Tag: Writing Resources

EditZone: It’s on the tip of my tongue…Give me a minute…It’s…

Editing, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Red Pen, Tools

How many times have you had a word on the tip of your tongue but it won’t come to you? As a writer, I have to find new words and synonyms all the time. The worst thing you can do is keep on repeating the same words through a manuscript. But sometimes it is harder than one thinks to find new ways of saying the same thing. It can also be difficult putting an action into words. Sometimes even us writers just draw a blank when it comes to “that perfect word”.

 

I am in the middle of editing one of my manuscripts and I cringe at how many times I have overused certain pet words. Yes I use a dictionary and yes I use a thesaurus but sometimes even these great reference tools are not enough. What about those times when you can’t think of the exact word but you can describe what you are trying to say. Then what? A dictionary nor thesaurus won’t cut it at these times.

 

Well recently, I found the perfect tool to solve my word issues. I came upon it quite by chance and it was a fortunate chance indeed. Realising I needed an updated dictionary and thesaurus, I thought I would search for one in the App store (Apple) that I could download onto my iPod Touch. So I entered a search term for dictionary & thesaurus. There was a whole list of various dictionary&thesaurus combinations but one app stood out to me…

 

 

 

The Reverse Dictionary

Cover of "Reverse Dictionary (Readers Dig...
Cover of Reverse Dictionary (Readers Digest)

 

 

Never having heard of a reverse dictionary, I opened it up and read the description:

 

Reverse Dictionary is a great way to explore words, definitions and concepts.

Have you ever had a word on the tip of your tongue but just couldn’t get it out? Then this app is for you! Reverse Dictionary can also help you expand your vocabulary in many ways.

For example, you can:

• Find a word if you only know its definition or a phrase describing the idea
e.g. 1000 years, museum guide, search for food, plastic thing over end of shoelace, ceremony to crown a king…

• Find related terms
e.g. baseball, clouds, coffee…

• Generate a list of words related to a category
e.g. large birds, green fruit, outdoor sport…

• Solve crossword puzzle clues, or find words if you only know some of the letters
e.g. ??lon:synthetic fabric, pi??apple:fruit…

Special thanks to OneLook® for providing data services.

This app is free, and will remain free so enjoy!

– quoted from iTunes App Store

I couldn’t believe my luck. This is exactly the application I had been searching for. It took me less than 10 seconds to download it. I have been using this application for about 2 weeks and it has changed my world! Now if I want to say something is green I have a whole list to choose from to describe green. The application also works a bit like a word association game. If you type in a phrase, it comes up with all the synonyms associated to the words in that phrase as well as the actual phrase.

 

Wildcards can also be used in the search terms to customize the results…

Find words that start with bl and have a meaning related to snow >

bl*:snow

Find words and phrases that start with blue >

blue*

Find any words related to snow >

*:snow

(These are just some of the more specialized ways you can use Reverse Dictionary. All info quoted from the App’s store’s app.)

The great thing about this application is that it also contains a number of full dictionaries and thesauruses. So if you have found a word but you want an expanded meaning of it then you just click on the “more definitions” and it will take you to a list of dictionaries and thesauruses: Everything from Dictionary.com to the Oxford Dictionary. There are also a couple of useful dictionaries for fiction authors: Rhymezone, Mnemonic Dictionary, Idioms and the Urban Dictionary and for Word Nerds – The Online Entymology Dictionary.

 

The good news is that this application is available in both Apple and Android.

 

Apple: Reverse Dictionary

 

Android: Reverse Dictionary

 

(For those without a smartphone/ipod: Reverse Dictionary – Desktop Version)

 

All downloads are FREE.

 

So if it’s on the tip of your tongue and you just can’t find the exact right word… If your manuscript is covered in red pen from your editor with large “Please find another word!” all over it… Don’t waste time. Download the Reverse Dictionary. This little app will change the way you write and make your editing life super-simple. Your editor will love you and your manuscript will shine.

 

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Thursday Tips : In the Classroom of NaNoWriMo

Kim Koning, NaNoWriMo 2010, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Thursday Tips

 

Well another week has rolled around and the first week of January is almost at its end. How is your first week going – creatively speaking? Are you feeling inspired? Are you reaching out for inspiration?

As promised, at the beginning of this month, I am going to be doing a weekly post on Thursdays called Thursday Tips. What day is it today? Thursday. So time for some tips.

