Today I’m browsing through Art Forms in Nature by Ernst Haeckel again – this is an excellent collection of 100 of his plates illustrating everything from marine protozoa to antelopes. I’m looking for inspiration for fantastic marine monsters for a novel – and equally important, vocabulary!
This is one of my favorite vocabulary-building techniques for writing fantasy – find visual reference of something real and generate as many descriptive words and metaphors as possible. I’ve also done this recently with Miller’s Antiques Handbook & Price Guide by Judith Miller for objects ranging from porcelain plates to oak chests-of-drawers and Foraged Flora: A Year of Gathering and Arranging Wild Plants and Flowers by Louesa Roebuck and Sarah Lonsdale for flowers and foliage.
Continue reading “Vocabulary Exercise: Radiolaria”
Chronicler's Note: 