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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| External Writerings March 2025 That time of the month where I list the writing I have done for Weekend Notes (and any other places that could be bothered publishing me online). Songs, and even films this month, and a few columns because there was a good incentive, which I got  . Remember, you do not have to listen to the songs (though I would be grateful if you did), but every look at the articles from a different IP address with no ad blockers helps me out in my increasingly desperate attempts to make money as a person who writes.Songs about memories (not remembering). My favourite songs from that surprisingly good year for music, 1975. My favourite films from 1985, a year where I spent too much time at the cinema. Songs about the sky, the early years. Songs aboyt the sky, more recent years. Songs about listening. My review of some music of a band I have only just discovered – Halflives. I really recommend them.And there we go, 7 articles for this month. Hope you find something you like. And if you have any ideas for music (or even film, though my film knowledge is not as extensive, or book, but ditto here as well) columns, leave a suggestion in the comments below and if I have not tackled it already, I would love to give readers what they want. |
| Novel #3 The third story on this adventure, and the first one I was probably proud of. Into The Crystal clocks in at around 41000 words. It was started (sort of) in 1987, and finished in 1988. And this one deserves some thanks. My English teacher at high school encouraged this to a huge degree, and without her badgering it might never have been completed, and I might never have started on this path. So, in English, I missed handing up a piece of work. That wasn’t like me, so she asked me why and I told her I was writing a novel. We discussed it and decided that if I could hand her a novel by a set date, then she would give me an automatic pass. My final grade would depend on how good it was. Final grade? 20/20 for the subject for the year. First, it is another high school kid story, but unlike Stuff Of Friendship, it had no characters that anyone could actually identify as real people. I had finally broken away from the “use your friends” method of story-telling. It also combined that high school life I was going through with the Dungeons And Dragons of Crossed Swords. And, having discovered in high school Stephen King, this one owes a small debt to Carrie – a lot of the narrative is done through third party sources, like books, letters, school essays, interviews, etc. I must say I’ve never tried that method again, but for this story it was what worked for me at the time. Précis: Kathy is a teenaged girl whose best friend is Keith. But what she doesn’t know is that Keith is actually from a parallel world, which is accessed by a crystal. Then John Smith, also known as Necar, comes into their lives. He is Keith’s best friend and the heir to an usurped throne in the parallel world, a world of sword and sorcery. Through John, Keith is drawn back into the other world, and Kathy ends up going along for the ride. But things don’t go well and there is a falling out between the old friends. However, Keith’s betrothed is killed and Keith is almost killed, and this leads to John’s capture and a final confrontation in Rundle Mall, in the middle of Adelaide… The themes of kids not feeling like they belong is strong throughout this story. Also the image of an out-of-place battle happening in Adelaide is an image that I return to again and again, over the course of many short stories and longer works in subsequent works. One day I’ll get it right, I am sure. Again, this story is filled with clichés, especially in the alternate world, but I am happy with the characterisations of Keith and Kathy. It definitely reads like it was written by a teenager, though. Excerpt: Wednesday night; Keith and John sat in silence around John’s kitchen table finishing their set homework, books scattered everywhere, empty glasses of soft drink beside each. The speed was frantic and there would be no time for extra study tonight – an hour or two in AdgaD was necessary and as soon as Bryan arrived they would go; but he wasn’t due for another twenty minutes or so yet. There was a strange tension in the air between the two boys, accentuated by the wary glances John continually cast Keith, whose countenance was grim. They were not, Keith thought, expecting anything for a while yet, so when there came a knock at the front door, both looked up from their books with a start. John quickly went to answer it (Keith was sure he was hiding a grin) and he was gone for quite a while. Maybe a religious nut, Keith thought, but something indefinable definitely felt out