I think that a truly important part of being a good and effective writer comes from having a decent and flowing vocabulary at your disposal for all occasions. Now, I have mentioned this briefly before in other articles before, but I never really went into depth about what this means and how to develop and expand it in ways that will be useful to you in some way. You see, what you want is to allow your word usage to grow and change and evolve over time...all while still sounding natural when you type it out on the page. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but it’s not as difficult as it sounds either. It’s something that simply grows in its potency the more you get used to it.

So that’s why we’re here today. Vocabulary is that special added flavor that enriches the whole project, and you’ll keep getting better at it once it becomes more of an involuntary part of your process.

I do peek in from time to time at Myr’s “Word Of The Day” in the Writing World section, and occasionally find a few words here and there that I might decide to pick up along the way. Hehehe, where he finds so many useful pieces for the kind of writing that I do, I’ll never know. But they’re out there, and they come in handy when I’m staring off into space...looking for just the right way to phrase something for one of my stories. And once I make that a part of my vocabulary, then it just gives me a big palette to work from when working on my digital canvas. It always feels good to have a decent number of choices at my fingertips when it comes to stuff like that.

Now, you might realize that I said the word ‘useful’ here. Let me explain...

While I get a real kick out of words in general, knowing what they mean, and how to put them in a sentence...that doesn’t mean that I can us them all. Many, I might never use at all. When I put a story together, I write the way that I speak. I want it to feel as though I’m telling you guys the stories out loud, unscripted, with my usual speaking voice shining through. Now, I write all the time, so I’d like to think that I have a rather ‘expanded’ way of expressing myself in my everyday conversation...and for the sake of my fiction, I certainly don’t mind ‘flowering’ it up a little bit to make it sound a bit more poetic...but I, mostly, just make it sound like me. And that means that there are many words that I know for a fact I would never use in casual conversation. And if that’s the case, chances are...it will feel awkward if I tried to use it in my stories.

If it feels awkward in my heart, it’ll feel awkward on the page. And sometimes, simplicity is better.

For example...whenever my characters laugh, I have a ton of synonyms that I can use to describe them. And I can vary them up depending on how hard their laughing. I might bring it up to laughing or cackling...or bring it down to giggles and snickering. When used in context, the words you use can change the overall image and emotional impact of the scene. You would think that they would all have an identical ‘feel’ to them, but they really don’t. Not to me, they don’t. However, other synonyms could be used like ‘guffaw’, ‘chortle’, ‘snigger’, or ‘tittle’...which are synonymous, yes...but I would never be talking to somebody and use any one of those expressions to tell somebody a story in real life. I’m happy to know that they’re there and that I know what they mean...but the chances of me ever writing them into my fiction is very low. Probably never. So to me, personally...they’re not really useful when searching my vocabulary to create a scene.

Those words are just more tools for the toolbox.

If you find yourself looking for the right words, and you don’t want to keep using the same ones over and over...searching for other synonyms can be very helpful to you. I used to actually use an old thesaurus that my grandmother got for me when I was a teenager to look up other methods of delivering the same message. An actual book that was super thick and almost too heavy to hold in my lap. Hehehe! But, even though I’ve gotten in the habit of doing it online now for the sake of speed and maintaining my current mood for as long as currently possible...I still go back and do it the old fashioned way from time to time to this day.

“But, Comsie...why on Earth would you do that???”

I’m glad you asked! Hehehe, either that or I’m hearing phantom voices in my head again. Either way, it’s easy enough to explain...

With an actual book, turning physical pages and looking for the word that I was originally searching for...I would sometimes come across a word that was even better than the one I was originally seeking out. It’s something that always stuck with me, and I use it when I’m online too. If you use a word from your vocabulary and realize that you may have already used it before...maybe even many times before...and the synonyms aren’t giving you many useful options to help you say it another way...take a moment to see if maybe you can find another word or phrase that might give your structure a little more variety.

Say that I want one of my characters to blush...and I’m turning pages in that giant book, looking for it...before I get to ‘blush’, I might accidentally come across the word ‘bashful’. Hmmm, ok...

If a synonym for ‘blush’, and phrases like ‘turning red in the face’, are seriously limited, or maybe just sound a bit weird...I might go back to see what I can find for ‘bashful’. Words like shy, reserved, timid, insecure, sheepish, or nervous. Now, do these words actually explain or be used to replace the word blush? Not really. But with a little clever rewording, you can change the way that you’ve written that part of the scene and use one of those vocabulary choices instead...where the blush is pretty much implied. Do you know what I mean? And if you really really just want to use the word blush in that particular sentence at that particular time...thn you can go back in your writing to the last few times where you used that word as a description and maybe rearrange one of them instead. Either way, it will keep you from sounding repetitive, and it can help to get you out of a jam when you’re working with a part of your vocabulary that can only really stretch so far before you have to phrase things in another way entirely.

There are times when I worry about repeating myself too. And I’ll go back and try to see if I can change things up a little bit so it doesn’t stand out like a deep bloodstain in the center of my living room carpet. (The voices told me to do it...so it’s fine) But while some words and phrases can be explained a million different ways...there are only so many ways for me to use the word ‘kiss’. ‘Laugh’. ‘Cute’. And when I was trying to expand my vocabulary to be a bit more secure with my stories...those are the ones that I tried to work on first. Adopting whatever I could find and trying them out to see how thy looked and hear how they sounded to me. The ones I found useful, I held onto. The ones where I was like meh, I keep them in the back of my mind somewhere, but if I’m really struggling for a new way to say an old thing...I know those words will be there to save me in the end. Hehehe!

Basically, as authors...your vocabulary is your best friend from a structural standpoint. It gives you space and freedom that you wouldn’t have if you hadn’t built it up over time. The next time you get a chance...type out a few random sentences on a blank screen without really thinking about them. It doesn’t matter what it’s about, it could be about anything. Even better, go back to one of your older stories and pick a small passage or paragraph at random. Pay attention to the words you used to describe the scene, the characters, the fantasy, or the action, or the emotions involved. And then...go through and see if you can find other words to replace the ones that you have written there.

You don’t want to change up the feel or the vibe of the passage...you want it to basically read the same way for a new audience as it would for your original audience, just with a more experienced vocabulary. Try it out. You just might surprise yourself.

While re-editing and rewriting most of my ebooks, I look back and I’m like, “I could have made this soooo much better the first time around if I knew then what I know now.”

But in a very short amount of time, you’ll feel everything become more natural, and you’ll have a lot of new words that you can use, pretty much, on autopilot without worrying too much about repeating the same expressions or descriptions multiple times in your project.

Hehehe, Myr’s Word Of The Day does help a lot too. You might find whole new expressions entirely that you didn’t even know were out there before. Give those a try! An online thesaurus also helps (just Google the word you’re looking for and add ‘synonym’ behind it), or use a paperback/hardback thesaurus like I do sometimes. Keep the words that feel and sound natural to you...tuck some others away for later if you really need them...and get rid of the rest. Voila! You’ll be a scholar in no time.

The idea is to always keep growing and evolving. It never has to stop unless you let it stop.

As always, I hope that this little tidbit helps you guys out when you need it. The rest is up to you! Take care! And stay beautiful!