a few other stunned onlookers one beaming Hollywood smile. He was, to be honest, a sparkler, perhaps better looking in real life than on TV. Being able to drool over him for a New York minute was worth the complimentary ticket to Jeopardy and what it yielded.

Needless to say, as many of you bonafide fans already know, the contestants don't lose even if they lose. The second and third place gamers walk away with 2K and 1K even if they wind up with nothing earned. One could say that the audience is at a loss, but it really depends on how you look at it. We did walk away with a thorough knowledge of the recording process and the recognition that it isn't easy. 

My recommendation? Even if you are a huge fan, don't buy a plane ticket to L.A. just to see a taping. Watch the show at home where you can call out the answers–whether they be right or wrong–and throw popcorn at the tube if you feel the answer to the inevitable question was too vague or misleading. We in the audience didn't have those luxuries. I actually missed them. One thing is for certain. If you at home continue watching the show, you'll never be in jeopardy of losing it. 

[thornbushrose]

Friends,

You wreak havoc. You reek if you smell strongly.

Also, it's skittish, not skiddish.

That is all.

[rockstarlwt28]

Hi. I'm looking for a beta / editor to help with wording, vocabulary and improving emotions please. Someone to help go through things with me a little step by step process. Please. 🙏

Thankyou.

[zorosdimples]

cw: mentions of breeding and some silliness. sweet choso!

choso’s vocabulary is ever-evolving. it’s a unique task, helping a grown man learn to articulate himself. (in spite of the half-cursed blood that thrums through his veins, you insist—always—that he’s a man, first and foremost.)

slang proves to be a never-ending area of education for your boyfriend; he often comes to you, phone in hand, plum eyes all but pleading.

it’s a sunny saturday morning and you’re lounging on the couch with him when he nudges your arm and thrusts his phone towards you. “can you tell me what this means?”

your gazes flits down to the screen. there’s a photo of jennifer lawrence in a sultry pose—likely an editorial for a magazine. “what’s this?”

“yuuji retweeted this photo. he likes her,” choso states matter-of-factly.

he peers over your shoulder and scrolls down to the replies, clicking on the one he doesn’t understand. it simply reads: she breedable af.

you brows shoot up and you swallow a giggle. “oh,” you say, attempting gloss over your initial surprise. “i see.”

“af means ‘as fuck,’ i remember that,” he offers before looking to you.

“that’s right. um, you know what breeding is, yeah?” you swallow, unsure of your own trepidation. perhaps it has to do with choso’s earnestness—his desire to learn, to embrace his humanity, to better relate to you.

he nods. “mating.”

“yep. so, if someone refers to jennifer lawrence as breedable, it means that they… want to breed her.”

“they want to procreate with her,” he asserts.

“uh—basically, yeah.”

your boyfriend seems content with your answer and presses a cool kiss to your cheek. “thank you.”

a few weeks later, you’re getting ready to go out on a date with choso. you’re dressed in a rich aubergine—the same color as his irises. when he knocks on the bathroom door and asks if you’re ready, you open it up with a smile; his eyes go wide.

“like what you see?” you tease, taking his wide palms and pressing them to your waist.

he swallows before nodding a little frantically, firmly holding you like a lifeline. “you’re beautiful,” he murmurs, smearing his lips against the crown of your head. “very breedable,” he adds before you pull him in for a heated kiss.

maybe it’s silly, but you can’t help but hope that his compliment foreshadows the evening ahead.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Editorial Vocabulary

definitions of terms during the writing, editing and publishing process

Acknowledgements: Text in which the author thanks those who’ve supported them.

Action beat: Short description that comes before, between or just after dialogue.

Adjective: A word that describes a noun.

Adverb: A word that describes a verb.

Adverbial phrase: A group of words that describe a verb.

Afterword: A concluding section, often reflecting on the book’s creation or providing additional context.

Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive clauses for artistic effect.

Antagonist: An adversary. The character who creates obstacles and challenges for the protagonist, or behaves in a hostile fashion towards the protagonist.

Anti-protagonist: A protagonist whose own actions create opposition and conflict, often within themselves or against their own goals.

Apostrophe: A punctuation mark used to indicate possession, omission and, occasionally, a plural.

Appendix: Space in a book for material that doesn’t fit comfortably in the main text.

Asyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B, C.

B-C

Back matter: Also end matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Beta reader: Test-reader who provides feedback on book.

Bibliography: List of all works cited in book, and any other work of interest to the reader.