of place. John was up to something, and it was very soon that he found out exactly what that was… The prince of AdgaD re-entered with Kathy in tow. “What are you doing here?” Keith burst out angrily. “I told you we were going in tonight.” She thought she could see his anger was being feigned; his eyes told her (she told herself, maybe) just how much he really loved to see her here. She decided to play along; she grit her teeth in return and prowled, ‘I’m going, too,” As far as she knew, this had all been Keith’s idea in the first place. But Keith laughed; John looked at him seriously. “Keith,” he began. “I honestly think we should let her come.” The laughter stopped abruptly and Keith stared his comrade-at-arms directly in the face. Yep, badly written – really badly written, in 3rd person omniscient, with head-hopping all over the place… but it led to a sequel in 2015… |
| Writing Advice From Lucy Clark So, in this post I am going to steal some writing advice from a fellow writer. It comes from Lucy Clark, a romance writer I discovered when I first started to read romance. 5 Tips To Writing Your Novel by Lucy Clark (with added comments by me) 1. If you don’t write your story, who will? (Seems basic, but it is the basis of all writing. You have a story – you, no-one else. Write it. It’s your story. Write it. Write it!) 2. Procrastinate… but then write. (And that’s what it comes down to – if you want to write eventually you are going to have to, you know, write.) 3. You make time to go to the gym, work, sleep, socialise, so why not make time to write? (And this is something that gets me. So many people say to me, “I want to write, but I can’t find the time.” Well, as Lucy Clark says, if you can find the time for everything else, then you can find time to write.) 4. Research is MASSIVE and time-consuming and from all the info you collate, you’ll condense it to two lines in your story. (I’ve sort of covered this in the past, but this is such a good way to put it. Even though you might know what you’re talking about, it doesn’t mean you have to dump it all at your reader to show that you have done your research. Research is vital to make sure your story works – even though in some books that are wonderful, the research is lacking – but you don’t have to browbeat your reader with your new-found knowledge.) 5. Give yourself permission to write a ‘vomit’ draft (get it out of you). You can fix a bad page but you can’t fix a blank page. (Couldn’t have put it better myself. That’s what second drafts are for.) Some more great advice from another writer. Can’t beat it. |
| Reading And Watching I was reminded recently about the sheer amount of angst over the ending of the season 3 of Game Of Thrones which had the Internet in an uproar. The sheer number of people crying over [SPOILER ALERT FOR SOMETHING OVER A DECADE OLD!] all the deaths at the Red Wedding tells me one thing – the way people enjoy the media nowadays is the complete reversal of the way we used to enjoy it when I was younger, and in the generations before me. If we watched something like that, we had either read the book (most often) and so knew exactly what to expect, or what was most likely to happen, or had a vague idea from the sheer number of people who had read the book around them. In the early 2000s – with the very notable exceptions of the Harry Potter and Twilight series – it was very rare that people will have read the books before watching anything. Nowadays, I think it is still the case. The push-back against Artemis Fowl and Percy Jackson was vocal... but from a tiny minority. Okay, I understand that if they read the books then there would be no surprises, but that didn’t stop the Lord Of The Rings trilogy from making a shed-load of money and even an Oscar or two. Mind you, of course then we wouldn’t have videos of people’s reactions to said Red Wedding, filmed by those who knew what was coming because they’d read the books… I guess there are two sides to this – reading the books prepares you for what’s about to happen, but sometimes that gut reaction of realising something for the first time can still make you relish the film more. Then again, I knew what was coming in the final Lord Of The Rings film and I was still sitting on the edge of my seat and winced with every setback. And I know kids who had read the Harry Potter books completely, and yet still cried when [Jesus, another spoiler!] Dumbledore died in the film. But there was something a little off about the Red Wedding on TV. In my mind, when I read the book, there was a lot more blood, screaming and general carnage. In the end, there is still something to be said for a reader’s imagination filling in the blanks. So what I’m saying is… Reading is still better. |
