I ran across this excerpt from Roald Dahl's notebook earlier today. It's interesting how organized he was to record an extensive vocabulary for quick reference.
When I began my career as a writer, I started collecting words in an old school notebook. Half of the pages in this book have nothing but lists of words — mostly adjectives and adverbs. When you're describing something or someone, you can't just choose dull words like "beautiful," "pretty," or "nice." You must search for more meaty imaginative words. Keeping lists, which I can easily refer to, when I'm writing helps me to find the exact word I'm searching for.
On a related note, about a year ago I nostalgically began rereading some of my favourite childhood books. Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits, and especially The BFG were as much fun as I remembered.
Comments
Mandy - January 18, 2004 9:11 am
I LOVE the BFG, what a great book. And what a terrific author.
I remember we would gather around the library in elementary school to hear the librarian read to us from the works of Dahl, Dr Seuss, Shel Silverstein and others..... I hope that in the days of Harry Potter, school children are still able to enjoy these great past works.
Rob Fletcher - January 18, 2004 10:52 am
I remember enjoying Shel Silverstein's poems when I was in grade 2. I somehow think that he has since been outlawed in schools (is that still going on? I read <i>The Catcher in the Rye</i> in grade 10, so maybe book-banning is over). There was a poem about washing the dishes in one of his first two poetry books, and it went something like: "if you are made to do this chore / and you drop one on the floor / then maybe they won't let you do the dishes anymore". Was that considered putting bad ideas into young brains?
Anyway, a year or two ago I read <i>Boy</i> (it was bundled with his other autobiographical <i>Going Solo</i>). He was talking at one point about racing down the street with his sister on tricycles. He said they were travelling at "enormous tricycle speeds". That was the best possible choice of words, I think. I wonder if it came from this famous notebook.
Lori - January 19, 2004 1:06 am
Mandy -as a current elementary school teacher and a former substitute teacher, let me assure you that the works of Dahl and Silversteen are very much a part of todays school experience. I can't even remember how many times I have read The BFG aloud to a room jammed with 25+ students and not hear one peep from any of them- except when I finished a chapter and they begged for more!
Mandy - January 19, 2004 8:19 am
Lori,
That is so great to hear. I had an experience working in an elementary school library under the supervision of the librarian, that was not as exciting. It was more a case of "go read on your own"... while, which is something you want to promote of course, nothing is more thrilling then having a story read to you.
Thank you
I think all this talk has really pushed me to pull aside the book I'm reading now and pull out the BFG. Don't be surprised if you see it's cover on my site under the "currently reading" soon.
Kelly - January 19, 2004 1:57 pm
If you enjoy The BFG, another favourite of mine is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. About a boy named Milo, about eleven, who is bored with life and sees no point in learning anything new. Full of word-plays, and describes events to explain abstract theories or Laws of Nature. For example, the sunset occurs only because a symphony plays the score of the setting sun. Plus, did you know that numbers are mined like diamonds, and letters are edible, hence the explanation of "to eat your words".
Really funny. A good read.
liz - January 21, 2004 1:58 am
Oooooooh Roald Dahl. I don't remember how I first discovered him, perhaps it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as I roamed around our excellent local bookstore when I was in my 20s or 30s. Then, in 1985, I acquired stepsons. Scott in particular had intellectual interests that outstripped his reading ability; the BFG was a very satisfactory joint expereince in....1986, when he was in....kindergarten or first grade, I don't recall exactly. Then in about 1993, I started re-reading the Dahl opus aloud, as my daughter has dyslexia.
Oh, wait, no, now I remember. Scott had to do a project on autobiography in about 1988. "How about Roald Dahl?" I said. And so we read Boy as a family; it is a glimpse into a world very different than our own.
Oh, and there are benefits to having a dyslexic child. I never took a speed-reading course, but I have been an avid reader since about I got the hang of reading, in about 1959 or so. I read very quickly, and if I am taken with a book, often re-read it 2 or 3 times in the space of a week. Very favorite books I will either re-read from start to finish, or dip into. Well, I hadn't revisted the childhood favorites until I started reading to my daughter.
Nick Burka - January 23, 2004 5:37 pm
I've been doing the same thing for the last year - keeping a running list of good words to describe things, especially for essays. Newest additions are:
<dl>
<dt><b>sartorial</b></dt>
<dd>Of or relating to a tailor, tailoring, or tailored clothing: ‘sartorial elegance’</dd>
<dt><b>epistolary</b></dt>
<dd>Of or associated with letters or the writing of letters</dd>
</dl>
Hargabyte - January 7, 2005 8:52 am
I ran across this blog while doing some research on the Phantom Tollbooth and author Norton Juster. I wanted to suggest another great read for children. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. This is a series of books, 6 in total. If you have seen or remember the black caudron movie put out by Disney back in the 80's, this is the series that the movie is based on. The books are much better than the movie. I remember reading these books over and over from the age of 8 till I was about 12. If you have never read them, you really owe it to yourself to pick the first one up and give it a quick read. They are all pretty short, only a couple hundred pages with pretty large print.