Chapter drop: The space above and below the chapter title.

Character arc: Narrative that shows how a character changes and develops.

Characterization: The process of revealing a character's personality, traits and motives through actions and dialogue.

Colon: Punctuation mark that introduces additional/qualifying information about the clause it follows.

Comma splice: Two independent clauses joined by a comma rather than a conjunction or an alternative punctuation mark.

Conjunction: A word that connects clauses or sentences (e.g. ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘if’, ‘then’)

Copyediting: A review of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the manuscript's language.

Critique: Also manuscript evaluation. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

D

Denouement: The final part of the book in which all the plot strands are brought together and resolved.

Deuteragonist: A sidekick or confidante character who has the most influence on the protagonist, often helping them solve problems and overcome obstacles. Can be critical to driving the plot.

Developmental editing: Also structural editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Dialogue tag: Also speech tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Dialogue: The lines characters speak in a book.

Diversity reader: Also sensitivity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Double-page spread: Also DPS. The view of a printed book or PDF when opened so that the left- and right-hand pages are both visible.

Drama: The conflicts, emotional intensity, and impactful events that drive the plot and engage readers emotionally. The focus is on character relationships, motivations, and the consequences of their actions.

Dropped capital: Decorative first letter of the first word on the first line in a chapter. Larger than the rest of the text and drops down two lines or more.

E-F

Ellipsis: Punctuation mark that indicates a trailing-off or a pause.

End matter: Also back matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Endnote: Additional useful information at the end of a chapter or book.

Filter word: Verb that tells rather than shows (e.g. ‘noticed’, ‘seemed’, ‘spotted’, ‘saw’).

Folio: Somewhat old-fashioned term for page number. Also used to refer to a page.

Footnote: Additional useful information at the bottom of a page.

Foreword: A recommendation of the work written by someone other than the author.

Fourth wall: In books, the conceptual space between the characters and the readers.

Free indirect speech: Also free indirect style and free indirect discourse. Third-person narrative that holds the essence of first person thought or dialogue.

Front matter: Also prelims. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Full point: Period or full stop.

Full stop: Period or full point.

G-L

Glossary: Alphabetical list of important terms with explanations or definitions.

Habitual past tense: Uses ‘would’ or ‘used to’ with a verb to indicate events that happened routinely in a time past.

Half-title page: The first page of a book with any text on it; in a printed book, always a right-hand page. Contains only the main title of the book.

Head-hopping: Jumping from one character’s thoughts and internal experiences to another’s. Indicates viewpoint has been dropped.

Imprint: Publisher’s name.

Independent clause: A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate.

Index: Alphabetical list of all topics, themes, key terms and cited author names covered in the book, and the corresponding page numbers.

Information dump: Also word dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Line editing: Also stylistic editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

M-O

Maid-and-butler dialogue: Dialogue in which one character tells another something they already know so the reader can access backstory.

Manuscript evaluation: Also critique. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

Narrative arc: Also story arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Narrative authenticity: The believability and truthfulness of a story so that the characters and events feel real within the framework of the novel’s world.

Narrative distance: Also psychic distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Narrative: Story. The part of the book that’s narrated, excluding the dialogue.

Narrative style: The author's unique manner of storytelling, encompassing language, tone, viewpoint and other structural choices.

Narrative voice: The style, tone, and personality through which a narrator or character tells a story to readers.

Numerals, Arabic: 1, 2, 3 etc.

Numerals, Roman: i, ii, iii etc.

Omniscient: All-knowing. Refers to a viewpoint style in fiction writing.

Overwriting: Using too many words on the page. Often characterized by repetition and redundancy.

P

Page proofs: A file that’s reached a stage in the publishing process where the text and images of a manuscript have been laid out in their final format.

Pantser: A writer who doesn’t outline or plan story structure, but flies by the seat of their pants.

Period: Full stop or full point.

Perspective character: Also viewpoint character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told. The narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Plot: The sequence of events in a novel.

Point of view: Also viewpoint and POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book, or whose perspective we experience the story from.

Polysyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A and B and C.

Predicate: The part of a sentence that contains a verb and that tells us something about what the subject’s doing or what they are.

Preface: An explanation of the purpose, scope and content of a book, and written by the author.

Prelims: Also front matter. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun (e.g. I, you, he, she, we, me, it, this, that, them those, myself, who, whom). Pronouns can act and be acted upon like any noun.

Proofreading: The final pre-publication quality-control stage of editing where any final literal errors and layout problems are flagged up. Comes after developmental editing, stylistic line editing and copyediting.

