Back to Basics: It’s super fun to gather “crackly” words for your memoir

 

Last week we stressed the importance of inviting readers to experience your story as if they were with you. You, the writer, can make that happen by helping them to see, feel, hear, taste, and smell what you saw, felt, heard, tasted, and smelled. We’re talking about sensory details.

 

We’ll continue working on sensory details in the coming weeks but today we’re taking a slight—and fun!—detour which will enhance your use of sensory details.

 

A number of years ago I bought The Writer’s Portable Mentor by Priscilla Long, and it became one of my favorite writing books.

 

Oh, how I’d love to sit at her feet and take classes from her! But she has retired—sigh. However, second-best is her book: a treasure chest packed with jewels.

 

Priscilla praises writers who “collect words the way some numismatists collect coins.”

 

She also recognizes writers who, on the other hand, approach “language passively. . . . The writer is using only words that come to mind, or words he grew up with, or words she stumbles upon while reading The New York Times. . . .

 

“He strives for expression with rather general, conventional diction [word choice] that has little to offer in the way of echo, color, or texture.”

 

Priscilla continues, “The writers of deep and beautiful works spend real time gathering words. They learn the names of weeds and tools and types of roof. They make lists of color words (ruby, scarlet, cranberry, brick).

 

“They savor not only the meanings, but also the musicality of words,” she says. “They are hunting neither big words nor pompous words nor Latinate words but mainly words they like. . . . They are not trying to be fancy or decorative.”

 

Did you get that? Not big, pompous, fancy, or decorative.

 

Words that don’t require a dictionary.

 

One caution:

Avoid using words that draw attention to yourself,

words that might cause readers to say,

“Oh, what a clever writer he is!”

That interrupts. That lures readers out of your story.

 

Instead, use words that keep readers involved in your story,

words that make your places, characters,

and experiences come to life.

 

Priscilla quotes Annie Proulx who admits to collecting and reading dictionaries (!) and to gathering words:

 

“I have big notebooks, page after page of words

that I like or find interesting or crackly . . . .

From time to time I will,

if I feel a section [of writing] is a bit limp,

take a couple of days and just do dictionary work

and recast sentences so that

they have more power because their words are not overused.”

 

That’s important: Avoid overused words.

 

Priscilla encourages The Lexicon Practice: a deliberate, ongoing gathering of words and phrases. She explains:

 

“There are two parts to the practice. One is to make your own Lexicon [word book] and the other is to collect words and phrases in a list that pertains to the piece you are currently working on. . . .

 

“Writers who do the Lexicon Practice have left in the dust [those who don’t]. Writers who don’t do it . . . are pretty much stuck with television words, newspaper words, cereal-box words.”

 

I’ll let you in on a secret—a confession of sorts. I thought I was the only one who collected words! I was giddy upon learning from Priscilla that I was not a weirdo. A nerd—yes. A geek—yes. But a weirdo—no! (Whew!)

 

So, now that I feel okay about being a word nerd, I’ll share a few words I once gathered, words that would meet with Priscilla’s approval. They are not big words, not pompous, fancy, or decorative words. They don’t require a dictionary.

 

Whimsy

Wry

Beguiling

Chummy

Sluggard

Wiley

Paunchy

Irascible

Thrumming, thrum

Mirth, jollity, glee, merrymaking

Jolly

Jovial

Peerless

Cull

Kafuffle

Befuddle

Canter

Miserly

 

I’ve also worked on a second type of lexicon Priscilla recommends, a word book for an era, such as 1950-1960. It was so fun! More on that another day. . . .

 

For now, though:

 

Are you a word nerd? If so,

leave some of your words in a comment below

(or on Facebook) so we all can enjoy them.

 

If you’re not a word nerd, don’t settle

for “television words, newspaper words, cereal-box words.”

Instead, give Priscilla’s Lexicon Practice a try.

Enrich your vocabulary.

 

 Creating your own word book

could lead to a new realm of writing for you.

 

Happy writing!

 

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.”

 

No one wants to stop reading to look up a word in a dictionary

 

“What does parsimonious mean?” my highly educated husband asked. Dave was reading Eisenhower in War and Peace, by Jean Edward Smith.

 

Parsimonious. I’d known of the word most of my life. It always reminded me of parsnips. But did I know what it meant?

