WORDS' WORTH

A dictionary is a tool not a magic wand. 

Sometimes when people are concerned about their writing they make the mistake of thinking that the way to make it better is to use more “grown-up” sounding words. They aren’t confident in their own ability to tell the story they’re attempting which leads to a belief that, as far as words are concerned, bigger is better.

Now, I’m not suggesting that those in possession of an expansive vocabulary shouldn’t use it to it’s fullest potential. It’s certainly a great attribute for any wordsmith to possess and one shouldn’t apologize for it. From a personal point of view I enjoy the flow of words just as much as I enjoy story and it’s just as inspiring to me to read the work of someone with an expansive word pallette as it is to look at the colours in something like Van Goghs Starry Night. I’m in a minority nowadays though. The problem can be that when writing fiction for today’s markets, even when used correctly, fancy words can sound like the ingredients on the back of a can of soda to a lot of people. Flow and voice are more important than ever and that is usually achieved through comfortable rather than complex prose. 

Compelling prose doesn’t have to be complex. I don’t know of anyone who ever sold a million copies of a book because people were blown away by the complexity of the wording. There are those like Cormac Mccarthy who can use words better than most to create heartbreaking scenes of staggering beauty, but by the same token a book like the Alchemist is written very simply and does the same job. 

Some lucky writers who get seriously good can combine the two. Ernest Hemingway is an example of how someone with the vocabularly of the entire Collins corporation can use it in a way that sounds simple. If you’re half decent then the chances are if you need a dictionary to understand a word, so will th reader, and the object isn’t to bedazzle readers with words they have to look up, its to draw them into your world, story and lives of your characters to make connections. The word that should encapsulate your prose more than anything is “appropriate”. It wouldn’t do to write Fantastic Mr Fox in Dickensian prose just as Pride and Prejudice wouldn’t work under the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Your wording needs to be cognisent and appropriate for those who are going to read it.

A Thesaurus can be an equally fatal object if relied upon too heavily. The main danger is that people rely on a thesaurus so heavily that they substitute words to try to appear more word-smart. Oftentimes however these people don’t really understand how to use words and the result is misused wording, which is MUCH worse than clear, simple sentences.

If you really want to improve your wording then the best education is going to be to read more. Read and read and read and you’ll find that you’re phrasing and vocabularly expand greatly, quite organically. Writers always “borrow” things from each other, there’s ony so many words after all and so many sequences they work in so there’s no shame in using words and concepts that you’re read in other places if it enhances your own work and inspires you and your readers.

When you do your rewrite it’s important to understand that using words for words’ sake in an attempt to sound clever isn’t going to get you very far. If I can understand the prose then that’s half the battle, if you overcomplicate it to sound clever I’m probably going to put the book down unless you’re one of my favourite authors already and I’m prepared to invest in your material and work a bit more.

So rememeber a dictionary is not a shortcut. It’s more useful for spelling corrections than anything else, it won’t take away the hard work of a good writer.