Proper noun: A named person, place or organization. Always takes an initial capital letter.

Protagonist: The leading character in a novel, often facing central conflicts and driving action.

Psychic distance: Also narrative distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Purple prose: Overblown, poorly structured writing with strings of extraneous and often multisyllabic adjectives and adverbs.

Q-R

Quotation mark: Also speech mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Recto: The right-hand page of a book.

References: List of all the works cited in your book.

Roman typeface: Not italic.

Running head: Text that runs across the top of a page (e.g. title of the book, chapter title, author’s name).

S

Scene: a distinct segment or building block where specific actions and events unfold in a setting.

Scene technique: The use of dialogue, action, setting, and tension to craft compelling moments in the story.

Semi-colon: A punctuation mark that indicates a stronger pause than a comma between two main clauses.

Sensitivity reader: Also diversity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Speech mark: Also quotation mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Speech tag: Also dialogue tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Story arc: Also narrative arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Structural editing: Also developmental editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Style sheet: In which an author or editor records stylistic and language preferences, and tracks who’s who, what’s where, and when X, Y and Z happens.

Stylistic editing: Also line editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

Subject: The thing in a sentence that’s doing or being something.

Subplot: A secondary storyline that supports and enhances the main plot of a narrative.

Suspense: The tension, uncertainty and anticipation created by withholding information, raising stakes or placing characters in imminent danger. Readers are kept guessing or forced to ask questions.

Syndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B and C (or A, B, and C).

T

Talking-heads syndrome: Dialogue that isn’t grounded in the environment or the characters’ responses to that environment.

Tense: The form a verb takes to indicate when an action happened in relation to the telling of it.

Tension: The emotional strain or suspense created by unresolved conflicts, stakes or uncertainties that keep readers engaged.

Tertiary character: A functional character who gives the story realism and depth, but doesn’t significantly impact on or influence the plot or the development of the other characters.

Theme: The novel’s central idea or message about life, society, or human nature.

Title page: Includes full title (and subtitle if there is one), author’s name, publisher’s name, logo, volume number, and edition.

Transgressor: A character who commits morally, socially, or legally questionable acts.

Tritagonist: Third most important character, who often provide regular emotional or physical support, but don’t determine how the story develops.

U-W

Unreliable dialogue: Dialogue that doesn’t match a character’s true voice, mood or intent.

Unreliable narrator: A character whose telling of the story cannot be taken at face value. They may be naïve, confused, or deliberately manipulative.

Verb, intransitive: A verb that doesn’t have a direct object (e.g. ‘I giggled’).

Verb, transitive: A verb that has a direct object (e.g. ‘wrote’ in ‘I wrote a book’).

Verb: A word that describes doing. Can refer to a physical action (e.g. to dig), a mental action (e.g. to wonder) or a state of being (e.g. to be).

Verso: The left-hand page of a book.

Viewpoint: Also point of view or POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book.

Viewpoint character: Also perspective character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told, and the narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Vocative: The form of address for a character directly referred to in dialogue.

Word dump: Also information dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Source

[twopoppies]

Yeah like I’ve actually thought about offering to be a beta many times because I’m excellent with editing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and overall just good at helping polish up any kind of writing. But I’m worried that I would accidentally discourage someone from writing by trying to help. I don’t know what the balance of helpful editorial input and cheerleading are. So I’ve never stepped up. Recently I did read a fic that mixed up all their homonyms (honestly all of them it was incredible) and I was like “oh man!” because they had sentences like “she just stairs.” I would love to help someone with their homonyms but I’d never want to step on toes or make someone feel bad about their writing.

Oh my god that would do my head in. I think that’s often because people aren’t writing in their first language, but that’s when you really need a beta.

I find that the best way to beta is to have a really clear conversation with the author up front about what they expect. I’ve worked with people who only wanted me to catch typos/grammatical errors etc. and I just kept my mouth shut about other issues with their story because that’s not what they wanted from me. I beta for @indiaalphawhiskey and have for years. I know that she wants me to tell her if a plot point isn’t working, or if a sentence is trite or cliche. We’re open enough with each other that it doesn’t hurt her feelings (obviously, I’m also kind about it) and I also know that it encourages her when I’m genuinely enthusiastic about things, so I make sure not to keep my excitement to myself. 😆

There are so many authors out there that would love an enthusiastic beta. You should give it a try.

