The Right Words

All writers have a process they employ when working. After a few stories, I've developed my own. I write until I hit a wall. At that point, I set it aside for a few days and work on something else.

When I go back to that story, I take a day or two to revise or edit it and part of that process is to print it out. A lot of writers never read their stories in actual print on paper but I find I catch things I would never catch on a computer screen. That's just my own personal quirk.

And here's where we arrive at the word issue. I read the story aloud and circle every word that doesn't quite convey the meaning I want. A synonym is not an exact match usually. And I'm picky enough that I really try for the exact word I need.  When I'm alert, most pages have a lot of red scribbles. When the pages begin to have only a few marks and circles, it's time to put the manuscript away because I'm missing stuff.

My first pass--the one where I'm actually putting words on the page--is my "get it down while the brain is still working". I use very simple verbs to convey action, knowing that I'll make a second and third pass. So while the character might walk across the field in the first pass, he might stomp across the meadow in the second pass, or depending on how the story comes together, he might race across the weedy pasture in the third pass.

There are any number of authors who have extensive education or are widely read or simply have an affinity and love for words. They are fortunate. As I've aged, I've discovered a loss of vocabulary. It's distressing because I KNOW the word is out there somewhere. But I can't locate it in my muddled brain.

Enter The Synonym Finder from Rodale Press. It's not a thesaurus. It's an enormous book that lists synonyms in a dictionary format. Exactly perfect for me. I already know the meaning for the word I'm seeking.

When I use a particular word in a sentence, that's because it's the best word I could find to convey meaning. How about you? What's your stance on word meaning and use? How do you decide what words to use?

anny

The final word

Yesterday on a chat loop, Kelly asked for assistance with a word she couldn't think of. There were many suggestions. Finally she asked me to check my Synonym Finder. Before I typed the possibilities, someone else came up with the correct word. Yay, Cindy!

In my comments yesterday, another fellow writer commented that there weren't very many synonyms for the word deep. For ha-ha's I looked it up. Here's what the book had to say:

deep, adj. 1. immeasurable, bottomless, fathomless, depthless; extensive, broad, wide, far-reaching, vast, massive; retreating, yawning, cavernous, abysmal; submerged, sunk, sunken, on the bottom; buried, in the bowels of the earth, subterreanean; deep-seated, deep-rooted, inmost, out of sight. Inf. way down.
2. sagacious, sage, wise, learned, knowing; penetrating, discerning, perspicacious, shrewd, astute; artful, subtle, designing, scheming, devious, cunning.
3. profound, extreme, intense, great; grave, pressing, urgent, critical, vital, important, significant. Inf. heavy.
4. difficult, unclearn, obscure, abstruse, esoteric, recondite; impenetrable, inexplicable, incomprehensible; secret, hidden, mysterious, unfathomable, concealed; enigmatic, mystical, sphinxlike, occult.
5. absorbed, engrossed, preoccupied, rapt, inten, involved, entangled; immersed, plunged into, lost in, swallowed up, occupied, engaged.
6. rich, full, big, strong, powerful, heavy, solid; full-toned, resonant, sonorous, bass, basso; rumbling, booming, resounding; guttural, growly; dark, intensified, vivid, vibrant, vigorous, full-bodied.
7. earnest, sincere, serious, sober, somber; philosophical, thoughtful, reflective; heartfelt, poignant, fervent, ardent, impassioned; intense, deepfelt.
--n. 8. bottom, depths, deepest reaches, bottommost point; depth, profundity, extent, vastness, abyss.
9. culmination, central point, midpoint, middle, midst; silence, still stillness, fastness, recesses, remotest point.
10 the deep Chiefly Literary. the ocean, the sea, the seas, the high seas, the seven seas, main, the ocean blue, the waves; briny deep, Davy Jone's locker, Neptune's kingdom.
--adv. 11. profoundly, intensely, deeply. See deeply............The Synonym Finder by J.I. Rodale

There you go, Jae. Just a few alternatives to deep.

