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!

 

“The right words in the right order might be worth a thousand pictures”

 

“Words—especially religious words, words that have to do with the depth of things—get tired and stale the way people do,” writes Frederick Buechner. “Find new words or put old words together in combinations that make them heard as new, make you yourself new, and make you understand in new ways.” (From Now and Then; emphasis mine)

 

Think about it: Written words are merely scribbles and scratches on paper or black squiggles on a computer screen.

 

But words pack punch. They have power. Potential.

 

Words inspire, comfort, entertain, make the heart soar, cause laughter or tears. Words can change lives.

 

Words are a memoirist’s most important tools. We must use them with excellence.

 

Use crisp, bright, refreshing words—

 

but avoid ornamental words,

extravagant, snobbish words,

self-important words to impress readers,

elusive words that make your readers get up and find a dictionary.

 

A good thesaurus and dictionary can be a memoirist’s best friend. Computer programs usually have a thesaurus—a minimal one, but one that can help find a better word quickly.

 

“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner,” writes Diane Setterfield. “Wind them around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.”

 

James Michener writes, “I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”

 

“The right words in the right order might be worth a thousand pictures,” says Roy Peter Clark in How to Write Short.

 

“Words whispered, shouted, and sung.

Words that move, dance,

and change in size and color.

Words that say,

‘Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me. . . .

The word has the power to create. . . .

When God says,

‘Let there be light’ (Genesis 1:30),

light is. . . .

It is this creative power of the word

we need to reclaim.”

Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey;

emphasis mine)

 

Look over your manuscript and replace boring, tired words with words that have zing and pizzazz and melody and texture.

 

“Writing is the painting of the voice.”

Voltaire

 

 

Tuesday Tidbit: The power of your words

"Never, ever, ever

underestimate the power

your words can have."

Jeff Goins

There you have it, your Tuesday Tidbit.

Tuesday Tidbit: Your words matter

"...the words you read go directly into the bloodstream

and go into it at full strength.

More than the painting you see or the music you hear,

the words you read become

in the very act of reading them

part of who you are....

If there is poison in the words, you are poisoned;

if there is nourishment, you are nourished;

if there is beauty, you are made a little more beautiful....

A word doesn't merely say something, it does something.

It brings something into being.

It makes something happen.

What do writers want their books to make happen?"

Frederick Buecher, A Clown in the Belfry; emphasis mine)

“Through us, with us, in spite of us”

Your Tuesday Tidbit, your 15 seconds of inspiration:

“For such a long time, I felt my story wasn’t important….

I didn’t know who my story had made me….

But exhuming it, the healing had been profound,

pulling from the ashes of charred memories….

And the things I’ve discovered have been treasures….

Through writing I’ve discovered that…

protecting and preserving our stories

is about discovering God’s story.

What he did through us, with us, in spite of us,

continually pursuing that story

is a matter of faithfulness and obedience,

to become aware and invest in this life he’s given.

To speak its life-affirming power

in proper words and context,

it can be the delight of our lives,

an endless source of inspiration.”

Mick Silva

Tuesday Tidbit: All the words you need

Here's your 15 seconds of inspiration,

your Tuesday Tidbit:

Tuesday Tidbit: Your words matter

Here's your 15 seconds of inspiration,

your Tuesday Tidbit:

Your words, whether spoken or written,

are powerful:

Donald Miller

Words, words, words

Written words are merely shapes and scratches on a paper or black squiggles on a computer screen.

But they pack punch. They have power. Potential.

Words inspire, comfort, entertain, make the heart soar, cause laughter and tears. Words can change lives.

Words are a memoirist’s most important tools. We must learn to use them with excellence.

“Words—especially religious words, words that have to do with the depth of things—get tired and stale the way people do," writes Frederick Buechner. "Find new words or put old words together in combinations that make them heard as new, make you yourself new, and make you understand in new ways.” (From Now and Then; emphasis mine)

So, use crisp, bright, refreshing words—

but avoid ornamental words,

extravagant, snobbish words,

self-important words to impress readers,

elusive words that make your readers get up and find a dictionary.

A good thesaurus and dictionary can be a memoirist’s best friend. Computer programs usually have a thesaurus—a minimal one, but one that could help find a better word quickly.

“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner,” writes Diane Setterfield. “Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.”

 “I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions,” writes James Michener.

“…The right words in the right order might be worth a thousand pictures,” says Roy Peter Clark. 

“Words whispered, shouted, and sung.

Words that move, dance,

and change in size and color.

Words that say,

‘Taste me, smell me, eat me, drink me….’

