Monday, July 02, 2007
Index
So I did as I may have said I would do and stole the index idea from Zachary Schomburg's The Man Suit, along with my own Index of Fun Words from The Eleventh Muse. The index for my book is a little more oriented toward general objects/concepts/actions than specific words, but it's sometimes surprising to find out what things recur a lot. Here's where it stands right now:
alcohol: 9, 13, 22, 28, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 49, 60
apes and monkeys: 6, 9, 39, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59
cars: 6, 20, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 47, 49, 52, 57, 60, 61
Colorado: 2, 5, 20, 27, 30, 40, 41, 47, 48, 52
deer: 3, 4, 32, 40
escape: 3, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20, 23, 41, 43, 47, 55
explosions: 15, 43, 44, 48, 51, 52
fire: 5, 7, 8, 27, 40, 46, 47, 48, 51, 56, 58, 60, 61
fishing: 20, 24, 27, 28, 41, 49
guns: 8, 12, 13, 22, 30, 43, 44, 45, 49, 50, 52, 54, 56
holes: 7, 17, 19, 22, 27, 28, 30, 32, 49, 56
illicit drugs: 13, 23, 26, 34, 37, 52
insomnia: 12, 14, 22, 28, 31, 32, 39
knives and swords: 7, 9, 12, 13, 18, 24, 28, 46
machinery: 14, 29, 36, 43, 55, 59
money: 3, 4, 13, 15, 23, 33, 37, 53, 59, 61
mud and dirt: 2, 17, 20, 27, 28, 47, 52, 54
reflections: 10, 18, 29, 38
scars: 25, 34, 36, 46, 54
shadows: 3, 17, 25, 46, 54
skulls: 9, 18, 26, 28, 45, 56
smoking: 6, 13, 15, 16, 20, 34, 48, 57, 58
suffocation: 6, 15, 19, 20, 26, 30, 36, 37, 48, 49, 50
telephones: 3, 11, 12, 22, 33, 37, 57
The overall concept of falling appears more than any item in the index so far. I think I may have to narrow it to "people falling" to cut it down a little.
alcohol: 9, 13, 22, 28, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 49, 60
apes and monkeys: 6, 9, 39, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59
cars: 6, 20, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 47, 49, 52, 57, 60, 61
Colorado: 2, 5, 20, 27, 30, 40, 41, 47, 48, 52
deer: 3, 4, 32, 40
escape: 3, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20, 23, 41, 43, 47, 55
explosions: 15, 43, 44, 48, 51, 52
fire: 5, 7, 8, 27, 40, 46, 47, 48, 51, 56, 58, 60, 61
fishing: 20, 24, 27, 28, 41, 49
guns: 8, 12, 13, 22, 30, 43, 44, 45, 49, 50, 52, 54, 56
holes: 7, 17, 19, 22, 27, 28, 30, 32, 49, 56
illicit drugs: 13, 23, 26, 34, 37, 52
insomnia: 12, 14, 22, 28, 31, 32, 39
knives and swords: 7, 9, 12, 13, 18, 24, 28, 46
machinery: 14, 29, 36, 43, 55, 59
money: 3, 4, 13, 15, 23, 33, 37, 53, 59, 61
mud and dirt: 2, 17, 20, 27, 28, 47, 52, 54
reflections: 10, 18, 29, 38
scars: 25, 34, 36, 46, 54
shadows: 3, 17, 25, 46, 54
skulls: 9, 18, 26, 28, 45, 56
smoking: 6, 13, 15, 16, 20, 34, 48, 57, 58
suffocation: 6, 15, 19, 20, 26, 30, 36, 37, 48, 49, 50
telephones: 3, 11, 12, 22, 33, 37, 57
The overall concept of falling appears more than any item in the index so far. I think I may have to narrow it to "people falling" to cut it down a little.
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Steve, that's very cool. Can I ask how you go about such a thing, as a technical matter?
--Stuart
--Stuart
# posted by 
: July 02, 2007 7:44 PM
: July 02, 2007 7:44 PM
This is fascinating. (I won't ask about all the "suffocation" indices).
Do you use a particular indexing program to do this? Or was it done all by hand?
Do you use a particular indexing program to do this? Or was it done all by hand?
Just the MS Word index program, word searches, and a fair bit of skimming over every poem (this exercise really helped me look back at the poems and gain some new insights) and fudging.
For example, the suffocation index actually combines references to suffocation, smothering, stifling, and at least one other similar word. No strangling in the manuscript, though, fortunately.
For example, the suffocation index actually combines references to suffocation, smothering, stifling, and at least one other similar word. No strangling in the manuscript, though, fortunately.
This is great. Now you know how my book "Theories of Falling" ended up with its title. My tally was a bit less formal, though.
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