Writer's Tools: Anecdotes, Mythology, Origin of Words

 My reading journey of Nir Eyal's Indistractable reintroduced me to these three powerful tools available to a writer: anecdotes, mythology, and tracing origin of words.

Eyal starts a chapter with what is supposed to be a father-daughter quality time.  the set of activities, according to Ayal, included solving sudoku puzzles and building paper airplanes.  One of the questions that was part of this parent-daughter quality time was "if you could have any superpower, what superpower would you like to have?"  Eyal tells us that he never knew what his daughter answered because he became more engaged with his smartphone.  by the time he looked up, his daughter was gone.

As I listened to this anecdote, I was reminded of a Ted Talk by Neil Connors.  In that talk, Connors asks how does a child spell love and answers "T-I-M-E".  As a reader, I can empathize both with Eyal's daughter's reaction as well as Eyal's deep sense of regret.  Indeed, this anecdote provides fitting foundation for Eyal's desired superpower: being indistractable.

The author uses Tantalus, from Greek mythology, to provide an allegory of how distraction has become a norm of the modern life.  As if cursed like Tantalus, we are constantly reaching for what is just beyond our reach.  

I am grateful for my English teachers who trained me to understand the relevance of mythologies in our modern era.  We would not have words like tantalizing with meanings enriched by powerful allegories provided by mythologies.

While we are on the subject of origin of words, Eyal reminds us that the opposite of distraction is not focus; rather it is traction.  If we avoid getting distracted, we will gain traction in whatever endeavor we want to take on.

Understanding origin of words helps us become discerning writers.  Connotations of words often matter and understanding origin of words helps us in selecting words that fit the situation.  I remember reading the following on what not to do: dust to dust, ashes to ashes, into the ground the queen dashes.

Anecdotes, mythology, and origin of words are important part of the writing craft.