Throw Away That Thesaurus!

Good morning, everyone! Audra here!

When was the last time you were in the middle of telling your friends how you survived your family vacation and stopped mid-sentence to try to find a bigger, better word to embellish the story?

Or,

How about describing your last shopping adventure where you found the cutest pair of shoes only to keep your friends in suspense while you thought of the perfect color match?

Or,

Maybe keeping the boss waiting while you think of the exact way to describe the traffic jam that made you an hour late to work?

Unless you want to lose or irritate your audience, you probably don’t leave them hanging while you find just the right word.

So why do we think we need to improve, embellish, make use of seven-syllable words in our writing?

The correct answer is: Don't

When we write books, what are we doing? We’re telling (oops, sorry) – we’re showing stories. The best part of story creation is tumbling it around in your head and off your fingers, creating an adventure only you can tell. You've got an idea...you massage it around, adding bit and pieces of new information and characters until it takes on a life of its own. It’s a story that uses your imagination, your gift for the dramatic or comedic, your style of expression. It’s a story that sounds like YOU.

When you pick up a thesaurus or click on thesaurus dot com, you’ve thrown a wrench into your masterpiece by introducing a word or words that aren’t normally on your radar. Think about it. Everything you’ve assembled on the page came from your imagination – a product of your experience and voice. The minute you introduce a word you needed to mine from another source, you’ve sent a ripple into the novel-writing space-time continuum. There’s nothing worse than plucking a word from a list of words claiming to be synonymous with the word in your head. Why look for a substitute when you have the real thing already?

I know I’ve mentioned this before, I love judging unpubbed contests. The new, fresh ideas splashed across pages depicting stories – some good, some not quite my cup o’ tea – with excitement and pride. Wow, there are times I still write like that, LOL. I find the stories I like the most are pretty much stream of consciousness writing. The author has listened to their inner voice and followed his or her heart into a plot filled with complexity, emotion and uncertain outcome.

Oh my. I’m there; I with it. I’m rooting for whatever character happened to catch my interest, and then all of a sudden, the wild ride stops because my brain got snagged on one out of place word.

One word.

C'mon, really? Did you have look long and hard to come up with that complicated embellishment? Don't think the reader doesn't notice...we do.

It’s long been said that popular fiction is written at a fourth grade level. There’s nothing wrong with that. We want our audience to understand what we’re saying and enjoy the story ride without having to reach for a dictionary every ten or twelve words. That’s not to say we can’t have characters with extensive vocabularies. Do it well, and your readership might pick up new phrase or two. But for the most part, readers of romantic fiction want "Calgon to take them away." They read for the pure essence of the world presented them.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for a thesaurus. I have a well-worn volume sitting next to my keyboard. But, I only use it when the word I want is just beyond my grasp. I know the word I want...I just can't think of it. There's a big difference between knowing what you want and wanting what you know to sound more sophisticated. Don't fall down that rabbit hole! Don't look for words you probably wouldn’t use on your own.  Chances are, unless you incorporate this newly-searched-for word properly, it will probably stick out like a sore thumb. There is a time and place to use a thesaurus, just make sure you know what the word you’re substituting means and that it will work in the context of your story.

Lately, I’ve been recruited to read scholarship essays written by high school seniors hoping to find as much money as possible to fund their college education. These essays are as interesting to read as contest entries. I love how the kids take a topic and make it their own. Mostly, I find sentence structure issues or the overuse of “vanilla” adjectives, common issues we all struggle with. BUT, nothing catches my attention faster than a word that looks like it can be exchanged for another…incorrectly. The writer must remember that the words we find in a thesaurus are SIMILAR to our original word choice, but the ultimate meaning may skew the intent of your passage.

What all this boils down to is identifying and staying true to your voice. When you don’t write with your own words, you’re - in a way - cheating your readership, sending them into the pages of word substitutes that may sound sophisticated, but possibly falling short of the reading experience they're expecting.  

You've worked hard to earn the loyalty of your readership. Don't let them down.

So, tell me, how do you jog your memory for that one certain word that might evade you? Do you break down and turn to the thesaurus (yes, I've been know to do that) or do you have other creative ways to say what you want to say without synonymous prompts?? Please share, we can all benefit from each other's creativity!!

March is over which means we're all holding works of literary brilliance on the hard drive of our computers from our month of Speedbo, right? As we carve out moments to revise our work into shape, I'm offering two chances to win a copy of Cathy Yardley's Rock Your Revisions. If you missed Cathy's visit to Seekerville earlier in March, check it out here.