[at-thezenith]

acquiring a manuscript - the agent and editor

hello, it's me, your favourite publishing student. let's talk acquisition.

so you've managed to secure an agent with your manuscript. then what?

most agents will do a developmental edit on first deciding to work with you. plot, character, pace, continuity and worldbuilding all come under this. what makes a good agent (and editor) is whether they are offering you suggestions on what to do instead of outright rewriting your work.

once you've made those changes (or gone back and forth depending on how much you do or don't want to make that change), your agent will send your manuscript to editors in publishing houses.

a key question on their mind is: can i sell this book? agents (and editors, but i'm getting to that) look at a book's merit, and they look at what they can compare it to. you need some sort of USP (unique selling point)

is it pride and prejudice but trans? most ardently by gabe cole novoa. is it black mirror in south east asia? red dust , white snow by pan huiting. (highly rec both, btw)

key note here - if you are submitting to a publishing house that accepts unsolicited manuscripts, you will skip straight to this next step.

your manuscript will land on an editor's desk, along with the pitch your agent has given them, usually tailored to that editor's or that house's tastes. in a big house, that editor will usually pass that manuscript to an assistant, to do a reader's report, in which the assistant will sum up the plot, point out strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, tell them whether it is worth publishing. some manuscripts don't make it past this step, and in that case, the agent will send it to another house.

if the editor likes the sound of this manuscript, they will then read it. usually, they will read it three times: one for first glance edits, two for developmental edits, and three for line edits (line by line, spelling/grammar, vocabulary, etc). once this is done, they will tell the agent that they plan to put their house in the running for acquisition. then comes the acquisition meeting.

the acquisition meeting is where your editor will fight to get the publishing house on board with your book. remember that USP? here's where that comes into play. your editor needs, above all else, to get sales and marketing on board. how can i sell this book? editors often ask other members of the meeting to read the book beforehand to have some support, and to point to the book's readability.

the literary qualities of the book certainly come into play, but what sales and marketing want to hear is how your book is both familiar and new. so your editor will construct a pitch that both highlights the excitement of your book, but also point to previous successes with books like yours. i know that comparing books to other books is tedious, but sales are notoriously pessimistic. they control the money, after all.

but your book makes it through the meeting, and you have the whole team on board. now comes the editorial letter. this is where the editor is going to do their best to sweet talk you (and your agent) into accepting their offer of publishing your book. however, they will both gush about your work, and tell you the edits they want you to make to it, from the big developmental changes all the way down to the way a character moves in a scene. don't be discouraged if the list of changes is long; if the editor didn't want to publish the book, it wouldn't have made it past their assistant.

this of course is assuming you decide to accept their offer immediately. you could have offers from other houses, and in that case you usually won't receive the editorial letter - or at least, not in such great depth - until you have signed a contract with the house of your choice. that is more complicated.

hope you found this useful! my dms are open if anyone has any questions :)

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

The Monaco wedding….

Did you watch the Amber Heard/ Johnny Depp trial when she was interoggated about pledging vs donating? 

Until that moment, i had no interest in the trial and was barely aware that it was happening.

Then that interrogation happened and it went viral….I.WAS.HOOKED. didn’t miss another moment after that. 

That’s how the Monaco wedding was for me. 

There are too many moments of disaster in the days before, during and after of that wedding, BUT you have to hand it to Monaco PR. 

They swang into action in the following weeks, threatened to sue anyone who reported any of those details, infact successfully sued The Times of London. 

All videos and articles about the disastrous wedding week were pulled down and only very few happy/ neutral pictures from the actual day remain. Even the infamous video of the bride weeping bitter tears to the visible irritation and annoyance of Albert was pulled down.

Withthe media sufficiently cowed and scrubbed, Monaco pumped an alternative narrative of the wedding week, but of course didn’t supply the necessary pictures because they had none to share. They went as far as saying her tears in the wedding were of joy and feeling overwhelmed by the joy of the moment…lol. Not if you’d watched it live.

The couple gave an interview to a french channel to refute the real picture, but the bride didn’t speak french and didn’t smile once. 

It’s one of those things like the pledge/ donate Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp trial that i’ll never forget. 

*************

Did I watch the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial? Anon, I lived the Depp-Heard trial. I’ve had jury duty in that very courthouse. Friends went to the courthouse to try and get in (they didn’t). It’s 20 minutes up the road. There was wall-to-wall coverage here because it was international news, national news, and local news. It was the only thing on TV to watch and I watched every single second of it, and all the legal commentary, and all the social media commentary.