 

Um . . . No, I didn’t. Neither did Dave, and we felt embarrassed.

 

I stood up, walked to my desk, and opened my thesaurus. Here’s what I read aloud to Dave:

 

not enough

retentive

mean

selfish

self-restrained

 

We were both still puzzled so I asked him to read me the sentence with parsimonious in it.

 

“Eisenhower . . . was parsimonious with the lives of the troops entrusted to his command. . . .”

 

Eisenhower was not enough with the lives of the troops?

Eisenhower was retentive with the lives of his troops?

Eisenhower was mean with the lives of his troops?

Eisenhower was selfish with the lives of his troops?

Eisenhower was self-restrained with the lives of his troops?

 

That last meaning, self-restrained, had potential, so I checked that out in the thesaurus: self-controlled, self-disciplined, restrained. Self-restraint also has to do with being frugal, temperate, not excessive, moderate, measured, limited.

 

We concluded Ike valued his troops’ lives and was frugal when it came to endangering them. He practiced self-restraint when it came to sending troops into harm’s way: He recognized the danger he could put them in but exercised restraint so no one would suffer or die unnecessarily. 

 

OK, that’s enough about parsimonious. My point is this: When you write your memoir, use words your readers will understand.

 

No one appreciates having to stand up, walk over to the bookshelf, take down the dictionary or thesaurus, and look up a word.

 

In fact, I suspect most readers simply won’t do it.

 

Your goal is to make it easy for everyone to read your memoir.

 

Many years ago, journalism instructors taught us to write for an eighth-grade audience. That’s not a typo. Eighth graders!

 

Recently I ran across that same advice.

 

And it’s good advice. It yields benefits:

 

“We shouldn’t discount simple writing,

but instead embrace it. . . .

We should aim to reduce complexity in our writing

as much as possible.

We won’t lose credibility in doing so.

Our readers will comprehend and retain

our ideas more reliably.

And we’ll have a higher likelihood

of reaching more people.”

Shane Snow,

“This Surprising Reading Level Analysis

Will Change the Way You Write” (emphasis mine)

 

You can still use interesting, expressive, musical, graphic, textured, dazzling words—words that zing—as long as they’re familiar to your readers, effective words like:

 

skedaddle

befuddle

jolly

jovial

harrumph

hooligan

ruffian

rascal

scaliwag

scoundrel

paunchy

tattered

merry

beguiling

spirited

whimsical

 

Dear William Zinsser wrote about the importance of choosing words: “Banality is the enemy of good writing. The challenge is to not write like everybody else.” Writers should avoid a word that’s merely serviceable—useful, practical—or dull, he said, and instead strive for freshness.

 

I jotted down a few simple yet vivid words penned by Zinsser in his Writing About Your Life:

 

a sea of codgers, codging the time away

a courtly man

a lofty wicker chair

he listened . . . with exquisite courtesy

a cultivated man

a rangy, easygoing man

a compact man

he had a scholar’s face: intelligent and quizzical

 

A word of caution: Use your dictionary and thesaurus wisely. Janice Hardy blogged about “an episode of Friends where the dumb-yet-lovable Joey wrote a letter of recommendation. To sound smart, he used the thesaurus and replaced all his ‘dumb’ words with ‘smart ones.’” Janice continued, “‘They’re warm, nice people with big hearts’ became ‘They’re humid, pre-possessing homo sapiens with full-sized aortic pumps.’”

 

So go ahead and use words with sparkle and pizzazz—just choose words that most people understand. 

 

Gather “crackly” words for your memoir

I started teaching another memoir class a few weeks ago and every time we’ve met, I’ve encouraged class members to buy and study Priscilla Long’s The Writer’s Portable Mentor.

Oh, how I’d love to sit at her feet and learn from her. But second best is learning from her book, a treasure chest overflowing with jewels.

Among other gems, Priscilla praises writers who “collect words the way some numismatists collect coins.”

But she withholds praise for writers who,

on the other hand, approach “language passively . . .

using only words that come to mind,

or words he grew up with,

or words she stumbles upon

while reading The New York Times. . . .

He strives for expression with rather general,

conventional diction [word choice] that has little to offer

in the way of echo, color, or texture.”

