Banished Words

posted by hackey hudjson

As readers and writers, I think we are more aware of words than most people. How many times have you been reading along and suddenly a word stops you cold because it doesn't seem to fit in the story? Or maybe the word is used incorrectly? Or, the same word has been repeated three or four times?

Yup, happens to me, too. And as a writer, I have to be careful of not doing any of those things in my own stories. This is where my critique partners and beta readers prove their value by spotting 'pet' words or phrases that I've overused. Two words I have a tendency to repeat are "that" and "just." One of my critique partners' pet word is "it." She once wrote a sentence with "it" used five times! YIKES! This is why we writers rely on revision.

Another thing that drives me to distraction is when I hear the same words and phrases repeated over and over by everyone around me. One such phrase that drove me bonkers back in the late 1990s was "don't go there." I swear I heard it at work a dozen times a day... every day! More recently, both the DH and I have developed a severe aversion to "at the end of the day."

Looks like Aunty is not the only one who would love to dump overused words. Recently, I ran across of list of "Banished Words" put together by the Lake Superior State University in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan. Back in 1975, the LSSU Public Relations Director and a few friends created "word banishment" and put together a list which they released on New Year's Day 1976. LSSU has released a new list of "Banished Words" every year since then. (If you want to see all the lists, go here http://www.lssu.edu/banished/.)

So here are a few of the words that made the banishment list for 2011:

VIRAL -- used to describe anything that has attracted a great deal of attention. Since when is a term for disease seen as popular or even positive?

EPIC -- used to describe common events. This is flat out incorrect. One commenter on the LSSU website said it perfectly, "... when the history books are written or updated and stories have been passed through the generations, the epic powder on the slopes during your last ski trip or your participation in last night's epic flash mob will probably not be included."

FAIL -- used as a noun or adjective meaning something less than perfect. The correct word is FAILURE. Fail is a verb.

FACEBOOK/GOOGLE -- used as verbs. Okay, I'll admit I'm guilty of sometimes saying, "Google it." But I haven't slipped so far as to say, "Facebook it, Danno!"

In case you were wondering (as I was) here are some of the Banished Words of 35 years ago in 1976:
MEANINGFUL
INPUT
SCENARIO
DETENTE

Any of those being back memories?

Do you have any "pet" words that you use too often? What about words and phrases that are so overused they make you want to scream? Which words and phrases would you like to banish?
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The Music That Inspires Us

by Trish Milburn

As writers, we're always trying to evoke emotions from our readers. Love, heartbreak, fear, longing -- you name it, there's some piece of music out there that can evoke it too. Though I'm not one of those writers who typically listens to music when I write, there are artists and music that inspire my storytelling. I'm a great collector of movie soundtracks because I think they do such a wonderful job of evoking emotion -- that's their job. My current favorite is Avatar. Love it! Here's a medley of several of the songs someone put together.



The music that inspires us doesn't have to be something we listen to while writing. Sometimes an artist's lyrics or the type of music they create over many songs can speak to the type of story we want to tell. I found this to be true while writing Winter Longing, my second young adult novel due out in August. The heroine of this book, Winter Craig, has to go through some really heart-wrenching things, and I found myself listening to a lot of Breaking Benjamin, particularly songs like "Breath" from their Phobia album. It was lyrics like "You took the breath right out of me, You left a hole where my heart should be" that really summed up the feelings I was trying to evoke. Several songs from that album really worked, so much so that I worked it into the story that Winter listens to the album a lot.



I decided to check in with the rest of the Banditas to see if and how music relates to their writing. Here's what they had to say. See if you see any favorite songs/artists among their inspiration.

Christine Wells:

I find that songs set the mood for particular moments in my books, not necessarily the entire book--a couple I'm listening to now for a seduction book are "Only When I Sleep" (The Corrs), "Take My Breath Away" (Berlin), and "Sexy Back" (Justin Timberlake). My hero thinks he's such hot stuff!"

Cassondra Murray:

"For me, it's Stevie Nicks. Specifically, right now, it's the Trouble in Shangri-la album. I was listening to it on the interstate while I thought about one of the manuscripts I was working on and BAM. There it was. It was perfect. It encompassed the dark, murky, elusive sense that I want for this book. I got ideas for several scenes as I was thinking about it. As it turned out, that CD was right for the entire series I was working on."

Tawny Weber:

"Peter Paul & Mary. Love them. Gordon Lightfoot, vintage BeeGees, heck, the Monkees ballads. I listen to them all while I write, mixed in with Pink, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears (yes, I admit it – but wait, it gets worse), and The Spice Girls. The mainstays, though, are Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Guns & Roses, Savage Garden, etc..."

Nancy Northcott:

"I can't write to music that has lyrics. I write my spy books to the theme from Alias -- so that's already a soundtrack--and the historicals to period music. It's okay if the lyrics are in Italian or Latin since that's just so much noise to me. I have to focus to do any kind of Latin translation anymore and have lost most of my vocabulary there. Soundtracks like the Fellowship of the Ring or Pirates of the Caribbean or other orchestral pieces work because they're mostly
lyrics-free."

Anna Sugden:

"A band whose lyrics speak to me is Chicago. Each song tells a story. Tim McGraw also has songs that tell a good story and some of the older Billy Ray Cyrus. Then again, with some songs, it’s just the feel of the music."

Caren Crane:

"For me and my work I would choose Kings Of Leon. You can tell they're Southern, for one thing, and their music is infused with passion, longing, angst, the joy of youth and a hefty dose of melancholia. They perfectly encapsulate how I felt when I was a 20-something, and I want to get all that into my books. I wish they had been around when I was their age."

If you're a writer, tell us what type of music or particular artists inspire you. If you're not a writer, is there an artist whose music really speaks to you?
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