| One Situation, Many Writers How different writers look at the same situation… something different this time! We are all writers, but we are all different, formed by our genres and experiences. So, how would different writers detail the same thing in their writing? Let’s look at a scenario: Your partner breaks up with you, dumping you for a richer, better looking person. So you write about it, as any writer would. But what genre you write will dictate how you put this down on paper: (a) Poetry – you put all your angst down in a series of lines that just bleed with emotion and make everyone who reads or hears it just want to go out and hug kittens or quokkas for some sense of comfort. (b) Fantasy – your ex somehow ends up as dragon fodder. Or someone who looks much like her/him kidnaps a person who looks like a sexy star of the silver screen, very evil overlord style… and then ends up as dragon fodder. (c) Crime – a person who has a strong resemblance to your ex becomes the victim of the week, killed in a way that is not only particularly nasty but, in the end, justified. And probably hilarious. By a rich new boy/girlfriend. (d) Horror – a person with many of the same traits as your ex is put through a series of nasty and vicious trials and tribulations, and in the end just falls short, condemning him/her to eternal torment. Sometimes twice. Or they are the first victim of the Big Bad. (e) Literary Fiction – a person suspiciously like your ex does nasty things to all who love her, and yet gets away with it. (f-1) Science Fiction – a creature from another planet that has a personality much like an ex of yours conquers the world, destroying everything in her/his path until a brave young hero/ine (much like the writer, in fact) kills it with a Zircon Death Ray. (f-2) Enlightened Science Fiction – a creature from another planet that has a personality much like an ex of yours conquers the world, destroying everything in her/his path until a brave young hero/ine (much like the writer, in fact) talks to it and discovers they have much in common and peace is made between the two sides. After the ex personality like being has been sacrificed for the greater good. Of course. (g-1) Depressing Romance – after enduring a break-up with a person who is just the ex with a different last name, the protagonist suffers through a series of disastrous affairs until he/she finally ends up back with the ex, deciding “better the devil you know,” but never knowing true happiness... (g-2) HEA Romance – the protagonist stays with a person who is just the ex with a different last name, until, in the end, he/she realises a much better option exists elsewhere (and looks like a sexy star of the silver screen) and the person who is just the ex with a different last name is kicked to the curb. (h) Western – the ex- analogue is shot in a nasty shoot-out by the good guy. Sometimes twice. (i) Journaling - the writer puts down all their feelings and thoughts, shattered hopes, broken dreams, hatred and yet still love for their ex into a journal/ blog/ diary, and feels the better for the cathartic release. (j) Surrealism – the purple grasshopper bifurcates the avocado with a hoop. An elephant whistles. Vikings explode princely. A potential ex could be all of these. Or none. Greasy biscuits of yappapi swordsmanship, be damned! So, just because we all go through the same thing does not mean we are going to produce the same work. And, more importantly, just because we have the same idea does not mean we are going to produce the same story. |
| Novels #1 & #2 So… this is the first entry in a series that will appear at random times, looking at the long stories I have written and which I have kept. This is to catalogue my “writing journey” (as much as that term makes me want to gag), so readers can see how these things develop over time. In general, novels will be those of 40k words or more, but we will start with two somethings shorter because I still think of them as “novels.”. And because we need to start at the very beginning. I’ve been told that’s a very good place to start. To begin a journey through too many longer stories, we should start at the worst of the lot. The very first long story I ever wrote was when I was in year 6 at school, aged about 10 or so. My memory of it is rather hazy, but it involved a bunch of people who managed to get into a spaceship that took off before the Earth exploded or something. I don’t know what happened to it, though, but it was, most likely, really awful. The second was the following year, in year 7, at age 11. A little back story first, though. Our teacher wanted every member of class to show the class something they could do well. We had cooking, we had art, we had people bringing in sports trophies, the works. I told the teacher I didn’t do anything well. She said I was academic, but I hardly felt that was something to talk to the class about. Well, I had