Priscilla continues, “The writers of deep and beautiful works spend real time gathering words. They learn the names of weeds and tools and types of roof. They make lists of color words (ruby, scarlet, cranberry, brick). They are hunting neither big words nor pompous words nor Latinate words. . . . They are not trying to be fancy or decorative.”

Did you get that? Not big, pompous, fancy, or decorative.

Words that don’t make readers reach for the dictionary.

Also avoid words that draw attention to yourself, words that might cause readers to say, “Oh, what a clever writer he is!” That interrupts readers. It lures them out of your story.

Instead, use words that keep readers involved in your memoir, words that make your places, characters, and experiences come to life.

Priscilla quotes award-winning author Annie Proulx who admits to collecting and reading dictionaries (!) and to gathering words:

“I have big notebooks, page after page of words that I like or find interesting or crackly. . . . From time to time I will, if I feel a section [of writing] is a bit limp, take a couple of days and just do dictionary work and recast the sentences so that they have more power because their words are not overused.” *

That’s important: Avoid overused words.

Priscilla encourages The Lexicon Practice: a deliberate, ongoing gathering of words and phrases. She explains:

“There are two parts to the practice. One is to make your own Lexicon (word book) and the other is to collect words and phrases in a list that pertains to the piece you are currently working on. . . .

“Writers who do the Lexicon Practice 

have left in the dust [those who don’t]. 

Writers who don’t do it . . . 

are pretty much stuck with television words, 

newspaper words, cereal-box words.”

Now, I must confess: I thought I was the only one who collected words! I was giddy upon learning from Priscilla that I was not a freak. A nerd, yes. A geek, yes. But a freak—no! Whew!

So, now that I feel okay about being a word nerd, I’ll share a few words I’ve gathered, words that would meet with Priscilla’s approval:

whimsy

wry

beguiling

chummy

sluggard

wiley

paunchy

irascible

thrumming, thrum

mirth, glee, merrymaking

jolly

jovial

peerless

kafuffle, kerfuffle

befuddle

miserly

I have also worked on another type of lexicon Priscilla recommends, a word book for an era in which several of my vignettes are set, 1950-1965—and oh! What fun! What memories!

So, be honest: Are you a word nerd?

If so, leave some of your favorite words

in the comments below so we can all enjoy them.

If you’re not a word nerd,

give Priscilla’s Lexicon Practice a try.

Creating your own word book

could open for you a new world of writing.

  

*Annie Proulx interviewed by Michael Upchurch, The Glimmer Train Guide to Writing Fiction, 248. Quoted by Priscilla Long, The Writer’s Portable Mentor, 23.

Tuesday Tidbit: Are the words in your memoir just ... b-o-r-i-n-g?

Priscilla Long, author of the delightful The Writer’s Portable Mentor, writes of those who approach “language passively … using only words that come to mind, or words he grew up with, or words she stumbles upon while reading The New York Times… He strives for expression with rather general, conventional diction [word choice] that has little to offer in the way of echo, color, or texture.”

On the other hand, “... writers of deep and beautiful works spend real time gathering words…. They savor not only the meanings, but also the musicality of words. They are hunting neither big words nor pompous words nor Latinate words but mainly words they like…. They are not trying to be fancy or decorative.”

At Gather “crackly” words for your memoir, you’ll discover tips on using words to delight your readers, words that keep them involved in your story, words that make your places, characters, and experiences come to life.

And you’ll have loads of fun gathering and using just the right words!

 There you have it, your Tuesday Tidbit.

Fun historical resources for writing about YOUR life

Good details can make all the difference in whether you draw readers into your story—and pull them in you must.

Think back: Do you remember reading a book in which you felt you were in the story with its writer? You tasted what he tasted. You smelled odors she smelled. You saw events he witnessed. You heard sounds she heard. You felt the textures or temperatures he felt. We call those sensory details.

But if you’ve ever read a book that kept you at a distance—a story that made you feel like an observer on the outside, unable to get in—then you know how much richer it is for a reader to live inside a story.

That’s what you want to do for your readers—write your memoir so they get “zipped into your skin,” says memoirist Mary Karr.

