All writers need to manipulate language as often as creative writers do – they just don’t get to play with the story line as often. Vocabulary, descriptive and “voice” exercises will improve anyone’s writing; character and setting exercises can be useful for those who use such things in their work, such as those in advertising.  Creative writing exercises will help keep your style fresh and interesting.

Here are a couple of suggestions to get you started:

Vocabulary exercises: Make a list of 10 random words (and they do need to be random). You can use simple words from a spelling list, an SAT vocabulary list, or include some really cool words from the upper levels of Free Rice. Once you have that list, write a paragraph that includes all the words. You may have to adjust the plot, character or setting in order to get them all in. The goal is to make the final paragraph sound fluid and interesting; it shouldn’t sound like an awkward paragraph with vocabulary words stuck in.

Descriptive exercises:
· Describe something in detail. Include details from the five senses, line, colour, composition, etc. Describe each plane. Use as many different adjectives and adverbs as you need to make the description accurate.
· Describe a process. In detail, describe each step for making a sandwich or cleaning your teeth. Do you put a “dollop” or a “dot” of mustard on the bread? Do you “grasp” or “grip” the toothbrush?

Voice exercises:
· Write a news article.  Then write it in “Valspeak“  or in … “Rapperspeak“.
· Choose a simple scene, such as a family eating a meal. Write the scene three times using three different voices (ex. the child’s, the mother’s, and the grandmother’s). Use appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure for each character — consider their age, culture, education, etc.

Character/Perspective exercise: Using a simple scene – a walk on the beach or a short drive to the grocery store — describe the scene from the perspective of two different characters. How would a male character see things differently from a female character, or a child from an adult? You could also try the perspectives of distinct characters such as a dog and the dog-walker.

Setting exercises: Write the same plot (ex. a guy eats a sandwich) using several different settings. How does eating a sandwich in a 19th century restaurant differ from eating a sandwich in dinghy on the Atlantic Ocean?

Captions: Find yourself an interesting picture. Each day for a week, write a new caption for the picture. The captions can be funny, but they should also include aspects of the writing you’d use every day: description, narration, explanation, etc.

1) FordhamComposeit is the channel for Fordham University‘s undergrad writers. It’s quite new and only has five videos, but the videos are fairly good. The first two videos cover run-on sentences, and the last three deal with arguments in writing. (For those of you who don’t quite understand the term “argument”, I recommend watching Conversations and Arguments first.) Please turn up your speakers for What an Argument Is, and What an Argument Is Not (there’s a volume problem with this one video).

These videos are great for those in high school, college and undergrad university… and anyone who wants a refresher course.

2) war001531 has videos about film and academic writing. For the writers, there are some basic-level videos (introductory paragraphs and thesis statements, for example, and underlining vs. italics), as well as some videos on literary terms such as simile and metaphor, and irony. For those who are writing creatively, I recommend the hyperbole and pun videos, and the one on flashback.

war001531‘s channel has a lot of stuff that doesn’t relate to writing, but it’s worth going through the videos to find the ones that do. And everyone should check out the clip from Friends for words of wisdom.

Contrary to popular belief (including the belief held by my grandmother, who would either glare at me or wearily correct me as she removed my dinner plate), there is currently no grammatical difference between “done” and “finished”. They can be used interchangeably.

A simple Google search of “done vs. finished” will deliver several websites which will reassure you of this. Dr. Grammar, by the way, is a good site for quick-and-dirty look-ups like this. You can also try Grammar Girl.

That said… as a creative writer and logophile, there seems to be a difference to me (possibly influenced by my grandmother). “Done” is an absolute word: once a process is “done”, it can’t be continued. “Finished” is a little less concrete: if a process if decreed “finished” by one person, it could possibly be viewed as “not yet finished” by another.

There are also aesthetic considerations: “finished” is a gentle word with two syllables and a lot of voice involved; “done” is harder, harsher, and ruthlessly short. The meaning may be the same, but the tone of the writing can be changed with the usage of one word or the other.

Thus, this blog post is finished.