written a “book” and, without my knowledge, mum (who volunteered in the school) gave it to the teacher, who decided to read to the class. Again, my memory is hazy, but it involved me and a bunch of friends from that class in a matriarchal society based in Adelaide, going off to kill the evil queen. Seriously. And the teacher read this out over a period of a couple of weeks – I think it was about 25 pages long. The feedback was interesting to say the least. She never gave me any indication about it, my friends liked the fact they were in it, but I think it was essentially crap. A friend took it to read, and I never saw it again. And so that brings us to the stories I have copies of. In 1985 (age 14) I wrote a story called Crossed Swords. 29000 words long. It was based on the fact that at over a year earlier I had discovered the joys of Advanced Dungeons And Dragons, and so this started off as, essentially, fanfic. But it went beyond that to take on a life of its own. The whole thing reads like a 14 year old boy’s version of high fantasy, with some appalling sex scenes and more clichés than you ever knew existed. Oh yeah, this is not a good start, but a start is indeed what it is. Excerpt: It was a few moments before either man could formulate an answer. “We will pay you whatever you request to kill one man,” Barbarian stated without tone or facial expression, staring intensely at her. She could feel his eyes burning into her very soul, and it was not a pleasant feeling. “Who?” she asked quickly. “He must be pretty bloody important.” She swallowed hard. The prince licked his dry lips, closed his eyes, then said one word: “Lyrnn.” Silence descended on the shop like a dark shroud. No-one even moved; it was as though some evil magician had turned them all to stone. “You can’t mean... we can’t kill the king of Sistoso. He’s one of the most well-protected things on Holdé. He’s even got better protection than the sacred relies of Vultus!” Michael gasped, breaking the silence. “He always has that beast-man, uhh, Ox and that fat guy, Crunch, with him at all times, not to mention a contingent of crack, elite guards.” “And don’t forget Phantom, that cursed magic skeleton!” added Amora loudly. “Therefore, you must be crazy. Only a madman would even suggest it.” She conveyed all their feelings, though the others would have preferred her not to. Retus was taken aback by her outburst, but Barbarian admired it. And her. “Please do it,” said Retus in a sad, hopefully convincing voice. “Or else I’ll have you all put in chains for treason and assassination, as well as anything else I can think of.” He had no real intention of imprisoning the DOVs, but under the circumstances he thought he had no choice but to threaten them. Barbarian remained expressionless. “That’s blackmail!” Again the DOVs were shocked. And Retus was supposed to be the only good king on Holdé! “If that’s the way you want to put it. And I’d probably do it, too.” A snarl curled the king’s lips. Let’s fast forward a year, 1986 (15 years old), and a tale called Stuff Of Friendship. At 28300 words, a little shorter, but a much more satisfying story. Horror, with characters based on those I was going to school with at the time. You could pick them a mile away if you were at the school. In this one, a guy is seduced by a succubus while his friends try to save him. And for the first time – subsequently revisited many, many, many times – a lot of the action takes place in country South Australia. Again, poorly written, clichés abound, but there is a small underlying charm to the whole mess. The characters are also more realistic, but that’s because they were real people. Excerpt: I reached back for the last plank of wood and found a foot with smooth skin, no shoes and no hair instead. I turned abruptly and looked up. Outlined against the lights from the distant party and the moon stood Simone, the board floating in front of her face. I don’t think I showed any surprise visibly, but my mind started to wander on crazy paths about witchcraft and death. “G’day,” I said, then quickly, almost automatically, added, “sexy.” “Hi,” she returned. “Are you being nice to me because you like me or because you fear me?” Her eyes narrowed and her tongue sat in her cheek. “Because I realise now that I have to live with you,” I replied as calmly as I could, my mind screaming out at me about the impossibility of the situation. The board slowly floated down and landed in the exact place I wanted it. Trying to ignore this breaking of a major Law of Nature, I began hammering the wood into place. “I am not a witch,” she stated when I was almost finished. I stopped and stared up at her. Her eyes were filled with sadness. “I am not a witch,” she repeated softly. “What?” I asked stupidly, pretending I didn’t understand what she was talking about. She