On a scroll, two sentences might live out their lives a yard away from each other, and in a codex they might grow old many pages apart. In an outliner, a writer can move one sentence next to the other the moment they seem related.#
One thing I admire about John Hodgman's advice column in the NY Times Magazine is that he takes the writing very seriously. The magazine allots him maybe eight square inches of space, and he has to give over the first part of that space to someone's question. That leaves him room for, what, six or eight sentences to answer, to make a point--to pass judgment in clear, witty terms. To make a joke that seems to matter.#
You can tell from this week's entry in the series (having been asked: are walk-in closets rooms?) that he prizes every bit of his tiny real estate, every sentence he's allowed. Each one is honed; each one advances a line of thought. A good number of them are witty, and wit is a mental leap, a form of speed thinking.#
Or the illusion of speed thinking produced by revision.#
For writers who want to be funny, or otherwise, he sets a clear standard. Make every sentence count. Make every part of a sentence count. #
Revision is certainly implied. But also, a way to build layers into a paragraph, as this week's entry is about closets, about the character of someone who wants to argue about closets, and about the relationship of the two having the argument. And there is a progression to that final sentence, which implies judgment on the asker of the question: if you would argue with your partner about closets, you are the kind of person who would argue about hot dogs. #
By searching for "word frequency calculator" I see that there are some online utilities that tabulate word frequency in documents. They produce lists of words from a document by order of frequency. One or two of them let you choose to tabulate two- or three-word phrases, too. There might be an option to ignore small words like "the". #
A list like this might be useful in early stages of compiling an index--as it might remind an author of something that ought to be in the index.#
On a scroll, two sentences might live out their lives a yard away from each other, and in a codex they might grow old many pages apart. In an outliner, a writer can move one sentence next to the other the moment they seem related.#
One thing I admire about John Hodgman's advice column in the NY Times Magazine is that he takes the writing very seriously. The magazine allots him maybe eight square inches of space, and he has to give over the first part of that space to someone's question. That leaves him room for, what, six or eight sentences to answer, to make a point--to pass judgment in clear, witty terms. To make a joke that seems to matter.#
You can tell from this week's entry in the series (having been asked: are walk-in closets rooms?) that he prizes every bit of his tiny real estate, every sentence he's allowed. Each one is honed; each one advances a line of thought. A good number of them are witty, and wit is a mental leap, a form of speed thinking.#
Or the illusion of speed thinking produced by revision.#
For writers who want to be funny, or otherwise, he sets a clear standard. Make every sentence count. Make every part of a sentence count. #
Revision is certainly implied. But also, a way to build layers into a paragraph, as this week's entry is about closets, about the character of someone who wants to argue about closets, and about the relationship of the two having the argument. And there is a progression to that final sentence, which implies judgment on the asker of the question: if you would argue with your partner about closets, you are the kind of person who would argue about hot dogs. #
By searching for "word frequency calculator" I see that there are some online utilities that tabulate word frequency in documents. They produce lists of words from a document by order of frequency. One or two of them let you choose to tabulate two- or three-word phrases, too. There might be an option to ignore small words like "the". #
A list like this might be useful in early stages of compiling an index--as it might remind an author of something that ought to be in the index.#
Copyright ⓒ 2021 by Ken Smith
Last update: Monday October 11, 2021; 1:00 PM EDT.