Saturday 16 May 2009

Walking With Crutches



I was reading about crutch words recently. Sure enough, when an author is stringing ninety odd thousand words together, she'll find herself relying on certain trusted words. I remember reading the first few Harry Potters and noticing that everyone was always sweeping everywhere.
I write the first pass of every chapter in my notebooks. At that stage, I'm comfortable relying on crutch words here and there, just to keep the momentum going. When I type up each chapter, I add polish and devote a little more time to seeking the mot juste.
It's no coincidence that we find authors relying on transitory crutch words, such as sweep. With so much transitory information to convey, and given that this information is functional and necessary, I can quite understand how an author might rely on crutch words.
One of the first problems I was faced with was figuring out how my protag moved. It's a key show: it reveals something of the protag's nature. It's also an important first impression. When you meet somebody for the first time, you make all kinds of assumptions simply by subconsciously observing how that person carries himself - how he moves. I've blogged about this a few times:
A Spider Theory
How Nuns Walk
How Lolita Walks




I made a decision a long time ago that my protag would march (by default). At the beginning of the ms, he is rigid, stiff, proud, his shoulders thrown back, his head held high. He is a man on a mission. He moves from place to place with an earnest, perhaps solemn, intensity. So, on writing a first pass, I fall very easily into using the words march, stride, hurry, and so forth.
I figured that a handy list of transitory words would be useful.
So let's cobble one together!
(N.B. List is non-exhaustive [selective], and I've decided on a handful of categories. Will doubtless refine over time!)

CASUAL:
amble
dally
dawdle
drift
meander
plod
saunter
stroll
tarry
toddle
trudge
walk
wander

DELIBERATE:
forge
march
pace
parade
patrol
proceed
stalk
step
stomp
stride
strut
swagger
swank
traipse
tramp
tread

SPEEDY:
bluster
bolt
breeze
bullet
burst
bustle
canter
career
charge
dart
dash
flit
fly
gallop
haste/hasten
hotfoot
hurry
hustle
jog
lope
lunge
race
rip
rocket
roll
run
rush
sally
scamper
scoot
scramble
scurry
speed
sprint
spur
stampede
storm
sweep
tear
trot
urge
whirl
whisk
whiz
zip

PLAYFUL:
bound
caper
cavort
flourish
frolic
gambol
hop
jump
leap
prance
roister
rollick
romp
shimmy
skip
spring
waltz

FALTERING:
careen
dither
falter
hesitate
hobble
limp
lurch
pitch
reel
shuffle
stagger
stammer
stumble
sway
swing
teeter
topple
totter
vacillate
waddle
waver
wheel
wobble
zig zag

STEALTHY:
creep
glide
mooch
prowl
pussyfoot
sidle
skate
skitter
skulk
slide
slink
slip
slither
snake
sneak
steal
tiptoe

3 comments:

MG said...

I am so bookmarking this!
I need some fighting words too. Josh does tend to 'sweep a kick' a tad too much...

solv said...

Have you tried watching an old episode of Batman?
Biff! Bam! Kapow!
;o)
As if by magic:
http://www.usfamily.net/web/wpattinson/otr/batman/batfight.htm

P.S. I got to use 'waddle' yesterday, just after protag took a foot to the nadgers.

esruel said...

lol