sighed heavily. “Look, I’ll tell you about me because you were my first choice and because I know no-one will ever believe you if you tell them.” She smiled sweetly as she crouched down in front of me. “I am greater than any mere witch. Even greater than a common, mortal sorceress.” I just stared indifferently at her, wondering if she was crazy or if I was crazy or both. “Actually, I am greater than any mortal that exists today. I am a creature of the infernal depths. I am a succubus.” She pulled off her top while I wracked my brains trying to remember what a succubus was. Very, very brief overviews and very short excepts of the first long stories I wrote that I still have. Yes, they are on my computer; no I have not read them in way too long. Nothing great – as can be seen – but everything has to start somewhere. And for my adventure in writing the long form, this is my start. My first novels/novellas were crap… but that’s okay. Because I could really only get better from here. Allegedly. |
| Profanity Following my last post, a question from a reader! ”When is it okay to use profanity? I would say never.” Okay, right off the bat, I fuckin’ disagree. Good, glad I got that out the way. Jesus H Christ! So, first, let’s have a definition. What is profanity? Interestingly, it differs from country to country. In Australia, three words make up profanity: the F-word, the C-word, and the N-word. In the USA, the list of words considered profanity makes kids here laugh. Words on the list of profanity in the USA appear in our kids programming. The USA – kids killing kids with automatic weapons and institutionalised racism and corruption are all fine and dandy; language and natural bodies are horrible and terrible. I will never understand the mentality. Anyway, there are three forms of profanity: 1) bad words, mostly based around sex and bodily functions or body parts (shit, fuck, c***, bloody, bugger, arse, etc.) 2) blasphemy (Jesus, God, holy cow, Christ almighty, OMG, etc.) 3) insults based on race or impairment (n****, r*t*rd, ch*nk, g**k, etc.) The first is based on old elitist mentality, the second on religious superiority, the third on belittling abuse. There are also words like “bastard” and “wanker.” These words I am not sure how they translate across cultures, but can be both terms of endearment and terms of abuse in Australia. We’re weird like that. So, when can we use them? There is no hard and fast rule. It is entirely up to the writer and how comfortable they feel about using the words. And, really, that is all it is: the comfort level of the writer. However, if you are putting the writing out into the public, then it becomes tricky. The insults, especially those based on race, are generally not acceptable in modern society. The only time – and I mean only time – a writer can use such words is in dialogue in context. Even then, it may still be rejected. Quentin Tarantino is a shocker for this in the dialogue he writes. Blasphemy in the USA is considered as bad as anything else; in Australia, it is in kids’ TV; in the UK, young adult. Then we have bad words. Again, in the USA, not allowed at all. Even WdC is stick-up-the-arse about them, and even a word like “damn” can get you in trouble. In the UK, “bloody” is fine, “shit” at a pinch, “bugger” and “fuck” are adults only. However, all of these words can be on broadcast TV after the watershed. In Australia “bloody” and “bugger” are fine in kids programming, “shit” and “fuck” for older demographics. Generally, the word “fuck” can’t be broadcast until after 7pm. Generally. Notice no C-word? This is not acceptable anywhere, except in impolite society. Yes, I hear it all the time in the real world, but in Australia it is the only word that will get you arrested if used against a cop, and that without a second chance (calling a cop a “fuckwit” will be allowed to slide once, generally, for example…). When it comes to writing and publication, most publishers are fine with bad words and blasphemy, but the insults can be a really hard sell. However, all publishers are different. Many will state, “No swearing, no blasphemy.” That means they are not the publisher for me and I will not submit to them. Then again, one submission I had was rejected because I didn’t “go hard enough” with the language. I have used swearing in the narrative, even if not in first person PoV; I find there are circumstances where it makes my writing a little more real. I use very, very few of the insults of profanity, especially based on race, but have a couple of times in dialogue. However, I do not use a lot of profanity. There are better words, except in dialogue, when you want it to be true to life. As an aside, know which professions are the worst for swearing in real life? Police, doctors/nurses and lawyers. Maybe it’s a release. One final thing, I cannot stand it when I get a review that harps on my one use of the word “fuck” in an 18+ rated story. It is just a word. Grow the fuck up. |