[T]he word has the power to create.…

When God says,

‘Let there be light’ (Genesis 1:30),

light is.…

It is this creative power of the word

we need to reclaim.…

(Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey,

emphasis mine)

One of my favorite blog posts from the past is Gather “crackly”words for your memoir. Don’t miss it! (If you haven’t already started the practice of gathering “crackly” words, you’ll want to start right away.)

You’ll also enjoy reading another blog post from the past, The power and potential of words.

Take four minutes to read those two posts and then get out your manuscript and replace boring, tired words with words that have zing and melody and texture.

“Writing is the painting of the voice,” said Voltaire.

Have fun!

Tuesday Tidbit: The value of your stories

Here's this week's 15 seconds of inspiration,

your Tuesday Tidbit:

“Stories are the oldest 

and most valuable equipment 

we have as a human community 

and as people of faith.” 

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies

Stories are important.
Stories can change a person.
Stories can change a family,
and a village,
and a country.
Stories have even changed the world.

Your stories are important.
You might never know 
how many people your stories can touch.
Write your stories!

Tuesday Tidbit: Stories that became your “blood and self and purpose”

Whose story took up residence in your soul and became your “blood and self and purpose”?

Whose words moved you and drove you, and what did you do because of those words?

Here’s your 15 seconds of inspiration,

this week’s Tuesday Tidbit:

Your words, your stories, can do this for others.

Do you believe it?

Writing your stories is more than a hobby: it is a ministry. 

Of Haida art, smoked clams, and tsunami evacuations routes

Oyster Bay

Salish

Oyster farms along Hood Canal

Hood Canal

low tide

high tide

inlets

Skookum Creek

Haida art

shellfish

madrona trees

rhododendrons

logging trucks

Kapowsin

Skokomish

smoked clams

fish hatcheries

Lilliwaup

oyster farms

green: Douglas fir green, pine green, salal green, madrona green

blue: sky blue, saltwater blue, Hood Canal blue

I recently added those “crackly” words to my lexicon for a place I’ve driven through many times in my many years on earth: Hood Canal in western Washington.

At Priscilla Long’s delightful urging, I’m gathering words and phrases for stories about where my roots grow down deep.

I collected those words while driving along Hood Canal toward my destination, the north end of the Olympic Peninsula. Here are entries in that lexicon:

Discovery Bay

Sequim

Lavender Festival

Dungeness Spit

Port Angeles and the Olympic Mountains from Ediz Hook

Port Angeles

salty cool air

City Pier

Hurricane Ridge

salmon

the Crab House

smoked oysters

Olympic National Park

Hama Hama Oysters

Swain's General Store

“Where the mountains greet the sea”

tsunami evacuation route signs

rugged, snow-capped, forested Olympic Mountains

World-class ships 

Gordy’s Pizza

Chestnut Cottage

border patrol agents

KONP

Scooter Chapman

Sandy Keyes

M.M. Fryer and Sons

logging trucks

waterfront trails

world-class ships

MV Coho, Coast Guard station, and Vancouver Island in the distance

Ediz Hook

U.S. Coast Guard station

U.S. Coast Guard helicopters hovering low

seagulls

waterfront

fog horns

Vancouver Island, B.C. in the distance across the Strait

marinas

wild blackberry vines in bloom

Frank Prince

Pete Rennie

Peninsula Daily News

Peninsula College

Canyon Edge Drive

Roughriders

Little League baseball

Dan Wilder’s car dealerships

The MV Coho

maritime history

dense, tangled undergrowth

Dungeness crab

Hartnagel’s

farmers’ market

green: cedar green, fir green, wild blackberry green, bracken fern green, ivy green

blue: sky blue, saltwater blue, Strait-of-Juan-de-Fuca blue

If you haven’t already gathered what Priscilla Long calls“crackly” words, now is a good time to compile your own lexicon, or, more likely, several lexicons.

Do away with boring, generic, ho-hum words.

Instead, gather words and phrases from the unique eras and places and people and experiences in your memoir’s vignettes.

Doing so can be loads of fun, and using those words will add richness to your memoir and leave your readers involved and charmed within your stories.

The power and potential of your words

Words are curious things—merely a series of sounds strung together.

Some words sound strange—even hilarious—words like shtick, onomatopoeia, and algorithm—but each has significance, meaning.

Other languages include weird sounds, too, like clicks and whistles.

In one language group (in Brazil, as I recall), the alphabet includes a sound people make by flinging their tongues out and touching their chins. (I can’t imagine dinnertime conversations! Yikes!)

No matter how odd, those sounds have significance, they mean something to those who speak them and those who hear them.

Have you ever considered how special it is to have the use of words?

Birds don’t have words. Dogs don’t have words. Whales don’t have words. They make a handful of sounds, but they can communicate only a few basic messages.

Humans, on the other hand, have thousands of words:

The Oxford English Dictionary includes a quarter of a million distinct words. And just think—they are ours to use! 