Some background:

Johnny was suing Amber over an editorial she wrote for, and published in, the Washington Post. The Post’s printing press and its servers are located in Fairfax, Virginia, which allowed Johnny’s team to file the lawsuit in Virginia, despite him and Amber both never having lived here, claiming that Fairfax VA had jurisdiction because that’s where her defamation claims were published.

The pledge/donate controversy was Amber claiming that a pledge is the same thing as a donation. It’s not. A pledge is a promise to donate money. A donation is the actual giving of money. Amber claimed that she “donated” the $7 million divorce settlement she received from Johnny but it turns out, she had only pledged to donate. She hadn’t actually fulfilled the obligation.

The pledge/donate fiasco is important because it exposed a) Amber for lying about her financial status and b) an important distinctions celebrities make when they PR their philanthropy. If you look at a lot of stories about celebs who donate huge multimillion dollar sums, a lot of those stories talk about “pledging.” As in, the celeb has made a verbal promise to donate money.

Like The Rock/Oprah Maui fire fundraiser. They didn’t outrightly donate to survivors and recovery. They pledged $5 million each, contingent on enough people donating to their fundraiser. They didn’t actually donate their money. At least, not until everyone got angry and called them out about it.

It is semantics. You don’t have to fulfill a pledge. It’s nice if you do, but at the end of the day, it’s rarely a legally-binding contract so a lot of celebs get their PR from using these semantics. They promise to donate money if X condition occurs so they look good to the public but they sometimes don’t actually follow through with it.

To bring it back to the royals, look and watch carefully the vocabulary that the Sussexes use to describe their philanthropy and humanitarian work. Are they using pledge to describe their work? Or are they using donate, or other action-based words?

And anyway, just to sum all this up with anon’s original post about Monaco: I am fully expecting the BRF to give the Sussexes the Monaco treatment if there’s ever a divorce. All the footage will be scrubbed. All the articles will be sanitized, if not scrubbed outright.

[md-rizwan-ansari]

All Newspaper Editorial Vocabulary 101-110

The Hindu Newspaper Vocabulary 101-110 101. Artefacts (Noun) – कलाकृतियां Meaning – An object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest. Example – gold and silver artefacts. 102. Commotion (Noun) – हल्ला गुल्ला Meaning – A state of confused and noisy disturbance. Synonyms – disturbance, racket, uproar, tumult Antonyms – calm, hush, peace, quiet Example –…

[epphfervescent]

weird question but. Where have you found good refs of the kind of hooked noses you often draw?? It’s my favorite nose shape but there’s a few angles I always struggle with and you seem like an expert

not weird at all!! I lovvve noses they’re my favorite feature to draw. I use Pinterest p exclusively for refs; maybe try search terms like roman nose/grecian nose (obvs they mean different things/denote diff facial structure, but search results tend to lump all hooked-shaped noses together). Also try looking up the ‘before’ images for rhinoplasty

Re: angles, once you’ve scrolled to a face u like, find out the person’s name and search for them specifically, to see pics of the same feature at different orientations. For my Nose Gang (tm) I’m looking at Vanessa Axente, Numan Acar, Alba Flores, Eugene Hutz, Louis Garrel, & Hasan Ali

If the pickings r slim try search terms for photoshoots/editorials, bc sometimes photographers will get funkier with lighting/pose angles for magazines than, like, red carpet pics. (Re: funky lighting, remember that shadow-shapes change how features look—which is good practice for learning the versatility of a nose, but try to also find some neutrally lit reference, to add the base construction of a nose to your shape-vocabulary)

ik u didn’t ask for drawing tips per se, but! When I was having trouble making different angles look natural, I started paying attention to brow ridges! Ppl with hooked noses usually (tho not always) have a prominent brow///which in turn influences how the eyes are ‘framed’. So if you’re struggling maybe try zooming out to the whole ‘t-zone’ of the face to make sure everything’s balanced?

EDIT—2 more things! Try tracing over pics as an exercise. Focus on the underlying construction shapes as well as the details.

that can be hard, bc there’s a lot of distracting things going on in a face, SO—find an artist that you like and study how they simplify their nose shapes/what lines they use. (Rn I’m into these dudes)

EDIT AGAIN—the channel ‘proko’ on yt has good stuff abt portraiture/how to study features generally

Good luck!!! Feel free to ask more stuff//i hv clarity issues sometimes so if u want/need I can post some examples.

