Okay, So, yeah, I haven't written in my blog for a wee bit over a month. Um...I've been busy? So busy. Big news! My husband and I bought a house!! We've been married for almost 10 years and this is our first house together. It's amazing. I'm so pleased. So we've been dealing with escrow, packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, painting, landscaping, and the average set-up stuff. In this time, I have even neglected my new novel since I had other pressing matters. Not a good thing to do, but when I work 40 hours a week and am also trying to set up a new house in the evening, it kinda takes up all the available time I would otherwise have for writing. So there you have it.
However, I made a promise and I intend to keep it. This blog post will be specifically about word choices.
The words we use in our day to day lives have an enormous impact on how others percieve us. However, in spoken word, we have the advantage of voice tone and body language. Think of all the different tones you can use for the phrase, "nice tie." Said in an excited tone, the person would take it as a compliment. Said sarcastically, the person would get their feelings hurt and possibly think you are being a jerk. Said in a neutral tone, the person would think you didn't care. So it's not just the words we use but how we use them.
The dilemma in writing is that the words have to convey the tone. If you want a character to show her distaste, but your character is snarky and sarcastic, you wouldn't just have her say, "nice tie." You'd have her say, "nice tie," words dripping with sarcasm as she rolls her eyes. But we aren't talking about how to show tone in description. We are talking about how to use just the right word for your description.
Imagine this...you are walking along a riverbank covered in stones. Let's focus on the word "stone." Sounds pleasant, smooth, comforting, and warm. It would be easy to walk across these in your bare feet, yes? Okay, now imagine this...you are walking barefoot along a riverbank covered in rocks. Sounds painful, doesn't it? Rock sounds jagged, harsh. It's cut short in the mouth. You almost choke on the word as you say it. The word itself conveys what you are trying to say. Though stones and rocks are essential the same thing, the astute writer knows they are not the same to the reader. Each word conveys totally different meanings.
So, when describing something, take the time to choose the right nouns (person, place, or thing for those of you not as up on grammar). These "thing" words create a huge impact on your writing.
Let's move onto verbs. I'm sure you've heard it before, but listen anyway. If you haven't heard it before, please, take note...adverbs are not okay. Typically if you are using an adverb, it's because you are using the wrong verb. Once again, I will digress for the benefit of those who aren't as keen on grammar. A verb is an action word (i.e. drink, slam, run, hike, drive...you get the idea...every sentence needs at least a noun and a verb to be called a sentence...and, by the way, any form of "to be" is a verb, meaning "am," "was," "is," "are," and so on). An adverb is a word that describes the verb. Typically adverbs end in ly, but not always, so don't let the ly fool you.
Let's see some examples, shall we? Follow me. See that girl over there on the beach? She's running quickly toward us. Or, is she sprinting? Do you see the difference? She is running quickly or she is sprinting. You can remove one word from the sentence by using the right verb in this case (by the way, reducing word count is an excellent way to tighten a story and make it stronger...more on this in a future letter).
Another thing adverbs do is create a redundancy. Avoid redundancy. It's not okay. Here's an example of redundancy: She screamed loudly. Well, by all definition, isn't a scream loud? If someone is doing a soundless scream, then yes, the destinction is needed. But if it is a normal scream, it's going to be loud, so "loudly" is not needed. If you are trying to show a more intense scream, then look at your individual word choices. She could shriek, bellow, cry out, hollar, squeal, and so many other words. Your thesaurus could be a great tool in this exercise.
Now, mood is created by word choice, as well. You could say the rabbit hopped through the field or the rabbit bounced through the field. The words mean the same thing, but bouncing gives the sentence a more carefree feeling. When describing a summer's day you could set a relaxed mood by describing the cool breeze, the hum of dragon flies, the dance of butterflies, and the warmth radiating from the sidewalk. But if you want to give this summer day an ominous feeling, then you would choose to describe the hum of a mosquito right next to the ear, the intense heat blazing into your character, the bright, almost blinding noon sun. Word choice is you choosing what to describe and how to describe it.
I do hope this has been rather helpful. Please let me know. This is my first attempt at writing something like this, so feedback is welcome. I often give advice to individuals, but thought it would work well here so others could read it too.
My next article will be about Point of View...what it "really" means and how to use it to create the best effect in a story. I'll also be discussing common mistakes when using first person point of view.
If interested in reading any of my work, or if you have work you'd like me to look at, sign up for a free membership at writing.com. It's a wonderful writing community where you can share your stories, gain feedback, and read some amazing works and provide feedback as well. When you give feedback to others, it helps you understand your own writing that much better...believe me.
Here's a writing exercise: Write a short story (1,000 words or less) that is scary and intense, but in broad daylight. No shadows here. Nothing going bump in the night. Challenge yourself. The second challenge to this exercise is to write the story paying particular attention to word choice...and no adverbs. I don't want to see any adverbs in these. If you write the story by July 25th, email it to me and I'd be happy to provide you with feedback on your work.
Thanks for reading.