You can also zip readers in by including historical details of the era. Besides establishing your story’s historical backdrop, such details help create a sense of place and time—

• prominent values/philosophies
• that time period’s passions and culture
• the nation’s or culture’s major turning points (Pearl Harbor)
• the place’s and era’s economic conditions
• scientific, technological, and medical advances
• political leanings
• the nation’s struggles or victories
• major stories in the news, and so on.

You are a witness to history. So am I. By age 25, I’d witnessed man’s first walk on the moon, Sputnik, JFK’s death, the Civil Rights Movement, rock ‘n’ roll, the Beatles, the hippie era, the feminist movement, and the Vietnam War. They all influenced me and shaped me.

Your historical setting influenced and shaped you, too.

And have you ever thought of this? You influenced and shaped history, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in big ways. Like Biff Barnes said, you are “part of the sweep of history.” Don’t overlook roles you played in molding and sculpting history.

Let me tell you about a fun tool you can use to enhance your story’s historical context:

Check out a website from The Atlantic called Life Timeline.

When you enter your birthday, you’ll see a list of historical events that occurred during your lifetime. And you’ll find links to articles about that event.

Use this fun tool to enhance the vibrancy and power of your memoir.

But wait! I have more for you—another way to enhance your story’s historical context. Have you created word lexicons? Word lexicons = collections of words and phrases.

In her delightful book, The Writer’s Portable Mentor, Priscilla Long describes the enjoyment and value of word lexicons. Especially significant are word lexicons that pertain to a specific 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.

“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.”

Priscilla, a writing instructor at the University of Washington and a widely published author, 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….”

Each memoir—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.

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

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….” She nailed it with those words.

Now it’s your turn: Choose sensory details—details readers can smell, feel, hear, see, and taste.

Think about these possibilities for your story’s historical setting and physical location:

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

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 and draw readers into it.

If you're age 65 or older... I mean or better, you'll love Words and Phrases Remind Us of the Way We Word by Richard Lederer. And his post will give you a head start on compiling your own lexicon.

Just remember: avoid “television words, newspaper words, cereal-box words.”

Strive to write “absolutely memorable” stories

Don’t generalize. Use specific images.

Avoid abstractions. Be concrete.

There is one thing

that makes [Sinclair Lewis’s] books classics,

makes them absolutely memorable.

It is his imagery—his very specific images.

It makes his writing readable

because you can feel the restaurant [Billie’s Lunch Counter]

with the sticky oilcloth on its tables.…

“Thick handleless cups

on the wet oilcloth-covered counter.

An odor of onions

and the smoke of hot lard.

In the doorway

a young man audibly sucking a toothpick.

An aluminum ashtray labeled,

‘Greetings from Gopher Prairie.’”

(Judy Delton)

This is your time to get out those “crackly words” you’ve been collecting, “the good words, the juicy words, the hot words.” (Priscilla Long, The Writer’s Portable Mentor)

Priscilla Long urges writers to avoid approaching language passively.

She encourages us to sidestep “using only words that come to mind, or words [we] grew up with, … general, conventional diction [word choice] that has little to offer in the way of echo, color, or texture.”

Not big, pompous, fancy, or decorative words.

Words that don’t require a dictionary.

Words that are not overused.

“Be specific. Not car, but Plymouth” says Laura Davis. “Not dog, but Yorkshire terrier. Not the flower in the window, but the geranium in the window.”

When you polish your memoir, replace common, generic words with precise words, descriptive words, nuanced words like “Chanel N^o 5” instead of “expensive perfume.”

If your favorite aunt had a red mailbox, call it a crimson mailbox.

If you’re writing about a hilarious moment, use words like chortle, snort, giggle, hoot, snicker, snigger, guffaw, cackle.

Are you writing a story about your Great-grandfather’s Model T Ford? Did you know it was also called The Tin Lizzie?

If you’re writing about a VIP, consider one of these words: a pooh-bah, big cheese, big shot, heavyweight, high muck-a-muck, bigwig.

If you’re writing about an insignificant person, try: a lightweight, a nobody, a nonentity, a whippersnapper.

Did your father wear jeans? How about Levis? Or were they called dungarees back then?

If your grandfather drove an old, cheap car, call it a jalopy, a rattle trap, a clunker, or a flivver.

Get out your rough drafts and work on generating excitement, energy, and curiosity.

For more ideas, look over Ted Lamphair’s Wild Words (he’s a veteran VOA reporter and essayist).

