Websites, books & tools
Acronyms: Make a mnemonic
Andy’s anagram solver
Type in your key word or phrase, and this tool will create anagrams from them. Whether you’ll like the anagrams, I can’t say. “Ann Wylie” generated “el yawn in” — not a phrase I’ll be using in my next training brochure!
Internet Anagram Server
Turn a list into a mnemonic device to help readers remember your key points. Create a meaningful acronym from the first letters of the words in your list with this online anagram server.
Play with words
The Washington Post Style Invitational
Gain inspiration from the winners — or play to win yourself.
Neologisms: Coin a word
Verbotomy
Find inspiration for coining new words.
Word Fugitives
Barbara Wallraff’s column in The Atlantic that coins new words at readers’ request.
Word Fugitives: In Pursuit of Wanted Words
Barbara Wallraff’s brilliant book on coining words.
WordSpy
Find inspiration for writing your own half-and-half words from the word lover’s guide to new words.
Play With Your Words
Neurologists call it “the pleasure of the text,” the reward readers get from figuring out figurative language. (It can be quite a reward: If your wordplay is funny enough,
your readers’ brains even deliver a little dose of dopamine.)Want to learn to tap wordplay’s superpowers. If so, bring Ann in to present Master the Art of Storytelling — a one- to two-day creative-writing course — to your team.
There, they’ll learn to flip phrases; compress details; sub sound-alikes; list, rhyme and twist — even coin new words with free online tools that do most of the work for you. And they'll polish your skills in a wordplay workout, with recipes for wordplay from anagram to oxymoron.