Adjectives

Posted by rjhmoore at 8:09 PM 0 comments
Sunday, September 14, 2008

So as Ms. Cassell predicted, Eat, Pray, Love is getting a little slow (kudos to Ms. Cassell for the warning). Don't get me wrong, I'm still thoroughly enjoying it. It's just that she starts on one topic, then goes somewhere else in her past or memory, then somewhere else, and then another place, and then she finally gets back to her original story, that which is the book's main plot. She takes up chapters and chapters (mind you they aren't very long chapters) with this seemingly unimportant gibberish, and you're sitting there thinking, "Will it ever end? Can I see how the rest of Italy is coming along? Do you find another guy? Hello? What the hell* is going on?" *Sorry if that is offensive to anyone. I imagine that all of the sidetracking helps us with something, maybe like getting to know her past, but she could do it so that it's NOT in the middle of another good story.

However, like I said, she does get back and everything is fine again. Though I will praise her (Elizabeth Gilbert, the author) on her ability to describe things. Imagery is her strong point. If there is one friend to a writer in the chaotic writing world, it is adjectives. Adjectives are fantastic! Elizabeth uses so many of them and it really enhances her writing. I think this is what keeps me going through all of the weaving and winding through her life.

Personally, I LOVE adjectives. You will rarely see me writing something without my little Microsoft Word thesaurus panel open. It is so handy. If I need something with more adventure, more spunk for a word like... "crazy!" Here's what Word spits out:

CRAZY:
wild
fanatical
mad
extreme
passionate
outrageous
ridiculous
bizarre
peculiar
eccentric
odd
zany
weird
foolish
idiotic
silly
senseless
unwise
outlandish

See what I mean? If I wanted to say, "In the end, it drove her crazy," I could say instead, " In the end, it drove her absolutely fanatical!" The difference is amazing. Try some of your own words. What is a better adjective for happy? Sad? Angry? Romantic? Jealous? Tired? Dry? Wet? Sticky? Boring? Light, dark, sloppy, gritty, crisp, soft, hard, wonderful, limp, etc. etc. The list goes on! See what you find...