A Handy Writing Tip: The Use and Mis-use of the TK
What's a TK, you ask? Read on
Mindset, motivation and inspiration for writers, with a dash of instruction about writing craft added in, from novelist, writing coach and workshop leader Charlotte Rains Dixon. I also carry on a lot about process, because: there’s no one approach to writing that works for everyone. But I can help you find what works for you. I love all of my readers, every single one of you and I’m truly grateful when you read my work and connect with me. Subscribe to get the fuel you need for your writing career. I truly adore all my readers, and a paid subscription helps my bring these words to you.
This is a mid-week post that I’d usually set for paid members. But it’s the summer solstice today and I’m feeling languid and lazy, which means it’s too difficult to figure out where to put the paywall. So this one is free for all.
I’m always surprised when writers (and content creators of all kinds) don’t know about the TK trick, and I’ve explained it to lightbulb “ohhhhhs” repeatedly over the years. So, here we go, now I shall explain it to you. But first the backstory question.
You’re writing along and suddenly you get to a place where you don’t know something. Maybe your brain is reaching for the correct word. Maybe you need to do a bit of research. Maybe you don’t know exactly what your character should say, but you do know the rest of the scene.
So what do you do?
Head off to research either a synonym or a lengthier topic, and you run the risk of finding yourself down a deep, deep, rabbit hole an hour later, your original question forgotten. And stopping to ponder the exact line of dialogue could leave you stuck for days. (Ask me how I know. No, don’t.) Really, when you’re drafting and you get into the zone, anything that stops you threatens your flow.
To counter this, and so that you can keep clattering those words onto the page, perhaps you have come up with a strategy. Maybe you are a fan of inserting an X to signify a place you need to come back to. But then your draft is complete and you do a search for your Xs and you find excite, exclamation, exhale, example, excrement. The search feature is literal minded. It will throw up every single word that has an X in it and you’ll be tediously clicking the little arrow to advance through the manuscript.
Enter the TK.
Which is your new placeholder of choice. Better, waaay better, than using the X. Why? Because the letters T and K do not appear next to each other in the English language. (Whoever figured that out did not live in the Pacific Northwest, where we have towering Sitka spruce trees, but that’s the odd exception. And you’re probably not planning on using that word in your manuscript anyway.) This makes it easy to do a search and find all the places you need to edit or plump up or find more information on.
But what does TK stand for? Well, nothing, but if you must have a meaning, it can be “to come.” Yes, I do know that “come” starts with a C, not a K, but work with me here, okay?
So the TK is perfect for drafting. Don’t know what happens next? TK. Don’t know the next line of dialogue? TK it. Don’t know what your character is wearing? TK TK TK. You can TK to your heart’s content all the way through the novel.
But then comes the time when you’ve finished that draft and all those TKs come home to roost in your brain. And now you have to figure them out. Which is when you might come face to face with the downside of the TK. Which might be, just possibly, maybe, that you have overdone it.
Like cigarettes and alcohol, the TK can become a crutch upon which you lean too hard. Don’t ask me how I know this. It’s easy to end up with a page full of TKs when it would have been better if you’d just chosen the correct word in the first place. It can become an excuse for actually doing the writing. Ask me how I know this. No, don’t.
You can also do what I often do, which is write TK AND THEN A NOTE IN ALL CAPS ABOUT WHAT IS MISSING. The all caps bit is not truly necessary because you’ll find this spot again thanks to the TK but caps make me feel like I’ve got something very, very important to say. And sometimes, often even, writing out the note jogs your brain into figuring out what you want to write. And so there you are.
Hit me with your thoughts. Do you use the TK? Do you have other strategies? Love to hear them.
That’s all for today, folks. See you on Sunday with my weekly Love Letter.
I love your humor, Charlotte. I've heard of TK before; it's vaguely in my brain, but I have never used it. Now I've got it under my belt! Thanks!
Hi Charlotte, I used the TK in my corporate writing, but oddly I never thought to use it in my creative writing. Instead I use brackets, ie., [research what year Frankenstein was published].