The word of the week is:
Preternatural
Definition of preternatural
Adjective:
beyond what is normal or natural
Synonyms:
aberrant, anomalous, atypical, deviant, deviate, extraordinary, ghostly, inexplicable, irregular, marvellous, miraculous, mysterious, odd, peculiar, strange, superhuman, superior, supernatural, unaccountable, unearthly, unnatural, unrepresentative, untypical
Here’s an example from Limbus, Inc. by Brett J Talley et al:
Ichabod Templeton hid in shadow, for the ones he feared walked in the light. He clutched a leather-bound book to his chest, eyeing the early evening revellers as they passed. They didn’t notice him, crouching in darkness. Or maybe that was all part of their plan. Lure him into a sense of ease. Make him think that he had finally escaped their gazes. And then strike. No, Ichabod thought, shaking his head against the idea. He had come so far. He would not fail now.
He crept through the alleys and back ways of Boston, hiding himself in the maze of the city. But he was not lost. He knew where he was going, even if he had never been there, even with no map to lead the way. Something inside, some preternatural sense, guided his footsteps.
He found himself in the North End of the great city, not that he would have known the name of that place. He cut through the old burying ground at Copp’s Hill, past the ancient, crumbling tomb of Cotton Mather, into the labyrinth of narrow corridors and side streets north of Prince. He stopped at the mouth of one and stared with sudden recognition at a ramshackle storefront. He had reached his destination. He pulled the old book closer, rubbing his hands along the coarse leather while the setting sun cast longer and deeper shadows than even the one in which he stood. Yes, this was the place. This was his destiny.
PRACTICE
Naturally focus and practice for five minutes using preternatural often. When you’re finished, post your practice in the comments section.
Also, extra credit if you use the word of the week in your daily practice!
My Practice
I was raging, from the tips of my toes, a bile of anger rose up my throat, it was as if my hidden preternatural personality had been accosted by some unknown force. Perhaps a god, I had read about a guy who believed he was being followed by a rain cloud because it rained everywhere he went and it turned out the cloud thought he was a god and did indeed follow him.
Maybe I am the goddess of anger, who at my whim mere mortals will part and bow down before me. There had to be a reason I felt such a burning desire to end the lives of many and one in particular. Even in my rage I was thinking along rational thoughts, albeit a skewed rationale.
The day had started so well. Camera equipment all packed in the back of the van, staple food, thermoses of thick, dark, treacly coffee, in the front. Wellies on, jacket to hand if it turned chilly, I was prepared. But things have a way of unravelling. Half way to the shoot I got a puncture and began to change the tyre. No biggie, done it a hundred times, not for me charm school, I was in mechanics 101 from nappies, daddy teaching me all I knew.
But I was late and this guy stopped and offered to do it and for once I let my preternaturally feminine part loose. We chatted and it was fun, a little excursion in the road of life. I didn’t pay attention to what he was doing, looking instead at the nape of his neck and imagining.
Grrr to necks and imaginings. Three miles later I was upside down in a ditch, the tyre had come off completely as I turned a sharp bend and the van hit a small wall and flipped. Stupidly I didn’t immediately put the two events together, probably due to the welt forming across my forehead.
Oooh, but when I did, that is when the seething, uncontrollable rage began. Cameras were broken and the strong aroma of Cuban coffee filled the cab just to entice me to kick the door again. Stranded without coffee.
I went to get my mobile out to discover I had left it at home sitting on the cooker top, how to kill a man and get away with it. I might write a book…