This week’s tips are going to be what I learned in the Classroom of NaNoWriMo 2010. Have you studied writing? Have you done NaNoWriMo? If you answered “No” to the first question but “Yes” to the last question: Congratulations! You have been awarded a degree of excellence and achievement in both the art of self-discipline and writing from the School of NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo really is like a crash course in a writing qualification. The only difference between NaNoWriMo and a traditional classroom is that in this school the past students are your mentors, your class monitors and your teachers. So I enrolled in NaNoWriMo in November 2010. I was not quite sure what I was expecting but I know that in hindsight the school of NaNoWriMo taught me more lessons in one month than I had learned the whole way through. So let me take this time to share the lessons that most impacted me.

01/11/2010 The Bell rings, School Begins.

I sit down. All my materials for the course are in front of me. I have the notebook, the loosely plotted storyboard, the pens and pencils, the Macbook and more importantly I have my fellow students all ready at desks around a global classroom.

The first lesson of the day is about to begin.

  • Lesson 1 ~ To write the words you need a blank page in front of you.
  • Lesson 2 ~ You have to unpack your internal editor and send it away for a month.
  • Lesson 3 ~ Don’t think about 50000 words or 25 chapters. Think only of your first word. Put that down.
  • Lesson 4 ~ Now turn that first word into a first sentence.
  • Lesson 5 ~ Now turn that first sentence into a first paragraph. (You have now officially gained your first commendation. Well done.)
  • Lesson 6 ~ Write to a timed limit. Set your clock to either 30 minutes or 60 minutes. Write without stopping and when the limit is up,stop. Walk away. Stretch your legs. Make yourself a coffee.
  • Lesson 7 ~ Sit down again within 3 hours. Your brain feels refreshed but the story is still fresh in your brain.
  • Lesson 8 ~ Do not read over what you have written 3 hours ago. Instead begin again. Set the timer and write.
  • Lesson 9 ~ Walk away again giving yourself a 2 hour break this time. Then go back to the story.
  • Lesson 10 ~ Finish writing for that day. Do not read over what you have written. Remember since you have sent your internal editor – Ethel / Nigel – away, you have nobody checking up on your grammar or your plotting. E-mail what you have written to yourself as the first backup and then drop-box your writing for a second back-up. Back-up is essential: It is like fastening your seatbelt when you get into a car. This is your safety net.
  • Lesson 11 ~ Second day in, break away from the story and write a scene for your main character. Set a timer and write strictly to the limit.
  • Lesson 12 ~ Have a 3 hour break. Go back and now write a scene for your antagonist. Set the timer and write strictly to the limit.
  • Lesson 13 ~ Stop and have a 2 hour break. Go back and write a scene where you create the atmosphere in your setting. Set the time and write strictly to the limit.
  • Lesson 14 ~ Stop for the day. Switch off your computer / Put down your pen/paper. Rest.
  • Lesson 15 – Go on this same way for the next week. Alternating from character building and scene setting to the story itself.
  • Lesson 16 ~ Week 1 is finished. Your energy is still high and you hope you can keep it going for the next week. Stop. Don’t think about a whole week ahead. You have only the page in front of you. Focus on getting down your words in the three timed word wars you have scheduled preferably with your other students/classmates.
  • Lesson 17 ~ After 6 days of writing, take a day of rest. You will need it to refresh and re-energize your imagination. Do nothing that is writing related. Spend some time outdoors in the fresh air. Take the time to spend with your family and your friends.
  • Lesson 18 ~ Day 7, sit down at your desk. Read over the last day’s writing. Now read over the last day’s character sketches and scene settings. Do not edit. Read. With eyes and not pen/pencil. Now the story is refreshed in your mind. Set the timer. Write to the timed limit. You are in a rhythm now. Your brain is slowly forming the habit to write when a timer is called by a Word War Mediator or when your timer alarms goes.
  • Lesson 19 ~ Continue the same way that you did the first week but this time write for 5 days. Add an extra timed writing time / timed word war in every day. So you are writing to 4 scheduled times.
  • Lesson 20 ~ On the 6th day rest again. If by the end of the 6th day, you are still weary, take another second day to rest. Do not worry about your story. It is not going anywhere. It also will not progress if you write while tired. It is important you rest.
  • Lesson 21 ~ You are now in to the third week. Do not break the rhythm. Do not look at the calendar. Do not count how many days you have left. It is just you, the page and the story. Time will take care of itself. Your job is to sit down and have your fingers ready to write the seeds that enter your mind.
  • Lesson 22 ~ Write for 6 days. Then take a day of rest.
  • Lesson 23 ~ Have you backed up?
  • Lesson 24 ~ You are now into the fourth and final week of NaNoWriMo. Keep to the rhythm that you have created. Write for 5 days with 4 word wars or timed writing schedules a day. Take a day of rest on the 6th.
  • Lesson 25 ~ Put your finishing touches to your work.
  • Lesson 26 ~ You are done. Take 2 days of rest. Pat yourself on the back and celebrate. You have completed a month of disciplined writing. You have treated your story like a job. You showed up for it and you did the hours.
  • Lesson 27 ~ It has been over 28 days of writing to a discipline and you have rewired your brain. It takes 1 month to form a habit. You are now in the habit of daily and disciplined writing.
  • Lesson 28 ~ Do not count the words. You may have under 50000, you may have over 50000. The important thing is not the quantity but the fact that at the beginning of the month you only had a blank page and some ideas. Now you have what is a story or the beginning of a full length novel.
  • Lesson 29 ~ Try not to take longer than a few days break. In this time like in your previous breaks, do nothing writing related. Once you feel refreshed, go back to the writing. You now either have a task of editing to begin or you need to continue your writing.
  • Lesson 30 ~ Whether you are taking a break from the current WIP and starting another one or whether you are continuing / editing with the current WIP – keep to the timed schedules. Try to do no more than 4 a day. If you do 3 a day, write for 6 days. If you do 4 a day, write for 5 days and take a 2 day break.
  • Lesson 31 ~ Your story / writing is now as important a focus to you as a 9-5 job. You are both your manager and your employee. Like any employee, you need to be rewarded every now and again for a job well done. Make your imagination feel rewarded. Keep treats on hand for certain accomplishments you have achieved.
  • Lesson 32 ~ Keep every word you have written. Even if you don’t think there is a place for it in your story now. File it away in a separate file. It might come up handy later on in your story or it may even be the seed for a new story or a sequel. Those words you wrote are precious. Treat them as such.
  • Lesson 33 ~ Have a trusted person read what you have written and give you their honest opinion. Listen to their opinion. Do not change anything. Ask them to make notes on what they think. File the notes away.
  • Lesson 34 ~ Now give your story to a writing partner or writing mentor. Ask them to read it and to write notes for you.
  • Lesson 35 ~ Let someone else read the story aloud to you now. Be the listener. Make notes on what you think about your own work. Think objectively.
  • Lesson 36 ~ Call back your internal editor from her/his holiday. It is time for them to begin work. Give them the 3 correlated notes; your trusted friends, your writing partner, your own. It is now their job to take control of the wheel. You are now a navigator and your internal editor is in the driving seat. They are in control of the driving but you have the map. Be clear in your navigation.
  • Lesson 37 ~ Once the editing is done. Do the same thing. Give it to your trusted friend, your writing partner /mentor and have it read aloud to yourself. Make notes again.
  • Lesson 38 ~ Give your internal editor the notes again. The second editing begins.
  • Lesson 39 ~ Your story is almost complete. Now go back to your file where you filed the words you edited out. Can you use them now? Are they better for another story? Now is your time to decide.
  • Lesson 40 ~ Put your finishing touches to your work. You now have a third draft in your hand. Well done.