David Powlison estimates a person says around 20,000 words a day, give or take a few. (Speaking Truth In Love, from book description.)

We have more than spoken words: We have written words—merely shapes and scratches on a paper, or black squiggles on a computer screen.

In today’s world, there are 7,105 living languages—they’re still in use—and 696 of them have no written form. Did you know?

Just think how special it is that we have the use of written words. We mustn’t take for granted the impact, the power, the potential of those little black squiggles.

The words we chose, the way we string them together, the sounds they make—they matter, they  make a difference. 

Words, both spoken and written, express feelings, ideas, and concepts.

Words entertain, comfort, warn, charm, redirect, frighten, inspire, guide, inform, challenge, enlighten.

Words can roar. Words can whisper.

They create scenery, make a heart race, conjure up tastes, cause laughter—and tears, surround with fragrance, recreate textures and touches. 

Words are powerful. They can make a person swoon, melt: “I love you. Will you marry me?”

Words delight, thrill: “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!” or “You won!” or “You’re hired!”

Words can destroy, cripple: “I hate you and I never want to see you again,” or “You’re a failure and you’ll never amount to anything.”

Words can discourage, humiliate and defeat, but words can also build up and heal and encourage.

Words can wound, but they can also restore and nurture.

Words matter. My words matter. Your words matter.

Words have a lasting impact.

Let’s use our words carefully.

Let’s use our words for good.

Your words could take up residence in someone’s soul

"Someone needs to tell those tales….

For each and every ear it will be different,

and it will affect them in ways 

they can never predict. 

From the mundane to the PROFOUND. 

You may tell a tale that 

takes up residence in someone's soul, 

becomes their blood and self and purpose. 

That tale will move them and drive them 

and who knows what they might do because of it, 

because of your words. 

That is your role, your gift." 

Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus 

“Life is a steep climb … and we must help one another”

“Life is a steep climb,” she wrote almost a century ago, “and it does the heart good to have somebody ‘call back’ and cheerily beckon us up the high hill.”

In the past hundred years, tens of thousands of us have received blessing upon blessing because Mrs. Charles E. Cowman called back—in writing.

“We are all climbers together,” she continued in Streams in the Desert, “and we must help one another. This mountain climbing is serious business, but glorious. It takes strength and a steady step to find the summits.… If anyone among us has found anything worthwhile, we ought to ‘call back.’”

How long ago did I first read those words? Over 30 years ago. And they became an important theme in my life—a goal, a focus.

Below is a poem she wrote and, despite sounding old-fashioned, it contains precious gems of wisdom and inspiration for even the youngest among us:

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back—

‘Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;

And if, perchance, Faith’s light is dim, because the oil is low,

Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;

Call back, and say He kept you when the forest’s roots were torn;

That, when the heavens thunder and the earthquake shook the hill,

He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.

Oh, friend, call back, and tell me for I cannot see your face;

They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;

But there are mists between us and my spirit eyes are dim,

And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.

But if you’ll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,

And if you’ll say He saw you through the night’s sin-darkened sky—

If you have gone a little way ahead, oh, friend, call back—

‘Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.

(from Mrs. Charles E. Cowman’s Streams in the Desert; emphasis mine)

Little did I know that Mrs. Cowman’s message would live so long in my heart and lead me to the word “memoir” and it all means, and the ways memoirs can bless others.

The point of her post echoes in this:

“ … The God of all comfort … comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

“Any grief we have gone through ourselves

and given over to the Lord’s healing

is preparation for comforting others.…

As one who has received comfort from Christ,

I will think of myself as a communicator of comfort.”

(Lloyd John Ogilvie, Silent Strength for My Life; emphasis mine)

Was there a time when your world fell apart, when your faith was at a low point, when you longed for God to heal your broken heart?

If so, it was “preparation for comforting others.” You “have gone a little way ahead” of others. Let God use your experience and your words to comfort others.

If you have experienced the death of a dream, or if you have endured devastating illness, write for those just beginning their own long, discouraging battle: “Call back, and tell [readers] that He went with you into the storm.”

If you’ve faced financial ruin, or if you’ve survived abuse or infidelity or betrayal, “call back” to encourage readers in the midst of their own heartache—those dear ones reeling while “the heavens thunder and the earthquake shakes.” Tell them the ways God “bore you up and held you.”

You cannot know who will read your words, but your stories are important. No one else can write them the way you can, and God can and will use them. 

Someone needs to read your God-and-you stories.

“Say He heard you!”

“Say He saw you!”

“God gave us the gift of language to express something extraordinary. Well chosen words launched intentionally from one heart to another … soothe, heal, edify, build, and bring comfort.” (Birdie Courtright)  

Write stories for your memoir that will call back:

Be a communicator of comfort.