[wordtowords]

Slime vs. Literacy

slime - noun - glop made from glue, baking soda, and contact solution (picture Silly Putty or Play Dough on a grander scale) that is currently trending among elementary school children.

Early on Sunday, I decided to be brave and take an unprecedented risk. Finding myself in my attic, I hauled out several boxes of books–titles (mainly for children) I had written and published years ago– carried them to my car and drove a few miles to become one of about fifty vendors at a local street fair, a.k.a. swap meet or flea market. The cost was $140 to camp out for seven hours on a segment of the pavement measuring twelve by six feet on Union Avenue in downtown Cranford, New Jersey. Quaint, compact Cranford has been used as a location for a few films and cable TV series, notably HBO's The Plot Against America based on Phillip Roth's timely, 2004 novel of the same name set during World War II. The innocuous, suburban hamlet fits the bill as the setting since it is complete with a stone railroad station built in the mid-1930s and Victorian hotel at its center, but I digress. As I was going to sell my paperbacks for $5 and $6, I didn't think I would break even no less garner a profit; but because my main man in L.A. told me he would make up the difference in long-stemmed roses, I figured I had nothing to lose.

The organizers of the event placed me, my card table, chair, simple signage and boxes of books in front of the food trucks and between a primitive fine artist sans a right eye and a entrepreneur of slime, i.e. a mother of a teenage daughter who at the age of nine was into making and marketing her own–slime, that is. As the girl grew into adolescence, the manufacture and distribution of slime grew banal, so her mother usurped her business, invested more time and money in the making and packaging of the glop, and became a regular at street fairs throughout the state, jumping on the bandwagon of a trend that is on the ridiculous side. (But aren't all childhood attractions?) I figured that the monocular artist wasn't competition, but the purveyor of slime? I had no idea how popular homemade putty could be. Scores of children dragging their parents lined up under the vendor's tent to press their fingers into soft, colorful samples of pure slime and to whine and plead for anywhere from eight to twenty dollars to buy what they can probably create at home for much less. Very few parents even noticed that I was selling books, selling literacy, for so much less. I have to admit that I was glad the kids were pumped up to experience something digital (tactile) as opposed to digital (technological), but I was disappointed that the parents were so quick to dismiss the idea of buying their kids signed books that took many years to write, illustrate, and publish. At the end of the day, ironically, the bearer of slime made hundreds while I walked away with $53. (My boyfriend owes me $87 worth of red roses :). And I will hold him to an arrangement stipulated in the arrangement.)

As I wheeled my collapsible red wagon filled with unwanted, once well-received/reviewed books up Union Avenue toward my car lodged in a parking garage blocks away, I couldn't help but think that there might be something a bit off kilter with parents who don't value the idea of literacy. In today's world, it seems that there are more writers than readers as it has become so easy to self-publish a book on-line as an e-book. If parents don't promote reading then who will read the massive amount of techno tomes? Teachers already have too much on their plates. And besides, there is a national deficient of individuals willing to toe the line and go into teaching as a career.  If parents are forced to homeschool as a result, will there be a sufficient amount of emphasis on the core subjects like reading, or will the science of slime and the like be at the center of it all? Okay, maybe I'm being a bit cynical here, but when it comes to education, I'm kinda of worried about the future. How about you?

[superman86to99]

Superman #89 (May 1994)

Superman's in space again... again! This time, because he's getting so big that pretty soon he won't even fit on Earth. Last issue, we left the increasingly grotesque Super-Superman strapped to a giant rocket that was taking him to a space station where Dr. Anthony "Big Words" Rodriguez of Project Cadmus is supposed to cure the condition that's turning him into The Hulk But With More Clothes. In this issue we find out that Superman has improbably gotten even bigger. The only thing of his that has shrunk seems to be his vocabulary.

Dr. Rodriguez' idea is to ask Superman to shoot his heat vision into a somewhat “Weapon X”-looking helmet that will safely channel his excess energy into space. Seven hours later, Superman's heat vision is still going, but he STILL looks like a caveman doing Superman cosplay. Eventually, the helmet gives out and Superman's ultra-potent heat vision destroys the entire space station. (Why, it's so potent, it even seems to be coming out of his mouth and chin!)

Superman has to figure out how to save Dr. Rodriguez from the vacuum of space despite the fact that 1) he can't see (he had to wrap some metal around his eyes like a bandana to stop the heat vision), 2) they can’t hear each other, and 3) Superman can't even touch the guy without crushing every bone in his body. Eventually, Big Words manages to grab onto Superman's cape and hop on top of him like a big space horsey. Then, Superman has to manage to fly back into Earth's atmosphere without turning Dr. Rodriguez into a flaming skeleton. I'd say that Superman was able to do this by extending his special "aura" so it protected Big Words too, but we all know the real explanation for this scene is "it’s comics, shut up."

