Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.
J.K. Rowling
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According to Stephen King, it's always best to use the first word that comes to mind. If you make yourself use words outside of your regular vocabulary, you risk weakening your authentic voice.
My question to that is ... what if your regular vocabulary is already weak? Your voice might end up being authentic, but would the writing be compelling?
My entire writing life has included a quest to expand my vocabulary so that the first word that comes to mind is my authentic voice. Roget's Thesaurus is my best friend. If I hadn't met him I'd still be writing sentences like this: One very dark night a very small girl with very nice green eyes ate a very big steak and said, "That was easy."
Instead, I've learned to write sentences like this: One gloomy night, a diminutive girl with striking green eyes ate an enormous steak and said, "That was effortless."
In my opinion, the second sentence, silly though it may be, is more interesting than the first.
I wouldn't want to write in any voice but my own. But that voice needs to have a strong vocabulary if I want what I write to be worth reading.
Would you agree? I'd like to know ... how do you enhance your vocabulary, or is that something you never consciously do?
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Feature photo by Pixabay
Joy writes from lake country, Alberta, where she and The Cowboy, one dog, and two cats, are currently entertaining three lively grandsons. Find more of her joy-infused writing at Scraps of Joy.
