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About This Author
Brandiwyn🎶 v.2026  , also known as Michelle Tuesday, is a musician, educator and writer hailing from Columbus, Ohio.
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La Bene Vita #1107017 added January 28, 2026 at 11:34am
Restrictions: None
Tone, Whimsy and an Editing Verb Bank Idea
This blog topic was the brainchild of a consultation with ChatGPT, in which I asked, "Please provide me with a list of 100 vocabulary words that would make a narrative more whimsical and quirky". In an ironic meta example of whimsy, the list proved useless, but the dialog turned into an epiphany and a brilliant word bank idea I found very useful, indeed.
If Not Whimsy, Then What?
The conversation that followed is too long to publish here. The short version goes like this: I decided the list was too whimsical (I expected words like "quite" and "astonishing" and "frolic", but got words like "bamboozle" and "razzmatazz" and "sprocket"). We engaged in a discussion about the tone I was really going for in my current project, which is far less whimsical than I thought, and the origin story for this particular serial world, which is closer, but still not whimsy.
If you're curious, ChatGPT thinks the tone I'm going for in the origin story is a combination of cozy fantasy realism, gentle irony, grounded wonder, and understated humor (um, is it me, or those labels leaning toward oxymorons?) ▶︎Did I ever mention that I'm politically moderate? Oh, I did that yesterday? So I did. You would never guess by my split-concept, sort-of-but-not-really writing tones. while the current project's target tone is grounded fantasy, earnest with sharp edges, and lightly cerebral. How do we know it's right? Your guess is as good as mine. ▶︎I'm reminded of the movie, City Slickers. The ice cream brothers claim they can name the perfect ice cream to pair with any meal and invite Billy Crystal's character to test them.
Billy: Franks and beans.
Ice cream guy: Scoop of chocolate, scoop of vanilla. Don't waste my time.
They convince him to try another meal, and he proposes sea bass with au gratin potatoes and asparagus.
Ice cream guy: Rum raisin.
Billy asks how they know he's right, and they respond: 1400 retail outlets from coast to coast, that's how we know.
In other words, we have no idea if ChatGPT is right. 
Whimsical
This whole discussion got me thinking about the word, "whimsical". Why did I have visions of walking canes and top hats, of playfulness and fancy, of imaginative creativity, of characters who are cartoonish and over-the-top adorable?
What does whimsical mean, exactly?
We're all writers here, and most of us  words. Have you ever encountered a word whose meaning you originally deduced from context clues, an incorrect definition imparted during childhood, or some other way that caused you to have it wrong for years or decades, only to have an epiphany later?
Whimsical.
Prone to whimsy.
Doing things on a whim.
So.... flighty and unpredictable? A life pantser?
I can see how "unpredictable" evolved into "imaginative". But really, "spontaneous" is probably closer to the mark. Meanwhile, "playful" and "cartoonish"? How did those even make it into the bag?
What I don't see is how ChatGPT - and Gemini, I ran a similar analysis there - thinks that the vocabulary appropriate for a whimsical tone would consist of words like dillydally, kooky and scoot. Haphazard, maybe, and bumble, but those are wonky examples gallivanting and making a ruckus with their quaint shenanigans.
Verb Bank
Needless to say, I've updated my mental definition of "whimsy". I'm not so sure the nuanced tone labels that ChatGPT diagnosed for my two projects are wholly accurate, but I didn't go there seeking labels. I went for words, and ChatGPT delivered. Eventually.
Here's an exercise you can try at home: select a passage you've previously written. Extract a list of all the active verbs you use and turn it into a handy one-page verb bank, which you can reference during the edit stage to clean up weak verbs (was, had, seemed, etc.) One thing I liked about this exercise is that ChatGPT grouped the verbs into three categories, claiming that they cover 80% of your prose:
 Movement and placement (open, cross, arrive, set)
Perception and awareness (notice, sense, realize, suspect)
Atmosphere and change (fade, hold, drift, linger)
Creating a verb bank for the revision process gives quick, easy access to options to tighten your narration and improve active voice, while still sounding like you. The categories help find appropriate options faster.
See you next week for another Writing Wednesdays Topic. Or tomorrow for a short story, personal recounting, or maybe a rant. Either way, I'll be collecting your homework.
Literarily,
Michelle |
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