Grammar Girl: Word Choice for Creative Writing

mason00

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips ... eative-writing.aspx

Every author who has ever started at a blank page knows the difficult in telling a story: whatever we write begins to constrict us, to constrain us, into telling a certain type of story. In short if I begin by describing a space battle between two space ships. I cannot turn it into a romance or a fantasy tale. So the scenes that we begin with define and narrow the kind of story we can tell, and as a much smaller level, our word choice does the same.

An author needs to be precise in his word choice to avoid confusing the readers. I like to quote Mark Twin who is credited with saying that “The difference between precise word and one that comes close is the difference between lightning and lighting bug”. The lack of precise in word choice can be shown in a number ways:

1. The writer does not chose the word that properly resonate their genre
For example, if you are writing a fantasy, you would not send your protagonists to a local “restaurant”. That word suggests modern settings. Instead, your characters would go to the local “inn” for a cup of “warm ale”.

2. Very often a writer uses a word that is very close to his or her mean but is not quite right
For example, you may use “she said” when the speaker actually asking a question. Consider “Are you going to eat that” she asked.

3. Sometimes a writer uses pronoun where a noun is better
The writer may start off a chapter with “He ran for his life”. Well, if there are three view point characters in your novel, you’d better let us know who “He” is.

4. The author uses a group of description instead of precise description
New writers may write this “The trees bunched together, casting deep shadows over lonely trail.” Well, there are thousands of kinds of trees. Which kind do you mean? Each type of tree creates a very different image.

5. The author does not take the connotation of words into consideration
A “denotation” is the precise meaning of the words. If I say that girl is wearing a “blue jeans”, then you got a pretty good idea of what I am talking about. But if I say “designer blue jeans”, then you might imagine something different.

6. Last of all, sometimes author just bungle altogether, not being aware that they are using the wrong words, or perhaps simply typing something incorrectly.
When I was young, I thought that the word “enervated” meant the same as “energized”. So I confused a couple of editors. In a recent novel, I typed “restaurant” incorrectly, and my spell checker automatically “fixed” my typo as “restraint”. Hence, a couple of test readers had to wonder what kind of restraint my characters were in.
In short, try to be precise when you tell a story. Use your word carefully. We bring a tale in life by using just right words. When you think about it, it’s a wondrous way to make living.

wolf

很深奥的修辞 这样的语法 我可能十年内也用不上啊