The bell rings for final period. School is out.

Well done! You have just completed the course of NaNoWriMo. A challenge of timed discipline and forming a daily writing habit. A time when you showed up ready before a blank page and filled it with a story. You are now a writer. Whether you are published or not, you ARE a Writer. You have written a Novel. You are Now a Novelist.

These were the tips and lessons I learned from NaNoWriMo. They are lessons that can translate into any of my writing. NaNoWriMo taught me a vital lesson. That if you show up and you are disciplined, the words will come. It also taught me that it is ok to send your internal editor away on vacation for a while. The world will not come to a halting stop if you do not correct every punctuation or timing element. You can always come back to a piece that is bothering you when you feel refreshed. It is important to reward yourself with treats. It is important to have a day away from your writing every week. It is important to keep your brain fresh from alternation between character / dialogue scenes to setting scenes. Do not make your work monotonous. When you are writing, you are in the driver’s seat. When you are editing, you switch to being the navigator. Listen to the opinions of beta readers, writing mentors, your own voice but stick to your writing instincts. Do not ever throw out anything. File it away in a POSSIBILITY file. More importantly than anything Back-up, Back-up, Back-up. Show up for your writing like you would for a 9-5 job. This is something you enjoy doing. Give it the same time and importance as you would your daytime job. Don’t look at a calendar. Don’t look at the amount of words still needed. Just focus on those timed word wars. The words will come and the story will follow. Trust in the words.

That’s it for this first Thursday Tips post. Good luck for the week of writing ahead of you. Remember show up – the words will come and the story will follow. All you have to do is show up.

