Did you know? Your memoir has its own unique set of words and phrases

 

This week I have something really fun for you.

 

In her delightful book, The Writer’s Portable Mentor, Priscilla Long describes the enjoyment and value of word lexicons.

 

Word lexicons = collections of words and phrases.

 

Especially significant are word lexicons that pertain to a specific written piece—your memoir, for example.

 

Priscilla can tell by reading a person’s writing whether he or she collected words and phrases—what she calls The Lexicon Practice. She writes:

 

“Writers who do the Lexicon Practice

have left in the dust what I call

‘conventional received diction.’

Writers who don’t do it . . .

are pretty much stuck with television words,

newspaper words, cereal-box words.”

 

A writing instructor at the University of Washington and a widely published author, Priscilla collected words from her childhood for a collection of stories she planned to write: “greenbriar, dirt road, Neil Lindsey’s pig, 4-H Club . . . calf barn, gutter, manure pile, manure spreader, marsh grass. . . .”

 

Your memoir has its own lexicon, its own unique set of words and phrases. Use them to define your story, to enrich it, to make it come alive for your readers.

 

You’ll want to compose several lexicons because, Priscilla points out, individuals have lexicons, places have lexicons, and “every craft, trade, profession, or job. . . .”

 

I especially enjoy her lexicon for the Pacific Northwest, my home: “crow, Puget Sound, Steilacoom Tribe, western red cedar, Smith Tower, Emmett Watson’s Oyster Bar, Starbucks, Northwest jellyfish, geoduck (pronounced gooey duck), Stillaguamish River. . . .” Priscilla nailed it with those words.

 

Which words and phrases belong in the lexicon for your memoir?

 

When composing your lexicons, think about these possibilities for your story’s historical setting and physical location:

• iconic geographical references (rivers, mountains, deserts. . .)
• prominent buildings
• popular restaurants
• food and drink trends
• lingo (“That’s a swell hot rod you have there.”)
• clothing and hair styles (poodle skirts, saddle shoes)
• popular songs and recording artists
• popular hobbies/sports (hula hoops, Seattle Supersonics)
• car models
• weather
• typical sounds (birds, insects, frogs, fog horns, ferries, factories, trains, children’s laughter)
• colors
• vegetation and wildlife

 

Collect other words and phrases for main characters in your memoir and professions/occupations.

 

Create as many lexicons as you need to enrich your memoir.

 

Remember what Priscilla said:

 

“Writers who do the Lexicon Practice

have left in the dust

what I call ‘conventional received diction.’

Writers who don’t do it . . .

are pretty much stuck with television words,

newspaper words, cereal-box words.”