Words Say So Much

When I'm working on fiction, I keep dictionary.com open on my laptop. I plug words in a dozen or more times a day, when I need to make sure a meaning applies in the way I need it to, or to get a full feel of a term's nuance. I like, too, that if I'm undecided about what to say, I can track one definition to the next and find something fantastic.

So anyway, I look up a lot of words. I think it's entertaining to look back at them, to see at what kind of story they hint. Here are some recent ones:

adulterous
berth
attorney
paralegal
comatose
humidor
stogie
pomp
apparition
obtuse
carnal
accounting

And then there are Google topic searches:

upright pianos
medical conditions
Gershwin
occupational therapy
trial separation
CPA

Sort of cryptic, don't you think? Can you tell by these words and terms that I write women's fiction? I wouldn't think so, and that fascinates me.

What kind of story would you create out of the above?

My Word Book

I got a fantastic old school book, My Word Book, from an antiques store. Dubbed a "modern language arts program," and published in 1959, it was too neat to pass up.

I imagine it was for fourth or fifth graders. It has a dictionary at its back, vocabulary challenges throughout, and tricks and tips for usage of words. I thought it an awesome little thing to sit and brainstorm with.

What I thought fun were exercises in which you complete the sentences with an appropriate word. Try these:

1) The elephant seems awkward because of its _______.

2) The woman _______ carefully to avoid the mud puddle.

3) Are you willing to _______ the prisoner?

4) George does not like to eat _______.

5) An engine needs _______ to make it run.

6) The actress made a dramatic _______.


Leave your answers in comments. I'm thinking silly, like Mad Libs. It's fun Friday entertainment! All from a little, smelly (albeit neat) book.

With Just a Few Lyrics

"Wake up, kids, we've got the dreamer's disease..."
New Radicals, You Get What You Give

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
Semisonic, Closing Time

"I am invincible, as long as I'm alive."
John Mayer, No Such Thing

"I can only imagine..."
MercyMe, I Can Only Imagine


What lyrics speak to you, more than just words?

In My Dreams

With two kidlets, there are inevitable nights when Mommy is awakened. Getting back to sleep is an uneasy task and sometimes, like last night, I spend an hour or so in a half-asleep, half-awake stupor.

Somehow, those moments are some of my most lucid, most creative. It doesn't always mean anything; often times, minutes later, I find myself forgetting where my mind had even taken me.

But last night, between my youngest's coughing fits and my own, two words came to me. I couldn't tell you what was whirring in my mind just before, or how I got to them, but I decided they would make a great novel title.

I know. Crazy, ain't? Seems silly and presumptuous. A tad premature. But mere words can snowball into something greater.

I don't dare give you the two words, though I've written them down. Someday, after all, will be the time to start another book. And I'll look over my notes of various ideas, just like this one, and decide which way to go.

What about you? How do ideas come to you? And have you ever had a seemingly insignificant thought turn into something grand?