Opening up words
I’ve been reading Accidental Genius, by Mark Levy. The title is what intrigued me, and I confess I will open up any book with the word accidental in the title. That’s because of a book I’ve enjoyed reading again and again, The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler.
Levy’s book begins at an exciting pace, with writerly advice, much of which Levy attributes to some great wriitng teachers, such as Peter Elbow and Tom Peters. For example:
- Write fast and furious, or as Natalie Golberg says, “Keep your hand moving.” (If you’re using a keyboard to get down your thoughts, keep both hands moving.)
- Set limits with a timer. I learned this useful trick from Janice Steinberg and Chuck Palahniuk.
- Buy a notebook and write “cool” on the front cover and “crappy” on the back cover, as suggested by Tom Peters. Here’s where you’ll keep all your cool and crappy ideas and thoughts.
After reading several short chapters, I felt the book dragged. Just as I was about to hit the snooze button, I came to Chapter 10, “Open Up Words.” That got my attention, but then Levy began with freewriting about the word empowered with numbing circumlocution. I hate reading others’ freewriting. Half of the blog posts on the web are just that, freewriting. Unaltered, undistilled, unfiltered, unrefined, unfinished, unimaginative, uninteresting brain dumps. Zzzz.
I stayed alert just long enough to hear Levy say that the chapter didn’t actually have anything to do with the word empowered, but rather with the practice of exploring and redefining a familiar business term. I liked that, and my brain started engaging again.
Levy says:
“Like a medical student who learns to heal by dissecting a cadaver from head to toe, you strip off the word’s skin and unravel its guts, its fundamental premises.
He offers a process for freewriting, to open up a word you’d like to explore:
- Pick a word to examine.
- Give it a common definition.
- Do you agree or disagree with the common definition?
- What kind of thoughts or images do you have the next time you come across the word?
This is a great start for opening up words, but here are two more suggestions:
- Research the word’s etymology. This can be fun and instructional.
- Look for anagrams and hidden words within the word. For example, when you scrabble the letters in BELIEF, you will find A LIE. There’s the word DIE in DIET. You can become DISHONORABLE by RASH decisions . A PRIEST PRIES. PARENTs can TRAP. I get SCARED by SACRED, which also has an ACRE of RED, and I DARE you to find more. What are some of your favorites? For me, sometimes a Latin or French or Spanish term practically shouts at me from within the word. The word LOVE? Olé!
OK, now it’s your turn. Go find a word or two to open up.