The dictionary is your friend

Or if it isn’t, it should be.

Why do you read and write? The power of our language is that it can take us anywhere. It can create emotions, show us places we’ve never seen, allow us into the minds of strangers –real or fictional. It allows us to communicate with each other with varying degrees of sophistication and effectiveness. And along with all this, language is fun.

I love dictionaries. The English language is incredibly rich. It includes hundreds of thousands of words (how many exactly is a difficult question, but there are definitely a lot).

This means that there is a word for just about everything. And for many things there are words and words and words. 

It is a gift to have the opportunity to explore this rich vocabulary and learn new words. There are times when I read deliberately to learn new words, but sometimes I don’t want to face the risk of not finding words I don’t know. I want a guarantee that something new is going to seep into my brain.

This is when it’s time to get lost. You know that wonderful feeling when you’re in an unknown city or town and you just wander to see what you can see. That’s what I like to do with words. I like to get lost inside my trusty hardcopy dictionaries, or delve into one online, or range around the dictionary on my Kindle. I can spend hours lost in a dictionary of synonyms.

The words you use and the way you use them is what makes your writing unique. The way you as a writer put words into the mouths of your characters is what differentiates them and gives them life. They are an essential tool of your trade. Put aside some time to get lost – I’m sure you won’t regret it.

And if you find any really great words you think others will love, please leave them in a comment …

The Power of Numbers

I love writing, and almost as much as I love writing I love reading about writing. This morning, as I was easing into my day, I decided to dip into one of my favourite books on writing and rediscovered something I’d forgotten – a short section entitled “Choose the number of elements with a purpose in mind”. Roy Peter Clark claims that the number of elements we choose sends a subliminal message. 

Here’s a quick summary:

One:    “That girl is smart.” The reader focuses on that particular quality and no other. Clark suggests writers should use one for ‘power’.

Two:   “That girl is smart and sweet.” The reader now has to balance two characteristics. Use two when you want the reader to contrast and compare.

Three: “That girl is smart, sweet, and determined.” Three sends a message of wholeness, completeness. 

Four:   “That girl is smart, sweet, determined, and neurotic.” Four or more is when we want to “list, inventory, compile, and expand”. Four or more creates a flow, a ‘literary effect’.

So next time you’re writing, try making a deliberate choice about how many elements you include, rather than just letting the words run rampant on the page. Make a conscious decision about number. Play with it. Try different alternatives and discover the effects for yourself so that your reader can discover them later.

To illustrate his point, Clark includes some fantastic examples in his book; I encourage you to take a look. My favourite is the example he gives from Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem:

Context is everything. Dress me up and see. I’m a carnival barker, an auctioneer, a downtown performance artist, a speaker in tongues, a senator drunk on filibuster. I’ve got Tourette’s.

Writing Voices

Do you ever read your writing aloud? It’s an easy technique that can help us find our "voices". If you’re writing fiction you are going to want each character to sound unique. They each need to have their own vocabularies, their own idioms. The way they express themselves will give your readers clues as to who they are and where they come from. Reading any dialogue or interior monologue aloud will help you work out if you are being consistent. 

As well as reading aloud, ask yourself some questions about each character. You might think about these as you’re writing; you might think of them when you’re editing; or you may define your characters’ voices before you introduce them. Here are a few questions to help you on your way:

1.    What level of language do they speak? Do they use slang, or perhaps a lot of jargon? Do they use abstract or concrete expressions?

2.    Do they make a lot of references to pop culture, or perhaps to travels they have undertaken? Do they refer to art and literature; are their conversations about watching the football on TV, or playing tennis?

3.     Do they usually use long or short sentences when they speak? Are they complex sentences? Do they use a variety of sentence structures?

4.     How large is the character’s vocabulary? Do they spend their time reading literature, or popular magazines, or both? What kinds of words are they most comfortable with?

Each time you put words into a character’s mouth you are telling your reader more about that character. You need your characters to be believable, so match their language with their background and experience. 

And remember to read your work aloud. It will help you discover if it’s you, the writer, on the page, or if you have succeeded in bringing your characters to life.