| Offending The Reader Last year, or maybe 2023, I received a pre-emptive rejection. A publisher sent me an email telling me not to send anything to her based on a story she heard from a fellow publisher about a book I was working on and had not (still has not) been finished, because it was too offensive to her sensibilities and she did not want to be associated with a writer who could write such things. I laughed it off. Two weeks ago, I received a rejection from a publisher for a short story because he found parts of the story offensive. He said he liked my writing, that I came recommended, and if I had something less offensive, he would be glad to read it. I had no idea which part of a horror story was so offensive, but I don’t think I’ll be submitting to him again. So, should we, as writers, be worried about offending people? Should any artist? If an audience is offended, then maybe they are not your audience. I mean, I offend all the time; I have mentioned in the past that I received a DEATH THREAT because of my writing. You can guess, I don’t think we need to worry about offending. For the same reason, I also don’t think we should include trigger warnings. Trigger warnings tell readers things: 1) there is something in the work to be offended by; 2) people should be prepared to be triggered; 3) all those people who want to be outraged so they can complain can be on the lookout for things; and 4) the writer is pandering to those who think every precious little snowflake needs to be protected from things they might possibly maybe not like. If I offend people with what I write, then I think it says more about them than about me. I see at least a dozen things every day on WdC, including in the Newsfeed, that I find grossly offensive. Until this blog post, I’ll bet most of you didn’t realise there was so much disgustingly offensive stuff here, right? Well, to me, there is. But I ignore it. I have some safe places to rant, but generally, I just ignore it. Offending people is something we all do, whether we know it or not. Should we be worried? In my opinion – nope. We are all different. What offends you, I consider normal; what offends me, you consider natural. Opinions, arseholes… we all have them. |
| Moon Names First… this is not a list of every single moon goddess (or, rarely, moon-god) from ancient cultures. This is not a list of the names of the moons of the planets of the solar system. And this is not a list of different names for that hunk of rock circling our own planet Terra. No, this is the traditional names for the full moons in northern hemisphere paganism. Yes, northern hemisphere, especially indigenous Americans and north-east European (Celtic, Norse, etc.) names. Southern hemisphere cultures tended to not name the moons. Southern pagans use the northern names despite them being completely irrelevant to our shared experience, and this is actually a reason why neo-paganism no longer emphasises the names of the moons, where if you go back to the 1970s and earlier, they were everywhere. Of course, some neo-pagans (term used in a very loose sense here) from the USA insist the moon names are fixed, and they tend to be the ones who fill the Internet, so this list comes from other sources. So, why have moon names? This differentiated the moons and showed the passage of time in cultures that did not name the months but had definite seasons. It was a way of marking passage of time, and also indicated which forces were at work in the pagan belief systems. Specific sacrifices and rituals were required at each moon. For a writer, this is the sort of weird knowledge that can add colour to your writing and world building. In your culture, do they recognise months? Do they have moon names? What are they? Why do they have those names? It can really help colour a world. Blue Moon There are sometimes thirteen full moons in a year. Modern neo-paganism states that in the month with two full moons, the second is called a blue moon. However, traditionally, if a season has four full moons, the third is called the blue moon… however this can be confusing as the season dates and times are not consistent around the world. Harvest Moon In modern neo-paganism, the full moon closest to the autumn equinox (September 21-23 in the north, March 19-21 in the south) is called the Harvest Moon. Traditionally, however, it is the one before or on the autumn equinox, not after. Blood Moon The Blood Moon is the moon that occurs when there is a total lunar eclipse. The red and associated light with wavelengths of around that size are the only ones that reach the moon, giving it the coloured appearance. So, those are the special moons. Now, let’s look at each