The Beginning of April Fools’ Day

Why people play pranks and practical jokes on friends during the first day of April is a mystery. How the custom started is unclear and full of conjecture.  We have no direct historical evidence how April Fools’ Day started. However, a common explanation dates back to the sixteenth century when France accepted the Gregorian calendar.  To add to the mystery, the French dubbed the people who were victims “April Fish.”

This blog has made references in two recent postings about the changes in our calendar. A quick review shows how the updated calendar helped start the April 1^st custom.   

By the 1500s, the European calendar system was confusing at best and unworkable at worst. The 12-month year was started by the ancient Romans when Augustus Caesar developed it in 46 BC with a leap year every fourth year. Yet much of Europe followed the French example of sticking to the ancient 10-month system.

France and other countries began the year with March to celebrate the start of spring. Yet the official New Year was held on April 1^st. This false beginning caused the seasons to keep changing in their position on the calendar.

In 1563, King Charles IX decreed that France would follow the 12-month calendar with the months of January and February being added.  January 1st would be the first day of the year. The king’s edict was passed into law by the French Parliament on December 22, 1564.

According to tradition, changing the first of the year to January 1^st instead of April 1^st resulted in the practice of April Fools’ Day. Many people refused to accept the new calendar or just didn’t know about the change. Mass communication didn’t exist, and the news about the new calendar spread very slowly.

It became fashionable, as the story goes, to send people who resisted the new calendar on so-called “fool’s errands” on April 1st. The victims were sent to look for things that didn’t exist. Today we call it a wild goose chase.

The French used the phrase “Poisson d’Avril” which translates to “April Fish.” The spring season that brought about abundant fish spawning in lakes and streams resulted in easy catches for fishermen. The fish that time of the year were abundant and were easy to hook. So the “April Fish” phrase was an insult pranksters used. People were called gullible if they refused to accept January 1^st at the beginning of the year or if they simply didn’t know about the calendar change.

Pranksters would stick paper fish secretly on the backs of people who would walk around on April 1^st as the butts of the joke. The “April Fish” tag became the “April Fool” phrase we use in the majority of Western Europe and the United States.

People who receive April Fools’ pranks and tricks need to keep their senses of humor strong. A person who reacts with anger about a trick or joke only encourages the perpetrators to keep the joke going.  Accepting the prank with a laugh will help defuse any embarrassment.  This advice assumes no physical harm is done from a prank.

My favorite April Fools’ joke I remember from many years ago came from a local television station in Southern California. The station news manager positioned a reporter in the middle of an orange grove. Dozens of pickles were hung from the branches of trees. The reporter talked about the poor crop that would result in expensive pickles that year.  Many people called the television station asking where they could get a pickle tree.

April 1^st has a special meaning to my wife and me. Our older daughter was born on that date. It’s a special day to us that represents a blessing instead of a prank.

Thanks for reading this blog. I’ll have another one in about a week. See my web page at joevlatino.com.

Easter Defined by Earth’s Orbit

Spring, 2014, began on March 20^th at 12:57 in the afternoon, Eastern Daylight Time.  However, the beginning of spring is not determined by a precise, to-the-minute measurement.  Several factors influence the way we determine the beginning of any of the four seasons and the important date of Easter Sunday.

The movement of Earth around the sun is the constant that is used to measure time. We depend on calendars to measure Earth’s orbit that is a bit more than 365 days.

Calendars of various types have been used for thousands of years. In western cultures, the 10- month Roman calendar was the most recognized until 45 BC when Julius Caesar introduced the 12- month calendar. It aligned closer to the changing seasons and for centuries gave the most accurate measure of Earth making one orbit around the sun each year.

Caesar, with expert mathematicians, got the measurement of a year close to accurate. Called the Julian Calendar, the twelve months were divided into 365.25 days with a leap year every four years to accept one extra day. This calendar aligned close to the changing seasons and was the accepted way of judging Earth’s movement until the 16^th century.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII established the Gregorian Calendar which most of the world now observes. This calendar measures a year at 365.2425 days long. Gregorian years are only 27 seconds longer than the actual time Earth orbits one year.  It allows a gain of one day in 3,200 years.