This blog is useful because it comes in small bites.  Once a week, with 10-minutes-worth of effort, you can improve an aspect of your writing.  Since the beginning of the year, Gaetner-Johnston has blogged about wordiness, jargon and humour in business writing.  Her latest blog warns of the dangers of not checking with your dictionary.

Anyone who is interested in the etiquette and social niceties of business writing would also enjoy this blog.  Who Should Save Face talks about going the extra mile for your reader, even if your reader is a complete airhead who hasn’t read the e-mail.

On the right-hand side of the blog, below “Recent Posts”, you’ll find “Categories”.  If you’re too busy to check out the blog on a regular basis, filtering the posts will help you improve an area of your writing which you know to be a little rough.

Don’t forget to check out the comments for each blog, as that’s where the in-depth discussion happens!

What?!  We’re infallible! :)

No, we’re human, and we make our share of mistakes; we appreciate it when people point them out, too.  This time, though, we didn’t mess up.  We just weren’t playing by the American rules.

The biggest difference between American and British punctuation rules is when using quotation marks.  Americans put everything *inside* the quotation marks.  This seems very strange — and possibly a little lackadaisical — to someone who is accustomed to the British rules where logic must apply: the punctuation remains with the part of the sentence which is being punctuated.  Rather than re-announcing the wheel, I’ll guide you to Grammar Tips and Writer’s Block, which are both excellent sites with clear examples.

For those Americans who are under the impression that everyone else “has it wrong”, I recommend checking out the British Empire and United States maps on Wikipedia.  You’ll notice that, due to sheer size of land mass/cultural area, you’re more likely to run into the British grammar rules.  If you write by the American rules, it may be a good idea to familiarise yourself with the British rules, just so you understand what you’re reading.  As the Writer’s Block website notes, British rules make it clear as to which section of a partial sentence has been quoted, etc.  The subtlety of the implications can change or add to the meaning of the sentence.

British: The man said, “I am here.” (third person narration)

British: The man said, “I am here”. (first person narration)

American: The man said, “I am here.” (unable to differentiate between narrators)

If you’re writing for a specific and persnickety audience (e.g. a professor), it would be in your best interest to ascertain whether they prefer British or American punctuation rules.  If your audience is less-defined or more open-minded, you are free to use either American or British punctuation rules, as long as you’re consistent throughout the text.

There are a lot of beautiful and/or useful words out there, and I think everyone should make an effort to acquire and maintain the largest vocabulary possible. But languages were made to evolve, and making an effort to use obsolete words defeats the purpose of communication. Now, admittedly, this particular list suggests bringing these words back into common usage, which would make them perfectly acceptable. In order to do this, though, the common writers and speakers (that would be the most famous ones: Stephen King and Snooki and the like) would have to be the ones to use them on a regular basis.

I can find no evidence of Snooki ever having used “execrable”.

For anyone who is writing for academic or formal purposes, I wouldn’t recommend trying to revamp the language at all; the only way you’re going to get your point across is by using the reader’s known language. Creative writers may have a little more leeway, but I usually find it’s more effective to create a new word rather than drag an old word out of storage. If you’re not up for creating your own word, try some of these, or maybe some of these.

There’s a similar process for reading. When children are small, we make things very simple – for easy literary digestion, so to speak. As they become more efficient at reading, we want to give them bigger chunks and let them do their own processing. We call this “inference”; from the writer’s point-of-view, it’s “implication”.

The example I use with teenagers is a quote from Kate Wolf’s “Here In California”. The fourth verse of the song goes like this:

Well, I may learn to love you
But I can’t say when
This morning we were strangers
And tonight, we’re only friends

I ask them to write a short scene about the last two lines: what’s happened between “this morning” and “tonight”? Every single one of them writes about two characters beginning the day as strangers, gets into something deep and heavy and intimate, and then cooling off to “only friends”.

“How did you know?” I ask them. “How did you all know to write the same thing?”

It takes about three minutes of blank stares before someone clues in and shouts out, “Only!”

Yes. “Only”. That one powerful word wrote an entire scene for you.

We do the same thing with descriptive vocabulary. Look at the difference between these two sentences:

“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you,” she scoffed.

“Whispered” creates a warm-and-fuzzy scene between two characters.  “Scoffed” still involves two characters, but that warmth-and-fuzziness is gone.  Clearly, the “scoffed” sentence is being thrown back at the other character.

