#AugustBreak2018 - Hope

Yesterday's prompt was hope. Isn't that a great starting point? For photos, for writing, for art... There are so many creative works based on 'hope'. Hope is a word gravid with promise. For a Christian, our hope rests in our Savior, the Messiah Yeshua. For those in other religions, or those without a religion, hope rests elsewhere. But hope is important to us all, I think.

A Bit of a Tangent

While I should've posted a photo yesterday, I didn't. I got distracted with other things. We're getting some new bookshelves from a good friend and I'm working to make room for them in our study/music room. (Sounds grand, doesn't it? It's not. But it's still my favorite room in our house.) My hope is that all my writing binders will stay close at hand, as well as the books and files I need for school. It would be lovely if our room was more efficient.

Hope In Writing

When writing, I think it's safe to say a character without any hope at all can be interesting and call to the softer parts of our hearts. But most characters have hope in something. I'll give you a run-down of the characters in Ripples and their current hopes. If you find any of it calling to you, try checking out the book (in a revised state, not its final edited state) on Wattpad. The link is on my home page or you can click here to read at the site.

• Yetsye Shirasdatir - She hopes to be able to convince the humans of Y'Dahnndrya they stand on equal footing with the beasts and plants. All must for the good of Y'Dahnndrya.
  
• Ya'el Shirasdatir - Her hope lies in gaining knowledge. If one reads the right book, one can solve any problem.
  
• Yuvahl Shirashoneh - He hopes in Azilet'zal (the Creator's name in M'Neshunnaya). He believe that if one trusts in the Holy Voice, one can accomplish any task, overcome any obstacle.
  
• Tsadok Akal'a - Much like Yuvahl, he places his trust in Kai'yanga (the Creator's name in D'Koruyi). But he doesn't stop there. He carries this hope over into every action he takes.
  
• Leila Muenbruk - Her hope rests in the elders of Shinnoah, and in Tugansol (the Creator's name in Shinnoah). She is content to let things be handled by them. This way, she can focus on doing her work well.
  

Names of God - Otherwise known as "How The Heck Am I Going to Come Up With So Many Names?"

I read a lovely retelling of the Cinderella story several weeks ago, Chasing Cinders by Elizabeth D. Marie, in which she calls the deity 'Creator.' I toyed with the idea of keeping that for the name of my deity throughout the book, but honestly, with there being six clans who each have their own language, a change was required. So I dug and dug and researched a bit more. Then I visited Google Translate to translate some creation-like words and phrases to see how they sounded. And voila! Each clan has now has their own name for the single creator deity. There are other gods and goddesses worshiped by some of the clans but they don't come into play until later in the series.
I think I owe Mrs. Marie a big thank you. I had fun doing the research and creating the modifications. And all in all, I think the names I chose work pretty well. Here's the run-down listing the name (pronunciation for sticklers)/Clan/meaning searched for/language origin:

• Azilet'zal (ah ZEE let' zahl) - M'Neshunnaya - thread of life - Hungarian
  
• Kai'yanga (KIE' yahng ga) - D'Koruyi - creator - Maori
  
• Tugansol (TOO gahn sole) - Shinnoah - life giver - Irish
  
• Andurdrao (ahn DOOR drow) - Genzet - breath of life - Icelandic
  
• Changjo'ja (chahng JO' jah- Bot'ha - creator - Korean
  
• Kwikrei'ya (kwee KRAY' yah) - Ikehl'dur - one who creates - Catalan
  

I hope you enjoy tidbits like this. If you're a writer also, I hope my method might help you in your writing some day. I've had people ask me if I use name generators but I really don't like them very much. I enjoy digging for names and then playing with the spelling and syllabication. Name generators may make the job go faster, but in the end they steal some of the fun.
If you're not signed up for my newsletter yet, you can do that by scrolling to the bottom of the page. In the upcoming edition, I'll share short bios on my MC's for Ripples. I hope to have a book trailer ready to add to it, as well, so readers can have a sneak peak before I share it publicly. Well, I will if Mailchimp allows that on the free version. If not, I'll try using a cloud host and link method. I'd love to share these new bitsies with my followers. :)

This is one of the open source photos I used as inspiration for Levanna Stone Temple, one of the destinations in Ripples.