K is for Kangaroo? Karma? Kudos?
I volunteered to write this blog and said 'give me any
letter and I'll figure out something to write'. So I was presented with K.
Going deeper into the K section of the dictionary and I
stumble across “kindle”, my dictionary is a few years old (Chambers, 1994
edition) so it doesn't mention the e-reader, and I am not sure if, as a name of
a specific product, it would be included, though I do know a few people who
refer to any and all e-readers as Kindles. So there are two trains of thought I
could take with this; how the electronic publication changes writing and how
writers perceive themselves, or how language is constantly evolving with new
words being coined and others dropped from usage.
And my mind went totally blank! I couldn't even think of any
words beginning with K, well, except for kangaroo, which didn't help much,
never mind an actual title for a topic regarding writing. So I reached for the
dictionary for inspiration.
Kaleidoscope had potential, every written piece, fact or
fiction, long or short, needs to combine a kaleidoscope of information,
characters, locations... and pull it all together into a cohesive and pleasing
whole.
A bit more flicking through and I came up with “karma”, now
as an atheist I don't believe the universe has any scales balancing someone's
morality but I do think that in the context of a story there needs to be some.
The 'bad guy' needs to get some comeuppance and the good, hardworking
characters get rewarded. Readers can be left feeling cheated and that the story
is unresolved if this does not happen; fiction has to be neater than life.
A couple of pages further on in the dictionary and I came to
“keep”. Instantly the saying, overly-familiar, “Keep calm and carry on!” sprang
to mind. The origin of the saying was a
British propaganda poster in 1939, popularised in the early 2000s. But does
anyone actually benefit from being told this? Doesn't receiving this advice
just make people a lot less calm? In fact the original campaign was not a
success (well, according to wikipedia). But could I string out an entire post about
this poster?
Going deeper into the K section of the dictionary and I
stumble across “kindle”, my dictionary is a few years old (Chambers, 1994
edition) so it doesn't mention the e-reader, and I am not sure if, as a name of
a specific product, it would be included, though I do know a few people who
refer to any and all e-readers as Kindles. So there are two trains of thought I
could take with this; how the electronic publication changes writing and how
writers perceive themselves, or how language is constantly evolving with new
words being coined and others dropped from usage.
The last word I considered using was “kudos” - credit, fame,
renown, prestige. Why do we write? Is it for any of the aforementioned? I have
recently had a few travel articles published in a local magazine and there is a
thrill in seeing my name and words in print. I have to admit that with my novel
that I am writing I have visualised where it would fit on a bookshop shelf and
how that would feel to see my work in print.
So many words and topics to chose from, but I have used all
my word count talking about which word I was going to use. So this blog entry
is all about the journey and not the destination.
Esther Haydock
Lots of lovely topics covered with 'K'- thank you Esther! You chose an interesting buch of 'k' words.
ReplyDeleteSome good ideas in there, I particularly like the image of a novel as a kaleidoscope.
ReplyDelete