Or how about this paragraph:
His face was blazing. Whipping around, he grabbed the first thing his fingers touched – a glass vase – and hurled it at the closing door.

I didn’t use the word “angry”, and yet there aren’t too many other options. The reader also knows there’s another character involved: the one closing the door.

Most readers appreciate having to do a bit of the work themselves. If the writer spells everything out, it’s boring – like eating bland, texture-less baby food.

Of course, you have to decide when it’s in your best interest to make the reader do their own work: in creative writing, you want them to do a lot of work; in a business memo, you don’t want them guessing what time the meeting is… unless you’re looking for an excuse to fire them. Choose the best literary food for your audience, and let them feed themselves.

Planet Word is a BBC programme consisting of five episodes about language – *everything* about language.  The programme covers subjects from dialects to slang to Shakespeare to advertising. There’s even an episode on swearing (with the assistance of Brian Blessed).

Not all the episodes are specifically about English; for instance, there’s one about the Turkana language, which is about the effects of colonialism on language.

You can check out some of the clips here on the BBC page.

If you can’t watch the episodes – or you’re just a bibliophile like me – there’s a book that goes along with the series.  (Actually, it says pretty much the same thing but the book is written by the series’ director, J.P. Davidson.  He a fine writer, but he just can’t reproduce that “Stephen Fry experience”.)

There’s an interesting clip here on the BBC Press page where Fry explains to Davidson why he’s doing this programme.

Planet Word might be a little much for someone who is just learning English, and for those who struggle with British accents.  But for those who are fluent, those who spend their days focusing on communication, and those whose toes curl with happiness when they think about linguistics, Planet Word is the place for you.

I’ve been distracted by vowels. Seriously. While they seem small and insignificant, they’re actually very profound.

I got distracted when I was re-reading parts of Eunoia, which is Bök’s brilliant series of vowel-themed poems. I bought the book at a writers’ festival (Eden Mills, for those of you who live in Canada) because he was just so happy when he was reading from it that I had to see the rest of the book. I wanted some of that infectious pleasure.

Each chapter in Eunoia is composed of words which use only one vowel. The whole of Chapter A, for instance, contains the letter A and some consonants; there is not one other vowel in the chapter. You can check out the excerpts here.

From Bök’s poem Voile – written for Arthur Rimbaud – I got side-tracked to Voyelles, Rimbaud’s poem on vowels. (Rimbaud also deserves a Lords of Language blog… later).

This is the point where the vowels took over my brain. Linguistically, they’re such neat things – primitive sounds that can be made without using the tongue or lips. When we’re writing, they’re just another letter… or are they? People who like words tend to like certain letters. Me, I usually lean towards harder sounds like Q and X, but the sound of a short A is so full and warm that it makes my insides melt. I remember being sorely disappointed in primary school when I learned that I couldn’t use “than” instead of “then”; “then” looks funny and sounds flat. I compromised by swapping words whenever I could: “rather than” for “instead of”, and “after” for “later”. My Grade 1 teacher was not a very good teacher, and she didn’t even notice.

There’s also that fascinating, troublesome ersatz vowel, Y. Bök wrote a poem for Y, too, called And Sometimes. I have doubts about a letter that can’t commit. And those lists of Scrabble words that claim to not use vowels… Y is a vowel then, people. We need vowels in our words, otherwise our tongues would fall out from over-use.  You’ll notice that the Scrabble words *without* vowels are not “words”: they’re just sounds.

If you have Christian Bök autograph a copy of Eunoia, he’ll ask you what your favourite vowel is; let us know what your favourite vowel is by leaving a comment.

I promise a Lords of Language blog for next week.

(Thank goodness someone is finally speaking out against “thanking you in advance”. )

So, what’s wrong with using a word often?  Nothing… if it’s an article.  Every other word should be used deliberately, judiciously.  If you overuse “amazing”, for example, it becomes a matter of crying wolf.  No one will believe you if there is something that is truly amazing.

If your New Year’s resolution has anything to do with improving your vocabulary, there’s another list of abused words here on Squidoo.