This week: Eytomology, Anyone? Edited by: Carol St.Ann  
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I’m writing, this month, about a woman I know, who’s always using the wrong word or misusing a word. Not in a comical way as one does for fun. She’s not funny. As you might imagine, her attempts at feigning intellect frequently fall flat. It’s her personality choice to appear intelligent rather than take the time to learn what a word is and thus, she invariably uses it wrong. It’s a strongly embedded idiosyncratic feature of her psychological nature.
One could easily use her as a character in a crime story - as a red herring, perhaps. Or her personality type could accidentally be the ultimate clue that leads the investigators to the guilty party.
I, on the other hand, am fascinated with words, and because I like to know stuff, I especially enjoy etymology. The lower part of this article was written for a NL several years ago, by a favorite author here on WDC, I used to follow, who went by the name of ember_rain. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I kept it in my files and pulled it out this morning to share her perfect summarization with all of you. The article she references is here-linked for you as well and is wildly fascinating. It centers around etymology, I find that downright poetic… As in poetic justice.
Let’s get to it.
While discussing a TV mystery series everyone is talking about, my afore mentioned “intelligent” friend spotted a clue and proclaimed herself a genius for having solved what the whole world is agonizing over.
I shared my sleuthy opinion this was no clue, but rather a red herring.
Her response to that was a resounding, “Huh? What do you mean by that?”
“It’s common vernacular for a false clue, meant to lead you in the wrong direction, away from the actual solution. Especially if you’re too close to solving it. Writers (and news-crafters and politicians) use it all the time.”
She shrugged. "That’s interesting, but it doesn’t make any sense. Why a ‘red herring’? What does a red herring have to do with anything?”
HERE’s dear Ember_Rain’s summary:
It became part of the writers’ vernacular in 1807. A radical journalist known as William Cobbett wrote a story about a young boy who used a red herring to pull some dogs off the scent of a hare. Now, of course, this was a metaphor for what he thought was happening in the French Media of the day. He believed they were writing false stories about Napoleon. It made him angry, so he wrote a story to try and make a point. This lead to a very long period of time where people thought the boy was real. They believed that he actually used a red herring to mislead some dogs.
In 2008 an article was published in The Comments on Etymology putting the matter to rest once and for all. The boy long believed to be real was just a means by which to tell a story highlighting the deception and subterfuge of the enemies of Napoleon that had in Cobbett's mind taken over the French Media.
In other words, our beloved method of misdirection was created by politics that appears to have been the same in 1807 as it is today, full of red herrings. --By user Ember_Rain
https://www.writing.com/main/profile/community/ember.rain
Source: The Lure of the Red Herring
I do hope you enjoy the article from which she developed her explanation. The whole story it shares an interesting twist. It’s wonderfully fascinating!
Well, kids, I’m off for a couple months to tend to some off site stuff. I’ll be back on the NL rotation in May. Until then, be good to each other, and Write On!
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One Last Thing!
Remember to nominate great mysteries!
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So tell me: What do you do when you don't know the meaning of the word? Do you pass over it, look it up, pretend you do know?
Asked and Answered from My January NL on motivation:
oldgreywolf on wheels wrote;
There are several character sketch formats available online and in print, which can be helpful for developing backstory.
Likewise, a recent newsletter identified several personality sites available to further make a character real to readers.
And, about a year or so ago, I recommended writers take the Myers-Briggs personality test to possibly make writing easier, by identifying their weaknesses and strengths.
All wonderful ideas and resources for developing full-bodied, multidimensional characters readers will want to follow and care about. Thank you for writing in and sharing!
Max Griffin 🏳️🌈 wrote:
Another fine newsletter!
For me, the most believable and scary villain is the one who thinks he's doing good when in fact he's evil. Most religious fanatics fall in this category.
In the Mandalorian series, one of the characters fighting for Empire lists the chaos and poverty that followed the collapse and says all the evidence is that the Empire was better. Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic League series has the same theme. There's an evil empire, but his hero fights for it because the chaotic alternative is worse.
My villian in "Escape from Cabot's Landing" is planned to have this motivation. He sees the collapse coming, and does horrific things to try to stop it because a thousand year dark age would--he thinks--be worse.
But that's following your basic advice--give the villain a credible motive.
Thank you! I know what you mean, and giving the villain credibility also adds vulnerability. In some cases it can evoke sympathetic reaction toward the evil doer. Your character in Cabot's second installment is one such character.
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Mystery: February 21, 2024 Issue [#12429]
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