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I heartily endorse and strongly reject your key assertion. I can't picture Nabokov sitting there looking up synonyms, nor do I believe that it's a habit any aspiring writer should make heavy us...
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#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T02:35:50Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6715 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Fortiter
·
2019-12-08T02:35:50Z (about 5 years ago)
I heartily endorse and strongly reject your key assertion. > I can't picture Nabokov sitting there looking up synonyms, nor do I believe that it's a habit any aspiring writer should make heavy use of. My ambivalence relates to the key distinction of WHEN the thesaurus comes into play. It is not a tool to interrupt composition, but does have a central place. When you have completed a passage of your own (or when you read a piece of Nabakov) then you can use the thesaurus to answer the question _How else might I (or he) have written that?_ Actively seek out alternative terms and expressions, not to be used immediately but to roll around in your sub-conscious until a need arises and a word less-used does spring up, ready for use.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2012-11-24T10:36:58Z (about 12 years ago)
Original score: 2