To correct for the error in the number of days that slowly accumulated since Caesar’s calendar, Pope Gregory dropped ten days from the year 1582. That was decreed to be a one- time adjustment, but 12 days were erased 170 years later from 1752 to correct the length of the year to the present accuracy.

This adjusting of the calendar makes it incredibly accurate but not exact. None of us will ever notice the one day gain Earth will have in more than 3,000 years. That slim margin of difference proves that the errors are accumulative. However, that one day gain is not noticeable.

The angle of Earth on its axis causes the season changes as our planet obits the sun. Rays of the sun hit directly onto the equator on March 20^th or 21^st. That begins the hot months of the year and days become longer. We have equal hours of day and night on this March date. This is called the spring or vernal equinox.

As Earth’s position changes on its yearly trek around the sun, the sun’s rays strike the northern hemisphere called the Tropic of Cancer. This is called the June Solstice which has the shortest day of the year. The Autumn Equinox will occur this year on Sept. 22 and the sunshine will concentrate onto the southern hemisphere called the Tropic of Capricorn.

The Tropic of Capricorn gets most of the sun’s rays in the 12th month of the year and is called the December Solstice.

Neither phase of the sun is exact. The varying times of light can be attributed to the wobble of Earth on its axis. That’s a slight shake Earth makes as it spins every 24 hours.

Pope Gregory adjusted the calendar to establish a regular method of determining which Sunday will be Easter. The important Christian celebration comes on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or just after the vernal equinox in March.

This complicated formula helps us select the date for Easter many years in advance. Here are the next five dates for Easter:  April 20, 2014; April 5, 2015; March 27, 2016; April 16, 2017; and April 1, 2018.  Just the next five Easters show a difference of 24 days. It’s the irregular movement of Earth’s orbit that complicates when the official date of Easter will be each year.

The irregularity of Easter makes for some fun celebrating in our family. On two occasions in her lifetime so far, Easter has fallen on my youngest daughter’s birthday of March 30^th (1985 & 1997). My oldest daughter, however, born on April 1, will not have the first Easter birthday of her lifetime until 2018.  

Thank you for reading this blog. Look for another topic about writing fiction next week.  See my web page at www.joevlatino.com.

Differentiate Characters with Voice and Style

This post is going back to our original purpose of helping authors write effective fiction. I want to concentrate on the technique of making characters different and distinguishable from each other. This includes using effective voice and style in our writing. I’ll cover the subjects of voice and style here.

A writer’s use of voice is the way an author can control the cadence needed in effective dialogue. That’s how a story can be progressed smoothly.  The character’s word choices and methods of speaking make each person unique and easily identified. This lets us keep our use of tags to a minimum.  How tags can become a distraction was explained in a recent post.

An author’s style of writing is difficult to isolate since each writer’s style is unique to him or her. A basic definition of style is the way a person writes with short or long sentences, concise paragraphs or wordy prose. The character can have multiple viewpoints or just one view. Punctuation, grammar and viewpoint should be particular to each main character.

Here are some examples of using characters’ voices to identify them.  “Two Cents Worth” is a short story from an upcoming book of short stories I’m writing.  A quirky character named Diller is easily identified whenever he speaks.  He uses idioms, clichés and buzz phrases. 

While speaking to the main character in the story, Diller says: “Thanks, old friend. It’s been good knowing you.”

During another exchange, Diller says after he kills a man: “Well, that’s that. Thanks, old friend.”

In another story from the upcoming book, a character named Billy uses a buzz phrase repeatedly during the story “Deliberate Impulse.” Billy is questioned by a medical examiner while the corpse of a murdered woman is being examined in a police morgue.

“We’ve concluded something about the size of the killer. Care to give me your opinion, Billy?”

Billy’s response is: “Sure, sure, sure.”

During a response to a question from a local detective, Billy says: “Okay, okay, okay. I’d like to see this case end with a murder charge before I have to leave for home….”

While asking about a cell phone call the detective receives, Billy asks: “What is it? What, what?”

Billy’s distinctive language and voice make him easily identified whenever he has dialogue.     

