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Written by Jeffery Stevenson
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Thursday, 30 December 2004 |
The most powerful blade can become ineffective in the hands of the untrained.
To successfully wage war, the warrior must become proficient with the weapons of his or her craft. The soldier spends a lot of hours studying the different classes of weapons... close quarters weapons, melee weapons, extended reach weapons, and long-range weapons.
The writer also has weapons at his disposal, and when used properly, these weapons hold great power. The power to drive readers to tears, to incapacitate readers with laughter, to whisk readers away to far-off realms. For the next month, I want to focus on four of the biggest weapons in the writer's arsenal... words, imagination, logic, and discipline (making the spiffy acronym, WILD).
Words
Let's face it; words are pretty damn important to a writer. Without words, it would be pretty difficult to communicate your stories and ideas to artists, editors, or anyone for that matter. To be a good writer, you need to know words... lots of words, and you need to know how to properly put them to use.
But I've been using words since I was a little kid. I'm already proficient with them. Even a sword will become dull without use. No one uses every word they've ever learned all the time, so it helps to refresh your knowledge of words from time-to-time. And it's difficult to know every word dealing with every subject, so it helps to expand your knowledge with the study of words related to topics you're writing on.
Do you know where you'd be likely to find a murder hole? Do you know what a lirapipe attaches to? Can you name one of the major differences between selkies and roanes? Do you know what materials are most often used to construct a maquahuitl? Those are just a few examples of words dealing with the Middle Ages, mythology, and Aztec cultures, and there are a lot more subjects out there with their own terminology...medicine, science, technology, law, etc. Learn to use those words to your advantage.
So, what kind of things can you do to expand your knowledge of words? Read. You don't have to go out and read a dictionary or anything like that, but it helps to read a lot to get exposure to more words... with a good example of their context and use. One activity I like to do is go out to the Wikipedia for fifteen minutes each day. It's a big open source encyclopedia, and one of the great features is the Random Page link that takes you to a random encyclopedia entry. The other great feature is that different terms in that text will actually be links to a Wikipedia page describing that specific term.
Another good way to keep up with words is with the classic "Word of the Day." And it's as easy as having words with definitions emailed right to you each day. I prefer the ones sent out by Merriam-Webster and WordSmith because they include interesting tidbits on the word or samples of the word in use.
And you can get creative with other methods of strengthening your skills with words--crossword puzzles, Scrabble, and almost any kind of trivia-related game (Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy, You Don't Know Jack, etc).
Word knowledge comes in handy when describing a scene. But another important thing to remember about using words to create visuals is clarity. Artists will take liberties with the pages from time-to-time to improve things, but for the most part, they'll draw what you tell them. Writers will sometimes leave things vague, and the artist will chose the way they want to interpret the script, which isn't always the interpretation you intended. I know this from personal experience... it can and does happen. Let's look at a really simple example:
The man runs down the street.
Now, close your eyes and visualize an image of a man running down the street. Did you picture a casual jogger out for his morning exercise? Did you picture a businessman rushing to catch a cab? A depressed man desperately trying to flee from the source of his feelings? Or a liquefied man running down the street like rain water during a storm?
Yes, that last one was completely silly, but that is a valid use of the verb... it could be interpreted that way with a big ol' reach of the imagination (or some alcoholic influence--good thing artists don't drink... oh, wait...). But you can eliminate a lot of potential misinterpretations by just using terms that better fit the situation. Generalized verbs like walk, run, talk and more get used all the time, but characters in a story could just as easily saunter, sprint, or ramble.
Another good practice to consider for clarity is [You've been waiting for this one, haven't you?] proper grammar. "Gah! He said the 'g' word. Someone grab my baseball bat." Well, one of the primary purposes of grammar is to help ensure clear and understandable communication... to present writing in a way that's easy to follow. Your grammar doesn't have to be perfect, but it does have to be strong enough to clearly represent your intentions to the reader without confusion. But I'm not teaching grammar here (at least not in this article...there's just too much to cover)...that's best left to established texts like Strunk & White's Elements of Style and Grammatically Correct. Just make sure you learn enough about grammar to keep your writing clear.
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Words are powerful little things...they are an important tool for translating your thoughts and imagination into a story. Learn the words, embrace the words, use the words, and make the most of this writer's "weapon." And next week, we'll take a look at the power of imagination... |
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