Getting the Words Right

Our Third Year! It's October, 2011!

Many of us strive to be conscientious writers. It is truly interesting what a difference it makes to read a lot of other work and come back to a manuscript means. One of the books I value for teaching me this is Getting the Words Right
by Theodore Cheney.

If you go over to Amazon and read the first pages, you will get the urgency and flow of his message. He says professionals will attend to the quality of the work, rather than the number of words they can put out.

It's not easy, but for me, it has always been fun. I read through my own and other's manuscripts and look for little places the conversation don't match and find the treasure of what the speaker didn't say. I 'look' at their expressions while they speak and try to convey what they mean in beautiful words which mean exactly what they want to say. I don't even mind if I send them trundling off to the dictionary, but when they go I want them to find something special.

appropriate in the thesaurus:

characteristic in the index sent me to the heading of Particularity:
characteristic, peculiar, singular, single, quintessential, intrinsic, unique, distinctive, marked, distinguished, appropriate, proper, idiosyncratic, idiocratic, in character, true to form

Well-chosen in the index sent me to the heading of Elegance (of language):
fit, fitting, just [archaic], proper, correct, seemly, comely; felicitous, happy, apt, well-chosen, well-put, well-expressed, inspired.

One of my characters might make the appropriate comment and it might be unique, another's might be well-chosen. I have a few characters who are blurters - their comment would never be well-chosen, but it could be true to form!

I love English. We have a tangle of threads leading down to us and it is proper and quintessential we select the exquisite term to convey our meaning.

We at Gypsy Shadow Publishing want authors and writers who come our way to feel they have learned something from the experience of being published by us and take away a little more finesse at self-expression after the editing and production is over. We want to help you share your dreams and nightmares with the world!