Some people start sentences with “well,” or “okay.” Other characters will use the word “right” often. Use these speech patterns to help make your characters well defined.

Effective dialogue is very important to make your stories interesting with a smooth story line.  Use voice and style to give your characters unique identities.

Thanks for visiting this blog. A new post will be available in about a week. See my web page at www.joevlatino.com.

Ides of March

March 15^th is identified in ancient Roman history as the Ides of March. The original significance of that date is that it identifies the middle of the month.  Of the ten months that made up the first Roman calendar, each one had a middle date called the ides. The 15^th day of March is recognized now because the Roman leader Julius Caesar was assassinated on that date in 44 BC.

Caesar was a war hero, a genius in military strategy, a winning politician, a charismatic communicator, an intellectual, and an historian.  He also was a ruthless leader, a murderer, a liar, an egomaniac, and a sexually prolific man who bedded many women in spite of their or his marital status.

He was stabbed to death on the notorious date by members of the Roman Senate. The 60 members of the Senate unanimously agreed that Caesar must die. They feared his growing power, influences and well known goal to become emperor and king of the Roman Empire.

On the morning of the March Ides, Caesar was walking to the Senate building with his trusted friend Mark Anthony. One of the conspirators stopped Anthony to separate him from Caesar and to clear the way for the slaying.

Bust of Caesar

Tradition indicates that some time during his walk to a meeting in the Senate, Caesar confronted a soothsayer (fortune teller) who previously warned Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March." That phrase is a figure of speech that’s been used more than 2,000 years after the killing of Caesar to warn of impending trouble and tragedy.

Caesar belittles the soothsayer’s prediction and says nothing that day has shown any problems. The soothsayer shoots back with a comment that the day is not yet over.

When he walks into the building, Caesar stops at the statue of Pompey. That’s where he is first attacked from behind.  The Senators swarm to stab Caesar, and they move back to allow their colleagues a chance to stick their daggers into him.  He falls and endures the attack for a few minutes as he pulls out several of the knives. Reliable historical accounts mention Caesar suffered 23 to 30 stab wounds before he died at the foot of the statue.

Not every conspirator could get close enough to use his knife. The scene resembled a blood lust of animals killing prey. Some of the knife welding assassins suffered superficial wounds during the bloody frenzy. All the senators were charged with the murder whether they actually stabbed the Roman leader or not.

The statue of Pompey was erected a few feet outside the senate chamber by Caesar’s own decree. Pompey and Caesar were once close allies before they had a falling out, and Pompey was killed during a campaign in Egypt. Caesar never lost his respect and admiration of Pompey. The senators planned to kill Caesar in front of the statue to avoid desecrating the Senate Chamber.

Caesar is assassinated in front of the statue of Pompey.

Four years before his death, Caesar travelled to Alexandria, Egypt. He went there to establish a military presence in the country that was conquered by Rome. During a stay of several months, Caesar met Cleopatra who was a member of the royal family of Egypt. Cleopatra wasn’t Egyptian. Her relatives were part of the Ptolemy (TOL-e-me) family that were Greek and direct descendants of Alexander the Great.

The 21-year-old Cleopatra was Egypt’s current pharaoh, but internal family fights with her brother and sister convinced the queen that her life was in jeopardy. She made a move to become politically attached and protected by the then 52-year-old Caesar. An intelligent woman who spoke several languages and who understood the vanity of powerful men such as Caesar, she used her sex appeal to seduce the Roman general.

Nine months after the two leaders met, Cleopatra presented Caesar with a baby boy. The child pleased Caesar and fed his enormous ego in showing the world he was sexually potent.  He eventually presented the Egyptian Queen to the people of Rome. His wife was the daughter of an aristocrat, and the scandal with Cleopatra was even worse in the eyes of the senators when he presented the Egyptian and her son with high honors. 

It was a tradition in Rome that the leader of a vanquished country would be chained and dragged behind the chariot of the general in charge of the campaign during a victory parade in Rome. Caesar not only elevated Cleopatra’s position, he also presented her as his queen with his son. The senators felt insulted by his actions.

