Writing Tool Recommendation: The New York Times Dictionary of Misunderstood, Misused, & Mispronounced Words: Words We Know (until Someone Asks Us What They Mean)

In all its rugged splendor.

This is a brilliant book, and you should buy it.

I was reading Gene Wolfe's Castle of the Otter (a collection of essays and advice named after a humorous misreporting of the title of his book Citadel of Autarch), and two pieces of advice really stuck out to me:

1) Write a story every day.
2) Buy the New York Times Dictionary of Misunderstood, Misused, & Mispronounced Words – it's really cheap.

 

Also an $8 find.

I thought, "Okay, but he wrote that back in the 80s. I bet this book is a collectors' item now." Then, I looked it up on Thrift Books. It's only eight dollars! 8! That's, like, half a latte. You could buy three and juggle them!

One, it's awesome if you're reading Gene Wolfe, because when he uses a word you don't know (approximately every other sentence), you have the dictionary that he was using right here in your hand. Secondly, you now possess a normal-book sized dictionary with readable size text that – unlike abbreviated pocket dictionaries that have been chopped down to complete uselessness – still has interesting words like "spumescent" and "macrurous."

If I want a character to have an interesting name, I just grab this thing and flip it open to the letter I want their name to start with and keep reading until I find something with a cool, secret meaning. (Most recent character: Deodand the dead man's son.)

If you really want to go nuts, you can blow another $35 for Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words: Gathered from Numerous and Diverse Authoritative Sources and scourge the literary world with words like "callithumpian" and "fubsy." (Most recent character: Yesterfang the one-eyed girl.)

 

This one I actually got for free from a friend who was moving and thought a crumbling paperback whose pages fell out in sheaves wasn't worth transporting across the country. THE FOOL!

...I have spent far more money on far dumber things and gotten far less joy and use out of them. (Health insurance, for example.)

Plus, it's bear approved.