Should I avoid "big words" when writing to a younger audience?
I was writing the other day and I used the word "ubiquitous".
While I don't think "ubiquitous" is the most egregious example of "Using Big Words To Sound Intelligent", and would be perfectly acceptable in most novels, it's just, my novel's demographic would be young teenagers, and I definitely did not know what ubiquitous meant when I was a young teenager.
Personally, when I come across an unknown word in a book, I have to take a minute to research what that word means, taking me away from the book.
On the other hand though, this could be seen as a teaching moment where I can teach young readers the meaning of new words
No. Use the words that you want/need to use. Kids have NO idea what is or is not a big word. Kids are a blank slate. E …
5y ago
There's a fine line to be drawn between educating your readers with words that may be unfamiliar and putting them off if …
5y ago
One approach to this I encountered in the novels "A Series of Unforunate Events" by Lemony Snicket (which were definitel …
5y ago
Klippy, your intuition is correct. Your audience comes first. It’s the reason why you write the book. It doesn’t matter …
5y ago
I think this is a really interesting question - because if we avoid using advanced vocabulary with children, then when a …
5y ago
The easiest way to do this is have a character use it, and another character (like yourself, not knowing the word at tha …
5y ago
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I think this is a really interesting question - because if we avoid using advanced vocabulary with children, then when are they supposed to learn it?
I think the answer is that it's a matter of quantity and proportion so the reader doesn't lose their flow or end up missing something important if they just keep reading, and also of giving the reader the chance to guess the meaning from context, so they have the opportunity to learn the word without having to look it up.
Context
I remember reading a book when I was a child that introduced the word unanimous, though it did it in a very overt way, where the character was told the meaning of it, then used it to their great pride later in the story. There may have been places where they used it wrong to comedy effect, as well. I did not know the meaning of the word before, and I've never forgot it since.
Obviously that's a bit heavy handed for too many words, but you can often make the meaning clear through context, e.g.
"Three cowries?" she cried. "There's no way it's worth that much!"
Most people will understand that in this context 'cowries' means some form of currency.
If you can try to do this with advanced vocabulary in your writing for young people, there's a good chance you will be doing a great service to help them increase their vocabulary range.
Quantity / Proportion
However, even if you just drop in a handful of 'difficult' words throughout the novel without giving any hints, I don't think it would cause any great concern to children, who, in my experience, have a great skill in filtering out things they don't understand right now and carrying on with their day.
The problem will only come if there are so many words they don't know that they end up distanced, disengaged and bored.
Readability formulas
In case you haven't come across them, I thought I'd mention that there are quite a few estalished readability formulas, where you can analyse your text for generally accepted readability levels for different ages.
Here is one, though if other people have links to better ones, they would be very welcome:
https://www.webfx.com/tools/read-able/
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No.
Use the words that you want/need to use.
Kids have NO idea what is or is not a big word. Kids are a blank slate. Every word is big to them. So no word is big to them.
This is why there are plenty of 4 year olds who can rattle off the scientific names of dozens of dinosaurs.
Big words are not a problem for kids. To you it is a big word. To kids it is just a word.
Use the words you want to use. And use them appropriately.
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One approach to this I encountered in the novels "A Series of Unforunate Events" by Lemony Snicket (which were definitely intended mainly for a teenage audience) is to use big words as an example to TEACH them.
For example, the second-to-last book is called "The Penultimate Peril". In the beginning of the book, the author (who is himself a character who narrates the story) explains what the word "penultimate" means.
This was sort of a trope that would reappear in the series, but there could other ways to explain what the words means without taking someone out of the story
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There's a fine line to be drawn between educating your readers with words that may be unfamiliar and putting them off if you use too many of them.
Consider too how your readers are consuming your content. In a physical book, I'll either infer meaning of a word I don't know from context or ignore it. On a tablet, I'll usually use its ability to look up a definition for me.
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Klippy, your intuition is correct.
Your audience comes first. It’s the reason why you write the book. It doesn’t matter who else reads it, its only important that it pleases your audience. A pleased audience then tells others about your book via word of mouth (i.e. those outside of your audience). Your audience grows and you earn authorship recognition.
It may be a great learning opportunity to learn a new 25 cent word, but that such writing belongs to a textbook author whose target audience are students, not a fiction writer whose audience seeks a moment of time where the your reader escapes reality in your story world.
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The easiest way to do this is have a character use it, and another character (like yourself, not knowing the word at that age) ask what it means, or look it up, or otherwise figure out what it means.
You can even use this as a moment of conflict, or humor.
"It's ubiquitous," Angela said.
Kevin frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means it's everywhere."
"Then what's wrong with saying everywhere?"
"It doesn't have a Q in it, does it?" Angela said, as if this was too obvious to need to be said.
EDIT: @TheNovelFactory remarks: This is okay for one word, but the book will start to sound a bit strange if you do it multiple times...
Correct. You shouldn't tell the same joke twice. But the dynamic between Angela and Kevin in this example can be sustained and grown: Angela likes big words, Kevin doesn't -- at first.
Make it a rivalry, like a sibling competition. A short list: Kevin tries to stump her with a big word and fails. Then succeeds, but she is delighted. Then guesses a meaning wrong but sticks by his guess, exasperating her. Then guesses a meaning right, and she is impressed. Beats her to the punch in using a big word correctly, and she laughs.
I can even key a plot point off this rivalry: Angela uses an obscure word as a code only Kevin will get. she shouts it across a field knowing the enemy will hear it. She screams "onomatopoeia, Kevin! onomatopoeia!" What she is really doing is reminding Kevin of when he tried to stump her, and what they were talking about then, because it is crucial to her saving him. Only Kevin can figure this out, so it makes no difference if she shouts it or if the villain knows the definition.
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