I think of myself as a tech using guy, but with technology changing so fast we’re always tested. I hope I will never catch myself using expressions like “new-fangled.” I’m determined to march through middle age without saying, “Back in my day we didn’t need…” Refer to latest gadget here.
So I was surprised by my gut reaction to this link sent to me by The Fogel. She describes it as a toy for reviewing my novel, and her point is that there are some words I use with monotonous frequency.
This toy is designed to search your text, find those overused words and put them up in fun graphic displays. The more you use a word, the bigger its size.
But Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and all the greats didn’t have this toy. I can’t imagine Margaret Atwood needing it.
Then I remembered my creative writing teacher at University of Toronto. He told us that he prefers to write with an IBM typewriter, the way Hemmingway did back in the thirties. I had to repress a derisive snort. Hemingway used a typewriter because it was the word processor of his day. I’m sure he had contemporaries who preferred to write long hand, and I bet they had all kinds of excuses like: the pen flows with my thoughts; the typewriter is too jarring and loud.
Hemmingway was using the modern tech gadget of his day. Writing a play with a quill won’t make me William Shakespeare.
So I will put my novel through this toy, because I want to use all the tools at my disposal to make it effortless for the readers.
But I admit I’m worried about the word brown.
