In Defense of Derring-Do — Or, the Day My Writers’ Group Challenged Chaucer
Recently, in my writer’s group, I was challenged about my use of the word derring-do.
The sentence was:
“…she longed for adventure, a bit of derring-do, mystery.”
“That’s wrong,” someone said. “It’s daring do. There’s no such word as derring-do. What does it even mean?”
I tried to conjure images.
Errol Flynn fighting pirates aboard a sailing ship.Swashbuckling. Adventure.
“No,” someone insisted. “It’s daring do.”
For a moment I wondered if maybe I was wrong—if I was losing my mind and making up words.
I wasn’t. And I’m not.
I love words. I always have—especially the written word.
When I was bored in junior high, I would study the dictionary instead of trying to solve meaningless word problems. You know the kind: if train A is traveling to Timbuktu and plane B is flying to Alaska, how much is the price of oranges in China?
The dictionary was far more interesting.
I still remember discovering the word mellifluous.
Say it out loud:
mel-li-flu-ous
Like honey rolling off the tongue.
Derring-do dates back to Chaucer. In the Middle English he wrote, it appeared as dorryng don—literally “daring to do.” Later, Sir Walter Scott helped popularize the term in Ivanhoe:
“He was a man of derring-do and great renown in arms.”
Bold, heroic adventure.
Think Errol Flynn. Indiana Jones. James Bond.
Chasing Tropical Ice, Book 1 in a series of 3, is available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DVV9CZSB
Gus (born, Augusta) is front and center, swashbuckling her way through international diamond smuggler encounters, mythic characters and really big snake.
In the sequel Chasing Arctic Fire (Book 2)—Gus is a again one of the main characters. .
Writing the Sequel
Chasing Arctic Fire is coming along.
In January, I set a deadline for myself: finish the manuscript to the point it is ready for beta readers by March 31. That’s about three weeks from now. Then I will be away for seven weeks doing research for Book Three.
(Morocco, here I come!)
At the moment, I am halfway through revisions. I think I can do it. Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, as they say in my home country of Appalachia.
But then there is all the other stuff that comes after that:
Proofing. Again.Rewriting. Again.Lining up the professional formatter (who needs six weeks’ lead time).Cover design. Marketing. Launch timing.
Get all that done by October 15?
No wonder I had a headache. It began to feel like far too heavy a yoke to carry.
So I poured a glass of wine, watched the sunset over Volcán Barú, took a deep breath, and stepped back.
No one is forcing me to do this except me.
It will not change the course of human history if the book appears in February 2027 instead of October 2026.
Writing a long novel already takes a certain amount of derring-do—no need to create a yoke for my own shoulders. Agreed?
I write because I love using words to create mental images in the reader’s mind and to share thoughts and emotions.
And when another writer uses words to create vivid images and emotional experiences in me—well, that is the best.
Have books made you laugh? Cry? Scream? Climax? Words did that.
What words do you love? I would love to hear and learn new ones.
And if you enjoyed this small defense of derring-do (and Chaucer), feel free to share it with others you know who appreciate the written word. Follow Behind the Scenes on Substack as well as here. https://elizabethworley.substack.com/
As Mark Twain wrote in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court:
“The age of chivalry and romance and the prodigious feats of derring-do.”