By Mark Stevens
Do you have “crutch” words?
Words you inject into your prose without thinking?
I mean, they are such great freaking words that you when you ask a reader to plow through your latest incredible best-selling novel, she comes back and says:
“Well, not bad. But did you know you used the word ethereal 187 times?”
Or (fill in the blank for your go-to word)?
Me?
Guilty as charged. I’ve got a few. They change from one piece of writing to the next.
They are words my inner brain fell in love with, most likely, decades ago.
I pull them out of the dust-covered brain cells that are my word filing system and I drop into the prose without really thinking.
(Question: Why can’t my ability-to-edit brain see the heavy repetition of my crutch words? When I read manuscripts by other writers, their crutch words jump out at me like something from Sharknado. “Did you mean to use the color ‘salmon’ on page four and page 196?”)
Which brings me to Visual Thesaurus. (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/)
If you are looking, occasionally, for that little spark to kick a sentence or a paragraph in the butt—a way to give your writing voice a little inspiration—check it out.
It’s a word lover’s daily jolt of caffeine.
First, take your crutch word and enter it in the search engine. VT will give you a visual rendering of the universe in which your word lives—all its relatives, close and distant.
If you want to tweak your favorite plum word in one direction, you click on that word within the sphere (Do mean “hot” as blistering or “hot” as spicy?) Suddenly, you are charging down another path looking for the right word.
Plus, VT has daily columns about word derivations and interesting takes on word usage. A recent column looked at “anxious” versus “eager.” Knowing the difference is the kind of distinction that might give your prose more accuracy.
If you subscribe ($25 per year), you get a daily ‘word of the day’ in your email and lots of nifty/nerdy info to go with it.
As I write this, today’s word is ‘theurgy.’ (“Magic performed with the help of one—or more.”) Recent words were cheroot, caliphate and hypernym. As Visual Thesaurus says: Dog, for example, is a hypernym for dachshund, Chihuahua, and poodle. Some folks call ’em generic terms or superordinates.
In fact, Visual Thesaurus will help you avoid hypernyms (and your damn crutches) and be as precise and fresh as possible.
Every day.
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Mark Stevens is the monthly programs coordinator for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and the author of the Western hunting guide Allison Coil mysteries Antler Dust and Buried by the Roan.
Book three in the series, Trapline, will be published by Midnight Ink in November 2014
Great post, Mark! What a cool tool to add to the writing toolbox! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
WOW. What a cool tool! I think I’m going to give it the 2 week trial them see if it is worth the small fee of $19.95 per year. Thanks for the tip!
I have so many crutch words it’s pathetic. And I’ve found that when I finally get rid of one, two new ones jump into the next manuscript. First it was “back” as in lay back, step back, lean back, etc. In my latest manuscript, the worst crutch word was “shrug” — my characters were doing so much shrugging you’d think I was writing a hip hop musical.
And correction: this just in from Visual Thesaurus (via Twitter): individual subscriptions are just $19.95/year. Patricia, that’s HILARIOUS and thanks, Tracy.
Oh yes – every book is a different set – but every book has them. The visual wheel of words is great for those of us who are visual learners and doers. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks all !
What a marvelous tool!