"What Meanest Thou?" // #1

I'm on the road this week, but wanted to give a quick posting update here and also launch a new blog series!

In short, I'm moving our author interviews to a bimonthly schedule this year and on the off months I'll either be sharing writing updates, book reviews, historical research, or studies of commonly confused words/historical terms. Sound interesting? :)

So here's for our first "What Meanest Thou?"

In December (while proofreading A Flame Shall Spring) I delved into a quick fact check/refresher course on the nature of doublets, tunics, and jerkins. Sometimes it's easy to forget specific terms in the heat of composition (either that or my brain just blanks ;)) and regardless, it can always be helpful to have everything pulled together in one place!

#1: Doublet

A man's short close-fitting padded jacket, commonly worn from the 14th to the 17th century.

#2: Jerkin

A man's close-fitting jacket, typically made of leather. (Can also be sleeveless.)

#3: Tunic

(This term particularly morphed over time, but through the ancient and medieval periods it remained relatively the same.)

A gown-like outer garment, with or without sleeves and sometimes belted.

So! Did you find that short little summary helpful? Intriguing? Old news? Let me know in the comments! :)

Heidi Peterson is a lover of wide-spreading land, summer dust, white pounding waterfalls, and mountain tops; also of good dark coffee and rich stories. Most of all she's a lover of the One who is the Word, the Word made flesh. You can visit her additional blog (where she shares more about books, movies, and further marvels of life) at: Along the Brandywine.

Visit and contact at: Sharing the Journey // Along the Brandywine // ladyofanorien(at)gmail(dot)com

3 Things I Love in a Good Story // Victoria

from Victoria

1. Atmosphere

This one is a little hard to explain, but it's critical to a good story in my opinion. Atmosphere is the tone, the aura, the ambiance, the feel of a particular place or land or setting in a story. Think of the glorious, majestic security and beauty of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings, the coziness of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver's home in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the drafty, echo-y mystery of Thornton Hall in Jane Eyre, the earthy, rustic comfort of the Gargery's Forge in Great Expectations. It's not something you pin down exactly, or point to a particular passage and say, "There it is -- there's the atmosphere." It's woven into the fabric of every description of a place in a story. Sometimes it runs through the entire story, but usually the atmosphere is connected to a particular place or building in a tale. And then there's the overarching feel of the entire book, made up of a string of individual atmospheres like diamonds on a necklace. I find that (second only to the characters) atmosphere is what keeps me coming back over and over to my favorite books.

2. Characters

I know that lots of other bloggers have already used "Characters" as one of their top three in this series, but I really do think it is absolutely indispensable to a good story. I mean, try to even imagine a truly fantastic story with weak, wooden characters. It's nearly impossible. Characters are usually what we remember most about any good story. Humanity, honor, humor -- all play a part in making memorable heroes. But even villains or side characters or characters that only show up once can all be memorable. As long as they are believable, have realistic dialogue, and accurately reflect humanity in all its complexity, characters can feel as real as flesh-and-blood people that you actually know. And maybe most importantly, they can impact your life forever -- who hasn't been influenced in some way by a hero they read of as a child? I wouldn't be the woman I am today if I had never met Gandalf, Aslan, Mr. Knightley or Dym in the pages of a book.

3. Self-Sacrifice

Think through every compelling, stirring or touching story you've ever read or watched. I don't care if it's How to Train Your Dragon, Sense and Sensibility or The Lord of the Rings, nearly every story has a pivotal scene or theme of self-sacrifice. It doesn't have to necessarily be a matter of life and death, but it always involves someone giving of themselves or laying down their own good for the good of another. Joe Gargery giving his life's savings for Pip, Aragorn riding to the Black Gates for Frodo, Tony Stark taking the missile meant for Manhattan in The Avengers, Flynn Rider choosing Rapunzel's life over his own in Tangled -- self-sacrifice is everywhere. It's kind of ironic to find this in a world that claims to hold a survival-of-the-fittest Darwinian worldview. As a Christian, though, it's easy for me to understand why writers and directors all throughout the world find themselves creating stories of self-sacrifice, book after book and movie after movie. It's because it reflects the life-changing, earth-shattering self-sacrifice of Christ Himself. In a laying down of self so monumental and unbelievable as that of the Maker dying for His creation, the crucifixion of Christ became the single most important event in the history of the world -- whether certain humans throughout history choose to acknowledge that fact or not. Because of Christ, self-sacrifice (like truth, honor, love and good triumphing over evil) has become an ever-present theme throughout literature and film throughout the ages.

