Wordsmithing: Blogging A to Z Letter C curiosity cats George RR Martin Game of Thrones

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

A to Z Challenge - ORWELL'S THIRD LAW - C is for Curiosity

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT
Predictable responses, should
always be avoided.

I am posting idioms, proverbs and examples of figurative language in accordance with Orwell's Third Law of sentence construction. ;)

George Orwell says:

WHEN WRITING A SENTENCE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS ASK YOURSELF:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?

Last night, A Game of Thrones season 2 aired in the UK. While I was counting down, I re-read books one and two of the epic saga A Song of Ice and Fire.

From George RR Martin's A GAME OF THRONES

The Red Keep was full of cats: lazy cats dozing in the sun, cold-eyed mousers twitching their tails, quick little kittens with claws like needles, ladies' cats all combed and trusting , ragged shadows prowling the midden heaps. One by one, Arya had chased them down and snatched them up and brought them proudly to Syrio Forel... all but this one, this one-eared black devil of a tomcat. "That's the real king of this castle right there," one of the gold cloaks had told her. "Older than sin and twice as mean."

I loved running through the castle with Arya as she tried to develop the skills that would allow her to sneak up on and to catch that cat.

IMAGERY HAS BEEN DONE MANY TIMES BEFORE SO IT NEEDS TO BE FACTUAL, FRESH OR FUNNY:

The grey cat was gone before the rub of sleeve against coat sparked, static was not his style.

Intent on stealing home, the stray cat slid in and raked Fancy's underbelly with its powerful back legs.

They say that everyone can identify with at least one of the characters in The Song of Ice and Fire. This is one reason why the books are so successful. I identify with Arya, younger daughter of Eddard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell.

WHICH CHARACTER, IN THIS BOOK, OR ANY OTHER, DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH?

RETURN: YA Paranormal Romance

I was running late. But, it was nothing I couldn’t make up with a bit of effort. I shook my head. Confident and happy? I smiled. Increasing my stride, I pushed until the muscles in my legs burned. I kept up the pace even when the hill grew steeper.

Magpie Lane was hardly wider than a ribbon that edged the woods but that didn’t stop traffic using it to get to the motorway quicker. Large trucks and fast cars loved Magpie Lane. They sent vibrations running through me rising from the soles of my trainers. I felt the disturbance in the ground, even before the air pressure tried to knock me off balance. I hunched my shoulders as the cab hauling a container spat stones up at me.

Jogging on the spot, at the entrance to woodland, I ached to leave the road and go inside. My Mum was probably still asleep but I could hear her you-never-know-what might-be-in-there lecture buzzing on repeat inside my head. I should run safe. Not even I would argue that running through the woods on my own was the best definition of safe but I wanted to run-wild and the woodland offered me that. This early, I should be safe from axe murderers or perverts in the trees and besides, I was fast.

I jogged down the slope into the trees. From two paces in, I felt different. Freer. It felt so right. Running in the woods did great things for my style. Avoiding the roots and dodging branches forced my stride longer, I had to step higher. The woodland, The Weald, was only a sliver of ancient woodland that the developers forgot to build on but it felt like it could have been anywhere. Everywhere. At any time. The oaks and beech trees dominated the space and the skinny, silver-birches squeezed up beside them. I laughed. For a second, the woods reminded me of school and I needed to run a lot faster.

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Tuesday, 3 April 2012

A to Z Challenge - ORWELL'S THIRD LAW - C is for Curiosity