Customer Reviews

Writer's Digest Flip Dictionary

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You've got the perfect idea for your novel but you can't pinpoint the right word. Maybe you're going to diagnose your character with a deadly disease. But which one?

You have a particular phrase in your head but don't quite know the exact word. For instance, when you screw something until its flush with the surface, what's it called?

Whether you're looking for another word for "momentous" or hunting for tree-related terms, "The Writer's Digest Flip Dictionary" is a comprehensive guide no writer should be without.

Use this book to tighten up your writing. By targeting the correct word to use in your manuscript, you'll be able to create a more compelling short story or novel.

When searching for a word, you'll often come across a list of "Related Terms." Sample entries include:

* Doctor-Related Terms

* Gods and Godesses

* Herbs

* Legal Terms

* Marine Corps Ranks

* A Complete List of Rivers

* Types of Rock

* Summer Olympic Games

* Weights and Measures

* Types of Wrenches

With close to 700 pages of words, phrases and related terms, finding the perfect word for your writing couldn't be any easier. You can spend hours just flipping through this rich source of information.

From fiction writing to business writing, "The Writer's Digest Flip Dictionary" is a valuable companion to your writing venture and your muse's new best friend.

This is a reverse dictionary with a lot of lists, charts, etc. Although it can be confusing to use, it is one of the best reference books I've seen for just flipping through. Lots of surprises and interesting facts tucked away in sidebars.

While there is plenty of words and good relationships, I found its organization a bit difficult to use when needing to rapidly find a word. Saying that, it's also the one most often on my desk and not in the bookshelf with the others.

I got this book as a gift. I keep it by my desk all the time now because I use it so much. Every person that notices the book on my desk takes a look at it and marvels at how useful it is. I also use this book a lot when I need to make my searches on the Internet more efficient. Great idea for a book!!!

I chanced upon this eye-catching book at a large bookstore. The conspicuous tagline states: "For when you know what you want to say but can't think of the word." That sounded like familiar territory.

I bought it and have been using it countless of times. It really boosts one's writing.

As a fiction writer, I use this book often for two extremely helpful aspects:
1) The lists of different names for colors, kinds of fabrics, etc.
2) The thesauras-type entries contain some words that only particially mean the same thing. This in-exactness means that you find words that are closely related to the word you originally looked up; you receive a more comprehensive list of suggestions. (This feature is great for people who already know the exact definitions of words. Otherwise, I suggest a companion dictionary.)

The "flip dictionary" aspects of the book are useless. First, if you don't think the same way the author does, you might not be able to find the reverse entry at all. There are many different ways to word a definition. Second, what good are words that most likely your readers won't know? Take these entries for instance: "pivoting, capable of: trochoid;" and "larval form of certain bivalve mollusks: spat." Trochoid? Spat? In a short story about underwater exploration, if I must mention those things in that way, I'll stick to "able to pivot" and "clam larva." My readers will undoubtedly thank me for it.

I'd have to own a Roget's Super Thesaurus to be sure, but I highly suspect that it's a much better resource for writers.

This Flip Dictionary isn't something really new. And in some of the areas it covers, there are serious errors.

It's probably unfair to ask one author, working by herself, to give us a book on the quality of, say, Roget's International Thesaurus a volume of over 1300 pages published by Thomas Y. Crowell and prepared by a large professional team building up on 150 years of scholarship and research.

However, life isn't always "fair." When I write, I want to know that the information is comprehensive and reliable. I think Kipfer's book is a brave attempt and the design is contemporary and engaging. For my writing, I think I'll stick with time-proven Roget