My son recently brought home an English worksheet that had denotation and connotation on it. As the sheet pointed out, “a word’s connotation can give it a negative or a positive spin.” {Scope, Teacher’s Edition.}
The worksheet had word pairs with the same denotation but different connotations. I had a lot more fun with the sheet than my son did. :) Clever–sly, strange–unusual, childish–youthful. It was like a cheat sheet for spin doctors.
One of my favorite poems is T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. You realize this isn’t an ordinary love song when Prufrock observes that the evening “is spread out against the sky/like a patient etherized upon a table.” The word choice, or diction, isn’t what you’d choose for a romantic poem or song. It sets the stage for the rest of the poem.
What if you’re having trouble finding the right word? You can mark the spot in your manuscript and just keep going. When you’re editing, though, you can check out this post on the Bluestocking Blog. Bluestocking mentions a lot of useful resources, including a reverse dictionary, a visual thesaurus, and WordWeb software.
What should you consider when you’re choosing a word? A great post by Juliette Wade on the I Like a Little Science in my Fiction blog offers four questions you can ask yourself when considering a particular word.
The Grammar Divas blog has an example of how word choice can show character.
To some degree, I think diction comes naturally to writers. Sometimes, though, I’ll make a lot of changes in my edits because I’ll realize I’m not quite conveying what I want to put across. And because I enjoy fiddling with words. :)
Do you spend much time on word choice?
My place holder is usually to use six words where one will do. (In other words, I write around the meaning.)
Ironically, the right word often turns out to be something simple and common.
Word choice can make or break a book for me. It’s not just about the meanings, it’s also about the rhythm and sound of the words themselves.
I’d love to get my hands on that worksheet! :P
Hi Elizabeth – thanks useful list of resources and websites .. Hilary
Elizabeth – I’m always really interested in word choice, too. Maybe it’s the linguist in me ;-). There are subtle shades of nuance that one word or another conveys, and I like to capture as best I can what I really mean. I also think about word choice as a way to convey what my characters are like. Some would choose certain kinds of words and some would choose others. So as I write dialogue I try write it using words the speaker would really use.
Great list. I’m bookmarking this!
I compare choosing the right word to choosing the clothing to wear. I can choose any clothing I own, but wearing my sleep wear to work is not the right choice.
Thanks for the great advice.
Like probably most of you, I’ve had a lifelong affair with words. So, yes, I spend entirely too much time on word choice. And like Christine says, it isn’t only about the word itself, but the sound and rhythm of it, as well. The irony is I don’t believe “word choice” has anything to do with what turns a book into a best seller. It’s STORY.
The Daring Novelist–I’ve found that, too! But then, I have an aversion to flowery prose.
Hilary–I thought all the links were extremely useful. :)
Paul–Hope you’ll enjoy it!
Christine–And then, ultimately, the syntax. Love that stuff!
Yes, my son was baffled by my interest in his homework. In fact, he’s baffled a lot by me now that he’s in high school. :)
Hi Elizabeth – I agree to the links being very useful .. and your son – had to laugh .. you’ve done your bit – you brought him into the world!! Enjoy this next stage of his life. Cheers Hilary
Wonderful links! I’m forever searching for the right word. Not so much on first draft, but sometimes even then because I don’t want to lose ‘exactly what I’m thinking’ at the time. So I either look for the word or type in a paragraph that says ‘exactly what I’m thinking’.
Happy Weekend!
Word choice is huge with me. It can make such a difference in a manuscript–the words you choose.
Looking forward to checking out these resources.
~ Wendy
Ah, you’ve taken me back to Mr. Holtby’s English classes, where he stressed the differences between denotation and connotation.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
I think the ability to choose the right word is paramount to being a decent writer. Thank heavens for thesauruses – I have a collection of them. I find I’m pulling them out for my descriptions, always a weak point for me.
Word choice is what makes a story sparkle–or not.
Thanks for the links. I know they’ll be useful since my vocabulary seems to dwindle to almost nothing when writing a draft. Editing is when I worry about word choice. And connotations are fun to play with for sub-text.
~Kristine
Chiming in to say that The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is also one of my favorite poems. Even as I’ve learned more about Eliot and grown to despise him, I can’t let it go.
Yes I do and thank God for Thesauruses.
My word choice and tone is so different between my historical and speculative fiction projects. And I find myself being even more deliberate about my words on subsequent drafts. So glad you found my resource roundup post helpful! I think one of these days I’m going to have to go back and update them all with new content that’s come out since then. *sigh* Thanks again!
Yes, absolutely! Sometimes I spend a ridiculous amount of time on picking ONE perfect word. Fortunately, I often have a daughter or two around, and they are both very clever with words and ready to help me out.
Hilary–It’s a good reminder–to *enjoy* it! Ah, these teen years. They may be the death of me. And I’ve got an easy kid!
Wend–Hope you’ll enjoy them!
Margot–When I wrote this post, I was thinking that I could use your help! This should have been your guest post…
Journaling Woman–Nice analogy! Yes, we want to keep away from the pjs. :)
Susan–Absolutely! I’ve never heard a reader talk about word choice when reviewing a book–they talk about the story itself. I guess they’re picking up on it on some level, though (I’ve got to think that, considering the time I put into word selection…ha!)
Deb–I love it! Yes, I’ve had to separate the poet from the poems…have done that with some authors and their novels, too.
Diane–Amen to that! :)
Carol–Sometimes in a first draft, I just put ****** in place of anything and fix it later. :)
Bluestocking–Word choice really informs tone, doesn’t it? I can imagine that you’d make different choices depending on the genre.
Terry–Mr. Holtby sounds like a good teacher, if you can still remember his name and what he taught! I’m starting to get foggy w/ some of my high school teachers.
Elspeth–I rely on mine, too. And now mine is online! The times are changing quickly…
Kristine–Good point about connotations and subtext. And, I’m with you–I leave word choice (for the most part) until the edits.
This reminds me so much of Billy Crystal’s character in Throw Mama From The Train. The night was moist. The night was hot. The night was hot and moist. *snort* I adore that movie. I LOVE finding unexpected words that change the meaning just a little. I think writers love words enough that this is part of what we listen for and notice, but I also love this to distinguish characters… some characters may say… have pretencious word choices, or ‘youthful’. I have a couple ‘anti-snobs’ who would say ‘pretencious’ instead of ‘fancy’ or ‘arrogant’ instead of ‘confident’ and those choices tell a lot about the character.
Thanks for those links! I usually just fix and adjust words on edits rather than stress out trying to find the right one while I’m writing.
When I’m looking for that “right” word, I’ll often spend time pondering, but if I don’t come up with the perfect word fairly quickly, I’ll mark it and move on. I don’t want to lose my momentum.
Hart–I have *not* seen that movie all the way through (just bits when it’s on TV) and I need to! Thanks for the reminder! And…good point! Word choice is a great way to differentiate characters.
Alex–Which is what edits are for!
Dorte–I’m like that, too. Ha! I should set a timer for myself.
Helen–I’m with you. Otherwise I start fiddling with it too much and don’t move the story forward.
Great post…as always…
I use WordWeb all the time…but now I am going to check out your other resources…
Thanks, Elizabeth!!
Sharon :)