My Bibles!
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- Several people have asked me about my writing “bibles”. But a bible can be different things to different people. Some reckon it’s a series of character outlines, plans and plots … well, yes, that’s fine. But it can also be a book or books I return to often. So here are the books I have to look at most regularly!
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Cheers for now!
Mike
Never seen the compact full OED. Very interesting. Thank you.
Glad you liked it! I've had those books for a while now, and the compact OED is a brilliant tool. Thanks for the comment, Paul!
Those books are quite precious. I wanted to look them up and found them on Amazon for several hundred dollars.
Yes, well, they have a huge amount of information in them. The OE Dictionary may well have paid for itself several times over, but the new Historical Thesaurus won't have earned out yet! Sadly there's a pretty small market for a book like that, but it is fascinating!
You've also experienced the advantages of the small market for the Historical Thesaurus: someone who gets stuck with it will mark it down to 15 pounds at some point...
I clicked on this video thinking you were showing a Holy Bible collection but this was surprisingly very enjoyable and quite funny. I loved your use of “hideously expensive” I might steal that from you. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it! And they are my most used books still!
Have you ever considered taking your viewers on a local outing? I would love to see some of the sites as I'm stuck across the pond.
I would dearly love to, Michael (I love your surname, by the way!), and will try to. The problem just now is, my camera's wrecked, and I am waiting for it to come back. Then again, it's the wrong sort of device to make videos while walking. I really need to acquire a newer one that will do videos better. I am always trying to work out new ideas, though, and this is definitely one I'd like to try. How long would you reckon would be okay? About ten to fifteen minutes? Thanks for the idea.
Not boring at all. Very interesting.
Many thanks, Joen! Appreciate the comment!
Very interesting especially the compact OED. How has your set of bibles changed throughout the years? Are there any specialized dictionaries that you use when tackling a particular historical period?
There are some additional ones, yes. I make constant use of The Royal Historical Society's book, Handbook of Dates, which gives all the dates of the days from earliest times, so I can always be correct about whether Monday was the 3rd or 4th of July in the year dot! I also make extensive use of the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Captain Grose. It says on the front cover, "A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence"! Then I have to constantly refer to Geoffrey Hughes' excellent book: Swearing, which is a history of cursing through the centuries!
The OED and the Historical Thesaurus are both available for free online if you have a library card.
Thanks for the comment, Andrew - and yes, they are available online - but it's no good for me. When I'm in a book, the last thing I want to do is go to a website, hunt around for the relevant word or information, and then tab back to my working document. It's more disruptive to me than opening a book beside my desk!
Hi, Martin. I would imagine so - it depends where you live, I guess! But most libraries should have copies, or have access to the Historical Thesaurus and Dictionary. Of course for me, that's not very helpful. I really need the thing there, to hand while I'm writing. It's the same with my book collection: my bookshelves are always groaning under the weight of the books I've bought. Usually, it's a lot cheaper for me to buy a copy of, say, HPR Finberg's book on Tavistock Abbey, than to take the train to London - £20 compared to £150 on the train. An easy equation! Thanks for the comment!
@@writerlywitterings True. And it's very easy to get distracted on the OED website. You can end up there for hours if you're not careful.
Oh, they're beautiful! I'm such a weirdo that I'd sit there reading them. (I was a weird kid who used to read reference books for fun.)
It's a hard job not to sit and read them! If I go to look up one word, I will usually be stuck for an hour or more!
I did that, too. And encyclopediae and grammar books.
Good day, Off topic, what is the chime from your clock, "Westminster"? Thank You.
Er ... It is similar, I think, but the clock is ancient, and I think it was set up in Holland, so it was probably just the tune that the clockmaker liked! Back then I doubt it had a name!
@@writerlywitterings Thank You.
Thank you interesting 😊
Cheers, Richard - very glad to hear you liked it. Next, I think I have to start talking about pens again. Still waiting for my camera to come home so I can return to proper filming!
Interesting. Of course one could imagine all kinds of series of character outlines and plots, but you could probably fill a bookcase the size of Devon with these and never be able to read all of it. In the end you work with the English language. These must be treasures then.
They certainly are, Sacha. I couldn't work without them! Funny how every type of job has its own specialist tools - and these are mine!
Can’t you now access all that information on line?
Yes - but it is infinitely more disruptive to go and try to hunt it down. It's a great deal less distracting to avoid the internet while writing. And easier to just turn some pages and get what I need, without moving my computer from the page I'm working on - especially when I'm writing a first draft on my Freewrite, which doesn't allow me to go and search the web!
10 or 15 minutes would be fantastic. Hopefully you’re camera issues will be sorted out soon.
Thanks, Michael. Hmm. That's an interesting idea. I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, still waiting to hear how long it'll be before I can get my camera back. Just now, I wish I could buy a second to start filming sooner - but these things cost too much, sadly. Do you have a favourite that you'd like me to film sooner rather than later?
first!
Only because I completely failed, and sent this out at five am instead of five pm as usual! Hope you found it interesting!