month. Where I mention Native Americans, the individual Peoples and Groupings are not mentioned because US neo-pagans tend to lump all USA indigenous peoples together as one amorphous mass. I know they are not, and I know this is rather demeaning of a rich culture, but it is what it is in the minds of those people. January Generally, this is called Wolf Moon, coming from Celtic traditions. It is also known as Quiet Moon. Anglo-Saxons referred to it as Yule Moon as it was nearly always the full moon after Yule was over. Native Americans call it Severe Moon, White Moon or Centre Moon. February Snow Moon is a name here shared by Europeans and Native Americans. They also shared the names Bear Moon and Storm Moon. Native Americans also had the name Hungry Moon, while Celtic peoples also used Ice Moon. March Worm Moon comes from the Europeans. Anglo-Saxons also called it Spring Moon or Lenten Moon (Lenten means Spring). Celts called it Plough Moon and UK Celts called it Wind Moon. Native Americans called it Crow Moon. Two other names – Death Moon and Chaste Moon – are used, but they have little historical validity. April April has the name Pink Moon, which comes from the Native Americans, and they also called it Red Grass Moon. Europeans had names like Egg Moon, Growing Moon, Shoot(s) Moon and Seed Moon. Breaking Ice Moon is also seen, but, again, this does not appear to have a historical basis. May Both sides of the Atlantic call this Flower Moon. For Native Americans, this was their Egg Room and also a Plant Moon. Other European names were Milk Moon, Hares Moon, Rabbit Moon, Mothers’ Moon and Grass Moon. A modern name is Bright Moon. June June’s name of Strawberry Moon comes from the Native Americans, as do Berry Moon, Corn Moon, Ripe Moon and Berries Ripen Moon. The Celts called it Mead Moon, Horse Moon, and Rose Moon. The English, however, call this moon their Flower Moon, as well as Planting Moon. July This is known as Buck Moon, from the Native Americans noticing antlers appearing on deer. Native Americans also called it Salmon Moon. The Anglo-Saxon name was Hay Moon, while English Celts called it their Mead Moon, and mainland Celts Wyrt Moon or Herb Moon. August The name is Sturgeon Moon, from the tribes around the Great Lakes region of North America. The Celts called it Lynx Moon and maybe Dispute Moon. Anglo-Saxons used the name Grain Moon. The English called it Corn Moon. However… see September. Addendum: Both July and August are also known as Lightning Moon and Thunder Moon. September Generally, this is the Harvest Moon. If the full moon happens after the equinox, then it is called Farm Moon. In this case, the August full moon will be the Harvest Moon. Native Americans also call it Corn Moon, while Europeans call it Barley Moon or Wine Moon. Modern neo-paganism call it Song Moon, but, again, validity is difficult. October From the Europeans, it is the Hunter’s Moon. In modern definitions, every three years, this will be Harvest Moon. Celts also call it Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon. Native Americans used Falling Leaves Moon or Freezing Moon. November From the Native Americans, this is the Beaver Moon, but they also called it Frost Moon and another Freezing Moon. Celtic names were Dark(est) Moon and Black Moon. Another name given is Mourning Moon, but where this comes from is hard to ascertain. December This is Cold Moon for both sides of the Atlantic. The Celts also called it the Long Night Moon or Oak Moon and Anglo-Saxons The Moon Before Yule. This list is not comprehensive, but these are the names most generally recognised for each month. Month Etymology Month is the ordinal form of the word moon, from Old English. Ordinal is like first, second, third, fourth, etc. and we now only use it for numbers, but when it came to other words, ordinals were also used. So a month was the time it took for the moon to go from full moon to full moon, a month. A year was also known as a Solst for the same reason, and that is where the word Solstice comes from. Anyway, hope you found that interesting. |
| Monster Dictionary Update So… the rather large Monster Dictionary I’ve been collating has come very close to ending… Yeah, I know… I’ve said that before… With that in mind, let’s see how we’re going… September 2024:   463 pages; 278,457 words; 6977 monster names February 2025:   481 pages; 288,145 words; 7534 monster names March 2025   509 pages; 304,363 words; 8014 monster names That means in one month 16k words were added as well as almost 500 new names. So… yeah… before I add the index and associated page numbers, it is sitting at more than 500 pages and more than 300,000 words. I really, truly, honestly hope it’s over now… This has been such an obsession a labour of love.. I is nuts, I knows it. |
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