Storyage; also, Technology Edits For You!

The first issue of Othergate is up now, including my short story, “Chasing Cars.”

I’ve heard some good suggestions for overused and/or weak words and phrases for which you might use the Search feature when you’re editing. This article mentions a few; although they don’t specifically say it, you can use Search on #2 as well by looking for “It” and checking the “case sensitive” box.

I’ve also heard of using a Wordle to look for repetition. I suspect this is not all that helpful, as it will probably bring up mostly words you can’t avoid repeating a lot, such as characters’ names. Its true appeal may be more in the inherent neatness of Wordles, which seem to be everywhere lately. I’ve never made one, but I do stare at them, much the way I stare at pretty fish in aquariums.

*Resists*

*Wordles Rabbit and Cougar*

Okay, what I said about this not being helpful? Do not listen to foolish, five-minutes-ago Nic. This is the coolest thing ever. I’m not going to post it because, impossible as it might seem, it actually contains at least one spoiler, but I am impressed. Naturally, the biggest things are the major characters’ names (and I’m happy to see that “Rabbit” and “Cougar” are about the same size), and the smaller words include such things as “Rabbit’s” and “Cougar’s,” as well as the names of almost every other named character. They also include a lot of prepositions like “around” and “toward.” (Thankfully, unless you tell it to do otherwise, Wordle takes out “common English words,” so no “the” or “a.”) It’s fascinating to look at some of the other words and think of the phrases I use that would put them into the Wordle. “Bit,” for example, is in there, probably due to my ~~addiction to~~ ~~love affair with~~ appreciation for the phrase “a bit.” There’s also “moment,” courtesy of my desire to show time without using minutes or seconds. Then words that pertain to the setting, like “trees” and “dragon.” And, unexpectedly, “name,” which pleases me greatly because it’s a small thing that’s very important to the story.

6 thoughts on “Storyage; also, Technology Edits For You!”

toastedcheese

April 27, 2010 at 10:43 pm Reply

Ooh, had to do this for my novel! The results are interesting:

title=”Wordle: A Conspiracy of Words”> src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1958323/A_Conspiracy_of_Words”
alt=”Wordle: A Conspiracy of Words”
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>

And here’s what exists of novel #3 – I seem to use the words “know,” “think,” and “like” an awful lot.

title=”Wordle: The Universe Has Two Faces”> src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1958336/The_Universe_Has_Two_Faces”
alt=”Wordle: The Universe Has Two Faces”
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>

Okay, this is addictive. I just tried some poetry as well (not mine) and the results are fantastic. Going to go post it on my LJ!

chaoticgood
April 27, 2010 at 10:49 pm Reply

It fascinates me how even characters who appear only briefly get their names in the Wordle.

Also, did you notice that in your first one, you have “Now” and “Well” with capital letters? You must start a lot of sentences that way.

These are so much fun!
- toastedcheese
  April 30, 2010 at 10:56 pm Reply
  
  Ooh ooh, I just checked on what story it was you got published – it’s *that* story! Someday when I am old and gray and am running on artificial organs, I can tell people, “Oh yes, *I* knew Anica Lewis! She even used my name in one of her early short stories!” And I will point with a gnarled hand at the webpage that has just appeared in mid-air (via the chips in our brains, of course), and they will gape at me in AWE.
  - chaoticgood
    April 30, 2010 at 11:29 pm Reply
    
    I figure that when we’re both famous authors, it will be one of those cool facts put in trivia collections. And fans will go crazy over it – “I can’t believe they roomed together in college! Can you imagine what they talked about?” Never knowing that the answer was, “elves and Buffy.”