© All rights reserved Kim Koning

 

Possibilities and fat purple figs

Ink Slaying, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Writing
Photograph of a large fig tree taken at Centen...
Image via Wikipedia

I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story.  From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked.  One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out.  I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose.  I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet. ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Chapter 7

I have been thinking a lot about branching out creatively speaking. 2010 was a year of experimentation in different genres of fiction for me. Today I came across the above quote from The Bell Jar and it summed up that last year perfectly for me…it also gives me a clue to what 2011 may hold.

Have you noticed that most authors tend to stick to one genre? Does that mean they have not explored writing in others or did they just know instinctively which genre they would be good in? This question has been in the back of my mind for a while now when it comes to my own forays into the world of fiction writing.

One of the most common pieces of advice that seems to run through the world of fiction writers is “to write what you know”. This can sometimes not seem like much of an answer. In fact I would argue that I have always found this piece of advice very frustrating and vague.

Then there is the other common vein of thought especially in the last few years: write for the masses for instance if the big craze of the moment is vampires then vampires is what you should write. This is another theory of advice that I do not agree with.

So what do I think?

I think that a person should go ahead and experiment with different genres before coming to a final decision. If you have never written fantasy, for example, how do you know you will not excel in it? The answer is that you won’t know until you try. Life is ultimately a thing of change…without change there can be no growth. Although life can be lived without challenges, challenges are needed to strengthen you. In just the same way, this can be applied to your writing.

This brings me back to my introduction quotation. I am definitely enjoying branching out and trying new figs in a matter of speaking but ultimately I think that all the branching out can and must lead you to a theme genre where you find your niche. So I am not saying branch out and experiment so much that all the ripe figs fall off the tree leaving you with no fruit. I am saying that if you are truly tuned in to your muse, the branching out will strengthen your writing by creatively stretching those muscles but that it will also lead you to your main fruit.

How do you know which fig is the right fig for you?

Well although I would love to be your guru and give you the exact symbols and signs that you will have to know which is the right branch and the right fig for you, I am not going to tell you that. I will tell you how I am finding out which is the right branch and the right fig for me. I use the word “finding” because I am still working on it. I have not got all the answers yet. I am glad I don’t because I am the type of person that when something stops being a challenge for me, I tend to grow bored very quickly and move onto the next. This is still a challenging concept for me. This is how I know that I am moving in the right direction along my tree of life and writing.

The answer is simple and complex all at once. Like the most important answers to the big questions usually are. The simplest way that I can sum this up is that it is a gut-feeling. It is similar to that first moment when you fall in love. That feeling deep in the centre of you that is surging with turmoiled emotions that first uplift you and then make you feel sick with nausea simultaneously. It is that moment when things start falling into place in a way that seems improbable and surreal. It is when you are so close to the subject/genre that it pulls at your gut and that you feel you can write one moment and the next that you dare not try. It is the moment when you feel naked and vulnerable on the page, like someone has shone a flash-light into your deepest thoughts and emotions. It is the moment when you start living your story and you start being in your character’s heads. You are not just writing about them but you are writing from within their thoughts looking out at the world and the story they find themselves in. All of a sudden you are no longer just the narrator but you have become an integral part of this story. It is the moment when you realise nobody else could tell this story because this story is a reflection of you – the artist not just the writer. It is the moment when to write this story becomes unbearably intense and you almost want to give up. This is the moment when I know that I am on the right branch and about to pick the right fig. I know that this fig will come off easily. I know that this fig will not be too ripe or not ready yet, it will be perfect for me. But to know that I have had to climb out on to other branches first and try other figs.

So my final piece of “wisdom” I leave you with brings me to my Word of 2011:

POSSIBILITY

You don’t know what possibilities are available until you try them out. The key phrase here is POSSIBILITY, not decision and not choice. You do not have to stick to every possibility. The way you reach your perfect fig might be a different pathway from the way I would choose mine. Just like your parents always told you how you would know you were in love: You just will. It will just feel different. It will be consuming, intense and gut-wrenching but it will just click in your thoughts and your emotions.

So if you have not had that feeling yet, if you have settled and compromised; I urge you to get back out on those branches and try some other figs. It is better to have tried and failed then to settle and compromise on what is safe. Go against the grain. Challenge yourself and your own concepts of who you are and what type of writer you are. Don’t let other people tell you what you feel and how you should write. Just like someone cannot tell you when to love someone or something, only you can know which genre is “write” for you.

Until then…I leave you with my favourite quotation for the year:

Dwell in POSSIBILITY…it could lead you to the most interesting branches.


© All rights reserved Kim Koning

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