MOTIVATION
Send your letters to Emily at [email protected]
Emily Cunningham of The Write Factor
publishing agency helps you find the way
forward with your writing
Playing around
Being comfortable with words and being
able to play around with them does
enhance a story. In Ulysses, James Joyce
uses 30,000 distinct words – that is, words
that are used only once each. But he also
dared to create new words and use existing
words in new ways, such a making
‘sausage’ a verb and ‘botch’ a noun.
I’m sure you could apply these techniques
yourself. You can still be inventive and
imaginative using the vocabulary that you
already possess.
The only risk I can see in enhancing your
vocabulary is the danger of malapropisms,
or using the wrong word. Mrs Malaprop,
in Richard Sheridan’s play The Rivals, was
famous for her errors, such as: ‘I’m sorry
to say, Sir Anthony, that my affluence over
my niece is very small.’
When used deliberately, malapropisms
are great – a personal favourite of mine
is saying ‘I’m ravishing’ rather than ‘I’m
ravenous’, which I first heard from Ethel
on EastEnders – but when it’s an accident,
it’s painful.
In answer to your letter, Gareth, immerse
yourself in the world of words and take
your pick of the ones you like. Vocabulary
is like seasoning: add a little to taste.
The
MENTOR
How can I expand my
vocabulary?
When I read, I’m always impressed by the
use of interesting vocabulary but it has
also made me aware that my own writing
is somewhat lacking because I don’t have
a wide vocabulary. How can I improve it?
Gareth, Kenilworth
A
pparently the average person
knows 10,000 words but only uses
2000 regularly, so you’re right
in thinking that on a day-to-day
basis our vocabulary is limited.
When applying ourselves to creative
writing there is a pressure to sound
erudite and pepper our sentences with
sesquipedalian words, but before you
reach for the thesaurus, let me remind you
that there is beauty in simplicity.
Ideas can be expressed clearly and
powerfully using basic English. Both The
Old Man and the Sea and Animal Farm are
cited as ‘easy reads’ yet no one would
dream of accusing the authors for their
lack of flowery language.
Stephen King, in his book On Writing,
says:
One of the really bad things you can do to
your writing is to dress up the vocabulary,
looking for long words because you’re maybe
a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This
58
Writers’forum #179
is like dressing up a household pet in evening
clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person
who committed this act of premeditated cuteness
should be even more embarrassed.
I love the image of the embarrassed pet
and you’ll notice that King’s point is made
in plain English. In fact, there’s something
refreshing about the simplicity.
There’s also the danger that crowbarring
long words into your work will backfire
by putting people off. Howard Mittelmark
makes this point How Not to Write a Novel:
200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.
When the reader has stopped to wonder at
your delamificatious vocabulary, or, worse, when
the reader has stopped because the word you’ve
used has no more meaning to him than a random
ptliijnbvc of letters, the reader is not involved in
your story… Generally, saying “edifice” instead
of “building” doesn’t tell your reader anything
about the building; it tells the reader that you
know that word edifice.
PERFECT
for WRITING
RETREATS
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Tips to take away
And yes, I looked up the word
‘delamificatious’ – feeling both peeved that
I didn’t know it and hoping to add it to
my vocabulary - and found that it doesn’t
exist! Point well made, Howard.
Having said that, if you would like to
improve your vocabulary, you’re going
about it the right way by reading. Novels
that use unfamiliar words are an excellent
way to learn because the words are
seen in context. As American writer and
broadcaster Charles Harrington Elster said:
‘For me, reading has always been not only
a quest for pleasure and enlightenment
but also a word-hunting expedition, a
lexical safari.’
Making choices
Having a large (considerable, extensive,
substantial?) vocabulary means that you
have the luxury of choice. Using the exact
right word to describe something is very
pleasing, for both the writer and the
reader. Reading a sentence with sparkling
Being comfortable
with words, playing
around with them,
does enhance a story
vocabulary and quirky turn of phrase
brings energy to the page. For example:
She took a moment to lament her lack of
parasol. Every time she left the house, she felt
keenly the absence of her heretofore ubiquitous
accessory.
Gail Carriger, Timeless
The pomposity of it makes you smile –
where, outside a legal document, would
you see the word ‘heretofore’? In fact, you
yourself use the word ‘somewhat’, Gareth,
which suggests that you have an ear for
interesting and unusual word choices.
■■ There are lots of online resources to
increase your vocabulary, such as word-aday calendars, or signing up to receive a
daily new word via email.
■■ The next time you spot a new word, add
it to your own vocabulary by looking up
the definition, writing it down and using it
when you can. Make a game of using it in
as many conversations as possible.
■■ Get a head start by learning the roots
of words (often Greek or Latin). They give
you a clue as to meaning, for example
‘ambi’ means ‘both’ in Latin, which
explains ‘ambidextrous’ and ‘ambiguous’.
It’s also a fascinating glimpse into the
original definition – as illustrated by Milan
Kundera in his novel Ignorance:
Six bedrooms with twin or
kingsize beds and writing desks
The Greek word for ‘return’ is nostos. Algos
means ‘suffering’. So nostalgia is the suffering
caused by an unappeased yearning to return.
If you found this article
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