Welcome to the first Tip Tuesday of 2014!Most of us fall short when it comes to using unusual words. We find ourselves writing words like "nice", "good", "happy" ect. These provided for mundane stories. Here are some alternative words to help you make your writing more interesting.
Nice: Enjoyable, pleasurable, thoughtful, courteous, lovely, likeable, pleasing, gracious, congenial, cordial, admirable, considerate.
Good: Excellent, amazing,wonderful, pleasant, marvelous, exceptional, fantastic, super, outstanding, terrific, splendid, stupendous.
Said: Commented, replied, remarked, declared, stated, exclaimed, shouted, whispered, announced, responded, boasted, explained.
To be continued in two weeks.
I have found these to be very helpful as I am making myself go back and edit. I watch for the everyday words and decide if I would like to replace them with something unusual. This is not to say you should go get a dictionary and begin using difficult words most people are not familiar with. Make sure you know your audience and are writing for them. Don't write over their heads with flowery, impressive lingo but make your writing interesting, on their level.
Did any of you find this helpful?
Yes, very helpful. I have to stop and think every time I about use one of those words three words you listed. One thing that has really helped me is a tip my AP Lit Teacher gave me when I was writing an abstract for a research paper. She told me to be specific. When we use general words, it makes it sound like we don't know exactly what we are writing about. I still have room for improvement, but my writing has proved to be better since I've learned to think more specifically.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a good way to put it Grace. "Be specific". My sister always encouraged that and she similarly encouraged using terminology fitting with your subject. For instance don't say, "The violinist hated those few last notes" say "The violinist hated that crescendo."
DeleteIndeed, very helpful advice! Stories are so much more enjoyable when dull, ordinary words are replaced with more interesting ones!
ReplyDelete