The art of using a thesaurus
Filed under Soapbox, Writing Journal on May 20, 2004
Tagged: thesaurus, vocabulary
One of my writing/reading pet peeves is overusage of a word. I cringe when I see the same word used two or more times within a couple sentences of each other. It jumps right off the page at me.
In my opinion, it’s a sign of a limited vocabulary. I like to think I have a fairly broad vocabulary, one of the benefits of having been a prolific reader all my life. Of course, even I have limits, and so I use a thesaurus.
Now, using a thesaurus doesn’t guarantee that your writing will be instantly better. In fact, I’ve received criticism that some of my writing sounds like an entry in a thesaurus. Not a good thing. The key is to know what word usage is appropriate to the voice of the story and/or the character. If you’re going for a more educated tone, open that thesaurus and fire away. If your character has a limited vocabulary, perhaps repeating the same words creates a better effect. Vocabulary is a writer’s bread and butter, however, and the bigger it is, the better you will be at creating pictures in the heads of your readers.
Joke of the Day
Inspired by Mother, and today’ topic, I just couldn’t resist sharing this with you.
What’s another word for thesaurus? HAHAHAHA . . . Ha . . . ha . . . what? I thought it was funny. Okay, so maybe I’ll leave the jokes to Ed.
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