Once the two have safely landed on Metropolis' bay, there's the small matter of the big, burning space station tumbling down towards Metropolis. That's where Superman's ultra-potent eye lasers finally come in handy, since they allow him to pulverize the whole station with one blast. Hooray! The only problem is that he's still huge and clumsy, and this storyline didn't really progress beyond making him a little bit huge-er. CONTINUED!

Plotline-Watch:

We get a brief update on Lex Luthor Jr.'s health, and it just hit me (almost 30 years after first reading these issues) that his storyline is the complete opposite of Superman's: while Supes gets bigger and stronger, Lex is basically shrinking down and looks like he’ll probably disappear into his Professor X hover chair any second now. I like that, despite the deadly clone virus ravaging his body and the fact that he's at war with a powerful government organization, none of that worries him as much as a pesky reporter snooping into his business...

Speaking of which, we find out that Lex has used his hacking abilities to plant ANOTHER wacky headline into the Daily Planet under Lois Lane's byline, although this one is a little more believable than the alien lovechild one: "LEX LUTHOR II IS REALLY ELVIS PRESLEY". On top of that, he also framed her for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Planet. As a result, publisher Franklin "Frankenstern" Stern forces Perry White to fire Lois. This is a bit of a "You shouldn't have signed it" moment for Lois, as she realizes Lex MUST be behind her misfortunes and she has to "get him" before he gets her.

Regarding this storyline, Don Sparrow says: “Jurgens is generally the most frequent user of the Daily Planet’s articles as a story element, and the results are usually mixed (I remember Perry’s editorial about generosity at Christmastime way back in Adventures #462 being a particularly unrealistically maudlin piece of journalism—though nowhere near as awful as the “articles” in the Joe Kelly/Joe Casey era—the last page of Action #780 being perhaps the very worst it got) but the idea that a newspaper would go to print with obviously fake, wacky headlines twice really strains credulity, even in a comic book about a solar powered god in a cape. One time, mayyyyyybe, but after that, you can guarantee that the editors and publishers would be all over the printing process for the next issue. I quibble, I know, but it sticks out (as does the idea that Lois Lane would somehow suddenly have access or ability to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars). Also, if Lois really had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars, it would be a matter for the police, not merely HR.” I agree that having TWO wacky headlines slip in is completely unrealistic... but they’re pretty funny, so I’ll give them a pass.

Perry seems to be taking Lois' firing even harder than her. He points out that he's known her since she was a girl, which is true, as we found out during the World of Metropolis miniseries. In fact, he's so distraught over having to fire someone who's "like a daughter" to him that he doesn't even seem to notice the space station blowing up right behind him! Then again, this is Metropolis; they probably see a giant explosion go off in the middle of the city about two or three times a day.

Patreon-Watch:

Fun fact: This post was started on a stolen computer! (As in, one that has since been stolen from me, not one I stole myself.) The main reason I’m getting off my butt and retyping/finishing it now is because we promised monthly posts to our awesome patrons, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, and Bol, who read half of this at the end of May over at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99. If it wasn’t for our patrons we’d probably still be at “Reign of the Supermen,” so shout out to them!

And now: more from the also awesome Don Sparrow, after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

Another caveman Superman cover, enhanced by some nice rim lighting.  It’s interesting that the generally wavy/curly Superman/Fabio hair has become limp and straight for the more Neanderthal Superman.  The brush spatter stars here are well done, but the space junk looks a little rushed to me.  Kudos for the off-centre UPC, which adds to the chaotic feel of this upside-down cover.

Inside we get another look at the dying clone body of Lex Luthor II, notably completely hairless, which is quite a switch for this lion of a man. This scene gives way to a two page spread of our hulking Superman, which is a transformation, even over the last issue.

Super-Caveman’s eyes are completely white for much of the story, adding to the inhuman feeling established by the oversized body, and pea-sized head.  I do have some logistical questions about how Superman’s belt and belt-buckle appear to be stretching proportionately with his body, but—it’s comics—so I shouldn’t probe too deeply.  The tiny fingernails are a nice touch, that help indicate this massive growth was sudden.

