BY AUTHOR BRECK LESUEUR
While I love writing, my full-time job is programming software, and I can’t help but draw some comparisons between preparing for a writing session and RAM (random access memory).
RAM is one of many ways to store data on your computer. But unlike the hard disc, it contains all the applications you have loaded into memory, what you’re working on at the moment, and for this reason it’s faster to access. Basically, if something is in RAM it is at your fingertips, ready to access.
My vocabulary is pretty high. I have a lot of words I recognize when reading; however, I have a hard time accessing those words when writing. So, when preparing to write a scene, I like to fill my “RAM storage”—a quicklist of terms, adjectives and verbs that are at the top of my head, ready to access.
If I know the scene is the Mohave Desert, I’ll hit the thesaurus and review all the words related to “hot.” Keep in mind, I know most of these words (blazing, blistering, scalding, sultry, sweltering), but they aren’t adjectives I use every day, so it’s extremely useful to get them into my “RAM,” so on the top of my mind when I need them.
Also, when I’m writing about a topic I’m unfamiliar with, I’ll take the time and review all the terms related to the topic. For instance, recently I wrote about a rendezvous between an art dealer and an art thief on his luxury yacht off the coast of Crete. I know very little about yachts, so I spent a half hour research the parts of a yacht (fore deck, aft deck, sun deck, head) and familiarizing myself with naval terminology, so I could write freely without having to interrupt the flow. Because these terms were in my “RAM list,” they come easy and my writing is richer and more accurate.
Bottom line: sound like you have a basic knowledge of your topic at hand.
Breck accesses his RAM in Mesa, Arizona, where he computes with his wife and three children. His keen prep skills are demonstrated in his short story, “Five Humvees” in Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology, slated for release on July 31, 2013.
