dawn.vogel | November 3, 2017
More fun for us word nerds! This article compiles a list of fifteen common English words for which the etymology cannot be determined. What’s mind boggling to me is that several of the words on the list go together well, meaning there are whole phrases that are commonly used that people don’t know the etymology […]
dawn.vogel | October 27, 2017
Since my last batch of spooky writing prompts had quite a few on the darker side of things, I decided to lighten it up this week with 7 Quick Halloween Writing Prompts that are designed for younger writers. This batch has plenty with a good Halloween theme, and they only need to be dark and […]
dawn.vogel | October 20, 2017
English words come from all sorts of interesting places, but here’s a list of words with “spooky” etymologies. While some of these words may have spookier origins than others, it’s interesting to see the way words have shifted from their original roots to their modern meanings. I was particularly interested in the origins of “cobalt,” […]
dawn.vogel | October 13, 2017
As Halloween approaches, my mind is on spooky stories, so today, I tracked down a list of 50 Spooky Writing Prompts for this Fun for Friday! This list looks like it’s chock full of story ideas on the scarier side of things, but you could probably turn some of them around and make them less frightening […]
dawn.vogel | October 6, 2017
October seems like the perfect time to write a spooky story, and perhaps to indulge in a bit of purple prose. “It was a dark and stormy night” is from an 1830 novel, but it’s also mocked as being part of an overly melodramatic opening sentence. But sometimes, that can be fun! So take that […]
dawn.vogel | September 29, 2017
As someone who ALMOST double-majored in English, with a focus on linguistics, the English language is a fascinating subject for me. But as most people who know even a little bit of English can tell you, it’s also a WEIRD language. This article does a good job of summarizing some of the reasons why English […]
dawn.vogel | September 22, 2017
Sometimes, the thing you need to get started on a story is just the first line. This writing prompt from The Wesleyan Writing Blog is just the place to look for that sort of inspiration. They suggest using a line from the nearest book, but you may not want to use it word for word if you’re […]
dawn.vogel | September 15, 2017
Often times when I’m looking for a random inspiration for something to write, I turn to lists that are designed for artists who want random prompts for daily drawings. It’s not that difficult to turn a drawing prompt into a writing prompt. Instead of drawing whatever is on the list, you can write a story […]
dawn.vogel | September 1, 2017
If you suddenly found yourself writing in a genre very far from what you normally write, would you publish it under your normal publishing name, or would you go for a pseudonym? This is a question I’ve asked myself, and I’ve decided that if I ever get that book that accidentally turned into a romance […]
dawn.vogel | August 25, 2017
Most people think of the undead as simple mindless creatures. But they don’t have to be! Though Campaign Mastery is a website designed for gaming-related plot stuff, there’s no reason why you couldn’t use this cool set of random tables to come up with some explanation for your undead. It gives your undead motives, mannerisms, backstories, interesting […]
