How do I incorporate Vocabulary in my writing that I already know?
I seem to have this problem where I know a lot of words but can't always seem to think them up when I write an article or a story. I know the meaning of most of these words, but when I write, some everyday phrase or idiom comes to my mind first or I write elaborate wordy sentences even though a succinct alternative is clearly there but I fail to think them up.
Anyway what would you people suggest me to incorporate advanced vocabulary into my writing so that I can use the words I know instead of just identifying them when I read?
Hopefully this is not off-topic. Sorry if it is.
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I'm going to try the practice-practice-practice answer, but what has been helping me up until now is editing.
Go ahead and write the first draft with whatever words come to mind. Don't let searching for the right phrase interrupt your creative flow.
As you re-read your draft, take note of where
- you stumble over verbose phrasing,
- you haven't conveyed the precise meaning or mood you wanted (or needed),
- you have distracting, unintentional repetition.
Those are the places where finding the right word or phrase pays off. That's when you head to the thesaurus, not to learn the right word, but to remind yourself of the choices available to you.
In particular, I find that verbs that aren't pulling their weight are the easiest to find and sharpen because the weak ones are propped up with -ly adverbs.
Plain language is fine, and you don't want to inject twenty-dollar words where ten-cent ones do the job. You certainly don't want to do that too often. Overusing sophisticated vocabulary can be off-putting.
Occasionally, however, a plain word doesn't cut it, and you need the mot juste.
I'm disappointed whenever I read a novel that doesn't send me to the dictionary once or twice.
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I recommend three pillars: 1. Practice 2. Thesaurus 3. Drafting
The more you write, the better your writing will become. This means finding the best word, and the best order to put the words in.
Thesaurus. Personally I don't think a writer should ever use a thesaurus to find a word you don't already know - that's the sort of use that gives thesaurus use a bad name. However, in exactly the situation you describe above, I think a thesaurus is perfect. Type in the word you know isn't quite right, and browse until you find the one (which you already knew), that is.
Drafting. I think it's best to first write any old words to get the gist and the feel of the story down, rather than getting bogged down on finding the right word, when you may end up cutting the entire scene anyway. Then every time you do a reiteration see if a better word springs to mind, or use the thesaurus, as mentioned above.
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Don't. I know the use of fancy vocabulary may seem like a sign of sophisticated writing, but it's not. Every fancy word you use makes you prose less accessible to readers. The only reason to bring in a fancy word is if you cannot express the idea you need to get across using simple words. The hallmark of a good writer is that they can get complex ideas across using simple words. Practice that.
The paragraph above is perhaps not the best example of the advice it gives. Did I need to use the word "hallmark" for instance? Some readers may not have an immediate recognition of what "hallmark" means. (A hallmark is an imprint that a craftsman makes in precious metal to indicate who made the object. My wedding ring was custom made and has the hallmark of the goldsmith on the inside.)
I could have used simpler language for this. I could have said "sign" instead of "hallmark". Then my meaning might have been clearer to more readers. Or I could have simplified the sentence even more and said, "A good writer can get complex ideas across using simple words."
There is a saying that gets attributed to a number of different writers, "If I Had More Time, I Would Have Written a Shorter Letter". Our first drafts tend to be lengthy and verbose. They tend to use all sorts of complex and difficult words. If we have time for a second draft, we can and should make them shorter, and use simpler words.
If you read avidly, as you should if you want to be a writer, then your vocabulary will naturally grow over time. Your challenge, as a writer, is not to incorporate all that vocabulary into your writing, but to resist doing so as much as you can so as to make your writing as simple and easy to understand as possible.
Hmmm... I wonder if I could recast that first sentence to avoid the word "avidly"...
EDIT: Interesting finding: "Interestingly, using long words can result in readers missing shorter words that follow them, which can greatly affect text interpretation. http://centerforplainlanguage.org/what-is-readability/
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The Carnegie Hall method: Practice, practice, practice.
You know those Word-A-Day calendars? We joke about them, but they're not bad as a starting point. Each day you pick a word you want to start using more often (from the calendar, the dictionary, or list you create). Spend 10 minutes writing it in a bunch of sentences. Write a little story if you want; it's okay if it sounds ridiculous because you're using the word so much.
The next day, pick a new word to write sentences about. Then practice using yesterday's word in context in your speech as often as you can. The day after, you'll use Day 3's word in sentences and Day 2's word in speech.
The reasons for focusing on two words in two different media are
- sleep helps you learn and assimilate information better in the long term
- writing and speaking use slightly different parts of the brain
- you're forcing yourself to remember something from a previous day, so you're embedding the word into your longer-term memory
For a grand finale, try using all seven words from a week over the course of a weekend.
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