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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27455
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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.

Original score: 7