As I was reading chapter 17, “Enlivening Ways and Means,” in Jack Maguire's The Power of Personal Storytelling, I was impressed by the author’s suggestions for adding depth and emotion and sparkle our stories. It sounds very interesting and something that I would like to do. However, I find that I tend to fall into habits of speech and language and thinking of a new word or phrase is hard to do.
I discovered a new resource that’s “handy as a pocket on a shirt.” A thesaurus and dictionary can be your best friend when it comes to getting out of the rut and adding some pizzazz to your story. For example I’ve been working with the word courage for one of my stories. We all know what courage means to each of us and I could go person-to-person and collect these meanings. I went to the web and checked Wikipedia, which suggested “bravery in battle and rising above fears to face the danger.” Not bad. It fits with the story that I’m working on, but Wikipedia goes on to reference courage as one of four basic values in Greek philosophy, that sounds interesting.
A further reference traces the definition of courage as a virtue down through history. The meaning of the word as developed by Plato and Thomas Aquinas and Kierkegaard is subtle but interesting. It differentiates between the valor of warriors who overcome danger by strength and weaponry skills from the bravery of people who endure great hardships. That’s certainly getting closer to what I had in mind.
Next, I looked up courage in The Free Dictionary by Farlex, an app available through Google Play or iTunes. (There are number of possible dictionaries and thesauruses available in the App Stores). Be careful if you use this app because it’s easy to get distracted by some of the site information like your horoscope, the word of the day, and other interesting facts, but I digress. If you push on the search magnifying glass at the top it takes you to a dictionary with definitions in several different language structures and including medical, legal, acronyms, idioms, Encyclopedia, and Wikipedia definitions. I chose the American and English definition of courage and scrolled down. I learned that courage has old roots in the word cor that refers to your heart. I remember my grandma saying “have heart honey. This too shall pass.” That meant that I should stand up and be strong and take the shot my doctor’s office. That is the definition of courage for a little girl. Further down in the definitions courage can be defined by the “lack of courage” as in cowardice or as false courage as in “valor potage,” courage that results from intoxication. (And we’ve all been . . . there shouting non-encouraging comments at the other team in a football game after a couple of beers.)
If you keep scrolling down you come across the thesaurus section and find a wonder of words to add to the story. I’m not going to tell you all of my choices. You will have to hear the story to know what I chose but I would encourage you to pick a word or two from your story and look it up in a dictionary or thesaurus it’s an excellent resource.
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