Caesar showed his genius during all the turmoil he created in Rome.  While living in Cleopatra’s country, Caesar met a brilliant Egyptian astronomer and mathematician. The two of them worked out the need of a leap year to accommodate Caesar’s concept of a 12-month year that consisted of 365.25 days. The assassinated Roman left his mark on the most accurate calendar of its day.

Caesar almost got it right with the 12-month calendar that drifted three days every 60 years. This reoccurring error was significant since the calendar was dependent on the seasons.  In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII modified the calendar close to the one we have today by dropping 10 days off that year. On September 2, 1752, the next 12 days were dropped from that month to give us the accurate calendar we use now.

Bust of Cleopatra

Cleopatra demonstrated the modern method of match making.  She understood that similar interests and personalities are what count in attracting a mate. This is what online dating websites emphasize in helping men and woman attract mates. Opposites don’t attract when love is concerned. Cleopatra understood that being similar or making herself appear similar to the men she wanted to influence is what worked.

The Egyptian queen used her sex and personality to attract Mark Anthony who replaced Caesar as the main leader of Rome. That union was passionate and resulted in at least three children. However, Anthony followed Caesar’s bad example of thinking he was above the rules of Rome.  The love affair ended tragically and makes for interesting reading.

This week’s blog is different from the usually instructional post given here. I hope you enjoyed the information and will visit us next time. See my web page at www.joevlatino.com. 

Use Dialogue Tags Sparingly

Narrative tells the story. The words (dialogue) your characters use drive the story forward. Dialogue is the poetry of your prose. 

Keeping the identities of the characters clear can be distracting if tags are used too frequently.  Tags are the “he said,” “she said” used to identify who is talking. Tags don’t have to be used in each quoted sentence. In fact, the less you use tags the better. Don’t be hesitant to use said when clarity is needed.

Dialogue can become stilted. Make it sound natural. A good test in making sure the words sound natural is to read the passages out loud.

Characters will identify themselves with their voice. That’s what we call the way a character speaks.  Each person in the story needs to have his and her own distinct voice that can be recognized in the character's manner of speaking.  Character identification can come from distinct patterns such as using too many contractions, incorrect grammar, accent and personal buzz phrases.

Here is an example of avoiding tags in an excerpt from my short story “Two Cents Worth.” It’s part of my soon- to- be published second book of short stories.

In this example, Mark is the manager of a used clothing/furniture store. He is talking with a distraught woman who pushes her way into the store before opening time. She is desperate to find a valuable pair of pants that someone donated by mistake.

    “Let me in, please. It was a mistake. I need them pants back.” She hit the glass with her hands when she spoke.      

     “It was my housekeeper. She put them pants in a pile. She said your truck took everything yesterday. I got to have them back."

         

     Mark stood near the doors and flinched each time she hit the glass.

     “We don’t open for another twenty-five minutes. You can be the first one in, but you have to wait."

   

     “Please, please let me in now. I need to find them.  The housekeeper made a mistake.”

This example doesn’t use a tag at all.  The woman’s poor grammar makes her identity obvious when she and Mark are speaking back and forth.

Action identifies a character. Mark comes to the glass doors. It’s obvious he is the character who speaks next. This shows the narrative working with dialogue.

Speech patterns and buzz words can also identify characters. Billy is a character in another short story from my new book. In “Deliberate Impulse” Billy shows his distinctive speech pattern while he’s talking to Susan.

     “Oh, yeah.  I see what you’re saying, Susan.  Sure, sure, sure.”

Billy reacts to a question from a medical examiner at a morgue.

     “We’ve concluded something about the size of the killer. Care to give me your opinion, Billy?”

     “Sure, sure, sure. He’s much shorter than the victim.  Those lower stab wounds in her waist and hips indicate the killer couldn't reach high enough to stab her in her neck at first." 

Billy’s quirky speech habits make it easy to know he is talking without using any tags.

Nobody knows your characters as well as you do. As you write your stories, the characters will talk to you. That allows you to help them change and develop as the story continues.

Thanks for reading this blog. In the next several weeks I’ll post samples of the new book as the stories develop.  You can view my web site at www.joevlatino.com.