Sometimes I get lost in that book. One afternoon, I looked up various colors. There are an astonishing number of words for colors. There were over fifty for the color red--and that didn't take into account the other ways we use the word red, such as embarassed, or as a reference to the old Soviet Union.

One time, I went looking for an alternative to the word desire. That entry is over a quarter page long... and yet the the precise word I wanted wasn't there. But there were a couple of words that were close so I looked them up. Three entries later, I found the exact word I wanted. That word that would convey the precise meaning I was looking for.

Sometimes I will read something I've written months or even years later and think how did I know that was exactly the right word for that sentence? I don't remember the time I spent searching for the right word. But when I read it later, I notice that it's there. I wonder if readers ever notice the words? Do they realize that the sentence would be less if I used a different word there? I don't know. What I do know is that for me, it will niggle and irritate me until I hunt down the perfect word.

Perhaps the apostle John said it best, "In the beginning was the Word..." John 1:1

Anny

Pop over to Amarinda's Place for her take on the Saga and other observations about life at www.amarindajones.blogspot.com and then check with Kelly Blog to see what she's up to today. Maybe she's teaching ants to toe dance? www.kkirch.blogspot.com Blessings on your day!

The Very Best Of...

I am launching a new weekly feature on my blog titled The Very Best of...

It could be a CD, Movie, Story, Interview, or whatever. Today's feature author is Amarinda Jones.

Amarinda Jones!

When the hot, sexy guy intimately caressing Celestine in her dreams turns out to be a real live man in her bed, is it moonlight madness or is she just one very lucky girl? Should she be offended this man just wants a moonlight ride with any available woman or let him take her as her heart's desire?

The woman in Nick's arms is different from any he has ever tasted before. Seducing Celestine into submission becomes one sexy challenge he cannot resist. But someone else wants Celestine and it has nothing to do with sex.Can lust be love?

Can she stay out of trouble long enough to find out?


http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419911576


I really enjoyed this book! Celestine is one down-on-her-luck gal who refuses to give in or give up. And Nick is smart enough to recognize that she's the woman for him so he hangs in there until Celestine finally works out that he's the man for her.


I always love when a new book by Amarinda is released because I know that I'm in for fun, intrigue, and love. Seducing Celestine is no exception. If you want to know more about the book just click on the link above!


The Synonym Finder by J I Rodale ISBN 0878572368


Ah, where would I be without the Synonym Finder? Lost, lost, lost. It's a hefty one thousand three hundred and sixty one pages of words. Can't think of the right word? Have one that doesn't quite fit? Haul out the handy-dandy Synonym Finder and look up that "almost, but not quite right" word. In ninety-seven percent of the cases, I find the correct word on the first try. And that's a good thing because if I have to go hunting through the other pages, I just might not get back to writing for a while.


I once had to change the word "spanking" that was sprinkled through one of my books. After scratching my head in dismay, I looked up spank in my Synonym Finder. Really, there are all sorts of ways to express the same idea. On sentence in particular took on an entirely different meaning... "If you don't behave I may have to give you a licking!" Hmmm. That conjures up all sorts of possibilities.


I have three copies of The Synonym Finder. One that I used to death so that now it's tied together with string. One is a paperback copy. And my current desk copy--a hardback. If you're in the market for an indispensable writing tool, check out The Synonym Finder.



Awake by Josh Groban


If you want a CD to just sit back and dream or write to... anything by Josh Groban will be just fine. But I particularly love Awake. It has an a capella lullaby that I could listen to over and over.

Who am I kidding? I could listen to him sing the yellow pages. My granddaughter (aged seven at the time when his first CD was released) would sing along with him in Italian, French, Spanish... Did she know those languages? Heck, no, but she fell in love with Josh and she could spend hours watching his concert videos.

So it's a really nice change when you can at least pretend that you can understand the words. And for the writers--all of his CDs are nice to listen to while writing because they're passionate and romantic. And don't we all want more passion and romance?

Anny

Kelly is home at last so don't forget to stop by for her take on being home at http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com/ and then hop on over to Amarinda's Place to see what she's been up to at http://www.amarindajones.blogspot.com/ and then of course--Blessings on your day!