Note from Heidi: Thank you so much for sharing, Victoria! :)

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And... would you like to share three of your favorite things in a guest post? You don’t have to be a writer to qualify! This series is by story lovers for story lovers.
For post specifics/guidelines you can see the initial post here, then send Heidi a quick email at ladyofanorien(at)gmail(dot)com. (Don’t be shy. I’d love to have you! :))

Inkling Explorations Link-Up // January 2016

(Note: if you're interested in participating and new to the blog, you can find our link-up explanation/guidelines + more buttons here. :))

This month's selection is: A New Year or 'new beginning' passage in literature

I've highlighted this passage before on my personal blog, but it's such a favorite it immediately won hands down for this month's entry. ;)

“Outside darkness stayed, darkness and snow and ice, as if it would stay forever.

"So no one in Greenwillow was prepared for the morning when it came, not in a slow snowy dawn, but with the sun shouting up over the hills and catching a million mirrors of ice storm, as if the music from a harp had been frozen and splintered and flung from the west and the east and the north and the south. The great trees were sheathed in ice, and so were the tiniest meadow grasses. Branches glittered and cracked under their frozen weight, and small autumn seed-coats turned to diamond stuff.

"The sky was as blue as the first dawn itself, the one that woke Adam, and there was a fresh powdering of snow that had fallen before the ice began to creep. It was next to impossible to look abroad for the dazzle, and the Reverend Birdsong stood on his doorstep and shielded his eyes and felt very near to bursting with God’s wasteful glory and this new Creation. Charity the cat came out beside him, walking very daintily in the cold, looked at the snow, sneezed in protest and withdrew to the warm hearth. Birdsong rubbed his hands together and crowed.” Greenwillow by B.J. Chute

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Just leave your own link here in a comment and I'll add it to the post. :) As always, entries are open through the end of the month and I can't wait to see your selections!

Meredith ~ Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol

Hamlette ~ L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables

Olivia ~ C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces

Natalie ~ K.M. Weiland's Behold the Dawn

*How to do it*

1. Post the Inklings button on your sidebar.

2. Do a post on your own blog relating to the month's selection/subject (a literary excerpt as short or as long as you like AND/OR—if specified that month—a screencap from a film with an explanation of how the scene builds/develops the story). Link back here somewhere in your post.

3. Come back here and paste your link in the comments box and I'll add it to the post. Then enjoy visiting and reading everyone else's contributions!

That's all there is to it!

Up next month: A scene involving a disguise in book or film

Heads Up on a New Book Launch by Jenelle Schmidt!

Happy Wednesday everyone! 

Have no fear, our January Inklings is coming up soon ;), but meanwhile I wanted to quickly let you all know that Yorien's Hand, the latest installment in Jenelle Schmidt's Minstrel's Song series, is now available! Jenelle's a lovely blogging friend and I'm looking forward to reading her series sometime in the hopefully-not-too-far-distant future. :)

As part of the launch, she's also hosting a big giveaway this week, so do hop over to her launch post HERE to check it all out!

Heidi Peterson is a lover of wide-spreading land, summer dust, white pounding waterfalls, and mountain tops; also of good dark coffee and rich stories. Most of all she's a lover of the One who is the Word, the Word made flesh. You can visit her additional blog (where she shares more about books, movies, and further marvels of life) at: Along the Brandywine.

Visit and contact at: Sharing the Journey // Along the Brandywine // ladyofanorien(at)gmail(dot)com

Quote of the Month ~ January 2016

(via Pinterest)

Love this one! And what think you? Do you have any other good writing quotes you're mulling over this January?

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(Click here for previous Quotes of the Month here on StJ)

Heidi Peterson is a lover of wide-spreading land, summer dust, white pounding waterfalls, and mountain tops; also of good dark coffee and rich stories. Most of all she's a lover of the One who is the Word, the Word made flesh. You can visit her additional blog (where she shares more about books, movies, and further marvels of life) at: Along the Brandywine.

Visit and contact at: Sharing the Journey // Along the Brandywine // ladyofanorien(at)gmail(dot)com