A little later into the story, Franklin Stern is well-drawn, though I miss the days when artists would hand-draw headlines—this computer text has some perspective issues.  The conflict on Perry’s face as Stern demands Lois be terminated is well drawn (even if it would be glaringly obvious to an old journo like Perry that Lois is being framed, but more on that later).

The double page spread as Superman’s heat vision overwhelms the Newsboy Legion’s collection gadget is appropriately explosive.  I particularly like the use of grease pencil on the outline of Superman’s heat vision. Though perhaps the dialogue on that page sends something of a mixed message.

Lastly, the bleak, blank expression on Perry as he fires Lois is well-done, though I perhaps might have expected a little more emotion on her face in reaction to the news.  

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

The super-team is dangerously close to risking the ire of the notoriously litigious Disney corporation on the credits page, where three overlapping planets create a distinctive silhouette.  

I feel like the Elvis Presley connection of the headline is something of a nod to the King-obsessed Perry White on the then-currently-airing Lois and Clark TV show. [Max: I’ve always felt like it was a callback to that issue they did with all the Elvis-like sightings for the recently “dead” Lex Luthor Sr., Action #668, but it could be both things.]

I absolutely love the character consistency that when a space station suddenly explodes, and he is thrust into the vacuum of space instantaneously, Big Words still takes the time to say “An irreparable breech in the hull?  I am at a loss for words.” Classic. It must be both fun and challenging for the writer to come up with improbably tangled ways of saying simple things throughout the story.

[latamclassiclitbracket]

Cuentos de barro - Salvador Salazar Arrué

Cuentos de barro es un libro de relatos del autor salvadoreño Salvador Salazar Arrué —más conocido como Salarrué— (1899-1975). Publicado por primera vez en 1933 en El Salvador por la editorial La Montaña, el volumen recoge treinta y tres cuentos, algunos de los cuales el autor escribió para distintos periódicos durante los últimos años de la década de los veinte y principio de los treinta. En la primera edición de la obra se incluían grabados del pintor José Mejía Vides; estos han seguido apareciendo en las ediciones posteriores. Los relatos que conforman Cuentos de barro, la primera obra literaria de Salarrué, se centran en la población rural de El Salvador, su vulnerabilidad, su superstición o la brutalidad que rige sus vidas. En su escritura, el autor refleja el habla local propia de los campesinos de El Salvador. Por la incomprensión que este léxico pudiera despertar en un lector no salvadoreño, Salarrué añadió a sus cuentos un vocabulario en el que se define cada una de las voces locales utilizadas en los cuentos.

Lee más sobre este libro en Wikipedia.

Tales of Clay - Salvador Salazar Arrué

Tales of Clay is a book of short stories by Salvadoran author Salvador Salazar Arrué —better known as Salarrué— (1899-1975). First published in 1933 in El Salvador by La Montaña, the volume includes thirty-three short stories, some of which the author wrote for different newspapers during the late twenties and early thirties. The first edition of the work included engravings by the painter José Mejía Vides; these have continued to appear in subsequent editions. The stories that make up Tales of Clay, Salarrué's first literary work, focus on the rural population of El Salvador, their vulnerability, their superstition or the brutality that governs their lives. Because of the incomprehension that this lexicon could awaken in a non-Salvadoran reader, Salarrué added to his stories a vocabulary in which each of the local voices used in the stories is defined.

Read more about the author on Wikipedia.

[muneomon]

🌿 2023 milestones 🌿

1. Develop my mental, physical and spiritual health. Do things to be more active. Cook meals more often and prepare myself more lunches. Try new recipes. Drink plenty of water. Journal for fun. Get back onto my meds, adjust dosage, and start therapy again. Meditate. Do yoga. Hone my craft - research hearth witchcraft.

2. Cultivate my relationships. Write penpal letters, message frequently, keep up to date with people. Organise times to meet up. Go on dates, including with myself. Socialise. Do things with others. Connect and network.

3. Keep on learning and developing skills. Watch videos on film essays, keep reading books for information and vocabulary, watch movies, write more, give myself projects that I enjoy and work on them in my free time.

4. Do whatever it takes to get to university. Finish all my essays and hand them in. Work extra hard on my history essays. Graduate college and start university.

5. Creative business endeavour. Work on my business idea as a hobby, to develop into a career. Finish up all the drafts. Give myself editorial feedback. Initiate plans for eventual launch.

6. Security. Find a place to live. Budget. Spend wisely. Save up as much money as possible. Focus on developing business to eventually earn money. Find side ways to make a little spare change. Get student finance in order with maintenance loan.