At the Daily Writing Tips blog you’ll find resources such as a list of three-letter words that pack a punch, 15 words for household rooms and their synonyms, and much more.

Go back to the Judy Delton quote above. Take it in. Savor it.

Then, using her quote for inspiration, revise your stories so they’ll be “absolutely memorable.”

How long will your memoir’s readers stay engaged, charmed, and beguiled?

Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.

Pop beads. Pedal pushers. Poodle skirts.

Full skirts, straight skirts, pleated skirts.

Car coats and cat-eye glasses.

Bobby socks and saddle shoes.

Girdles. Nylon hose with seams up the back, held up with garter belts.

Sputnik. Transistor radios. Rock 'n' Roll.

Friendship rings. Going steady.

(Pssssst. You're reading one of my lexicons.)

Remember lexicons? Last Wednesday I said I've been working on a second type of lexicon Priscilla Long recommends,* a word book for an era. I've listed those words in my 1955 - 1962 lexicon.

My lexicon from another era, 1950 - 1955, lists air-raid drills, pocketbooks, halter tops, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the GI Bill, trikes, two-wheelers, and penny candy. Unicume's Variety Center at North 4609 Nevada. Woolworths. Tea towels made from cotton flour sacks. Barrettes. Bobby pins. Spit curls.

Collecting them is so much fun! I'll enjoy working some of them into my WIPs (Works In Progress—rough drafts).

But such words serve a function beyond fun.

They have to do with keeping readers "engaged," according to Priscilla in The Writer's Portable Mentor, and keeping them "charmed, seduced, and beguiled." 

Last summer I wrote, "Your story is important, but will anyone read it?"*

Here's the issue: Your memoir's potential readers have many distractions.

Consider the lure of the Internet, texting, tweeting, and TV.

And hobbies.

And how many of us have a stack of books on our bedside tables just waiting to be read?

So what can you do to entice people to read your memoir?

You can write stories readers want to read more than—or at least as much as—they want to play with Facebook, iPods, and Smartphones.

You can enhance people’s reading experiences by doing away with ho-hum words and, instead, choosing descriptive words, specific words that create images in readers’ minds and help them step into your world alongside you. You can immerse them in your story.

“Every childhood has a lexicon,” Priscilla says. Such words capture a specific time and place.

“Place names, certain trees and buildings, the toys of 1934 …,” Priscilla says, “they all make vivid a particular place, a particular era, a particular person, a particular experience.”

Here are words from Priscilla’s childhood lexicon: “greenbriar, dirt road…, 4-H Club, teats, stanchions, silage, milkers, mastitis, calf barn, gutter, manure pile, manure spreader, marsh grass.…”

You have to admit those are good words: they capture a specific place, images, and even smells. 

Now it’s your turn! Compile your own childhood lexicon. Choose words that will engage, charm, seduce, and beguile. Choose words the describe "a particular place, a particular era, a particular person, a particular experience. " 


Look over your WIPs and find places to include words from your childhood lexicon because they will enrich your memoir and keep your readers reading.

You’ll find fun resources and memory-awakeners at the following:

Melissa Marsh’s blog, The Best of World War II, at http://bestofww2.blogspot.com

Reminisce magazine online (1930s through early 1970s) at http://www.reminisce.com

I Remember JFK includes photos, most of which you are free to download, at http://www.irememberjfk.com

“The Libraries of Our Childhoods,” from I Remember JFK, http://www.irememberjfk.com/mt/2011/04/the_libraries_of_our_childhood.php

Touching reflections on family life in the 1960s, from the Winston-Salem Journal,  
http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/nov/17/wsopin02-circus-of-family-values-ar-1617072

The Graphics Fairy has 2500 free images and vintage printables that will (a) help your old memories to surface (b) provide fun illustrations for your memoir. Here’s the link: http://www.graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

Share some of your lexicon’s words with us: leave a comment below.

And if you know of additional resources that will help others create their childhood lexicons, leave a comment below.

*Resources and links:

Priscilla Long, and my blog post, Gather “crackly” words for your memoir,

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2012/01/gather-crackly-words-for-your-memoir.html

“Your story is important, but will anyone read it?” 

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/06/your-story-is-important-but-will-anyone.html