I normally have a Roget’s Thesaurus handy — a proper Roget’s Thesaurus, not one of those synonym/antonym dictionaries — and look the word up in that. I used to use the paperback version, but nowadays I use the ebook version freely downloadable from Project Gutenberg at
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext91/roget15a.txt
Load it into your favorite text editor (note that a text editor is different from a word processor — it is smaller, lighter, faster) though a word processor will do. Now search for a word like the one you want. You may need to continue your search several times, for instance effort may appear several places in the thesaurus with slightly different meanings. It might take a little getting used to, but a thesaurus is wonderful for helping fill in the tip-of-the-tongue blanks.

Incidentally a paper thesaurus works quite differently. First turn to the second half of the book to look up the word in the alphabetical listing, finding a shade of meaning that suits what you want. Now turn to the paragraph number (not page number) and read through the list for the desired word.

I stumbled across your “Elements of Mente” some time back and saved it for later reading. How glad I am that I did! Yesterday I need to take a long train journey, so with my trusty Palm computer and an mp3 player spent a very pleasant time reading your story.

Would you like some feedback on it? Is this story one that you are still developing? Is it one of a series or standalone? Have you put any more such works online?

I’ve read the short samples you have online these days and liked them too.

You obviously have enormous talent. From what I see you have some difficulty getting that into suitable form for the page. “Elements of Mente” had many spelling and grammatical errors, but the underlying story was excellent. In my opinion you have a *wonderful* visual imagination. If you have difficulty being accepted by publishers of literature please take heart from what I’m saying; you have a heck of a lot to offer. I’ve read many stories that are perfectly spelled and punctuated, which have impeccable grammar, but are drab and lifeless. Elements of Mente shone through its typos and other errors — grabbed at my heart, and made me want desperately to know more. Now, *that* is the mark of a good story!

Have you ever considered teaming up with an artist to try creating a graphic novel? It seems to me that your style lends itself admirably to that form. If you don’t know what a graphic novel is then try checking out Neil Gaiman’s highly acclaimed “Sandman” series, or Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” (recently made into a movie), or Terry Moore’s captivating series “Strangers in Paradise”.

Jeff

Do they work around people writing novels, or does it have to be short story only?

A couple of things for clarity, as I read it. Is Angel’s first school a school for regular students (non-cyborgs?) and is that why her tutor recommends transferring her to an all-cyborg school? The “why of it” might be helpful to the reader (is the reader at this point to be a potential literary agent?). If it’s a mystery and the first tutor is part of the conspiracy to have the new school experiment on Angel (as well as on Angel’s new friend in the new school), maybe it might be something for you to include briefly in your synopsis. Did the old tutor give Angel’s mother a reason why she should arbitrarily send her daughter to a new school? Like anybody, Angel will be a new student in the new school, rejected, of course, as an outsider (even though she’s a cyborg like they are). A wealth of drama exists in that alone, and you seem to have picked up on that. Good luck.
Gerri George