The Renaissance Brought Huge Changes to Language and Literature

I have come to appreciate the huge changes the Renaissance brought to the English language as never before. Being a history and English major, the period has always fascinated me, but when I began writing novels set in the medieval period, the different and limited vocabulary really hit me. 

I found myself too much of a purist to pen words not used in the Middle Ages, so I looked up most of the words in a sentence to find the dates they were introduced into the language. Not many of the words we use today were used in Medieval times. Many of them didn't come into the vocabulary until the Renaissance with its explosion of writers, like Shakespeare. For example, there is no word we would recognize for the word "dress." Words like happy, smile, laugh, flag, shed, and thousands of others had not come into usage yet.

The first book I wrote in this time period was Roslyn's Rescue, a novella based on "Little Red Riding Hood" but written for adults with all the magic and make-believe taken out. I published it as an ebook only, as I did Glenda's Gold, based on "Rumplestiltskin." I combined these two novellas to make the print book, Time-Told Tales, Volume One.

I just finished the rough draft of Patricia's Prison, loosely based on "Rapunzel." It will also be published as an ebook. Down the road, when I write Jack's Jewel ("Jack and the Beanstalk"), I will combine them to publish Time-Told Tales, Volume Two. The research for these books, since I look up almost every other word to check its date, is so time-consuming that I need a break between them.


Each of these stories is a standalone, and yet they are connected because the characters continue to appear in them all. Despite all the extra work, they're a joy to write, and readers have told me they are a joy to read as well. The ebooks in the series can also be found on Kindle Unlimited. Here are the links if you would like to check them out.

Roslyn's Rescue - https://www.amazon.com/Roslyns-Rescue-Janice-Cole-Hopkins-ebook/dp/B07MDSJKJC

Glenda's Gold - https://www.amazon.com/Glendas-Gold-Time-Told-Tales-Book-ebook/dp/B07NBSCLW6

Time Told Tales (print) - https://www.amazon.com/Time-Told-Tales-Janice-Cole-Hopkins/dp/1798059363/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Time-Told Tales (audible) - https://www.audible.com/pd/Time-Told-Tales-Volume-One-Audiobook/B07XDBZSCS?qid=1567869893&sr=1-1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=EW7MYQZB4PGR81FV6SWE&ref

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