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Violanthe
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Joined: 24 Jul 2003
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PostCan't put it into words...

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:35 pm
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What happens when you're writing and you just can find the right word or words to express precisely what you want to say? When/how do you compromise?
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Nik
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Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 804
Location: UK

PostAaargh !!!!

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:42 pm
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Write, re-write, moan, whinge, nag, nag, whittle, tweak, nag, grumble about my thesaurus' inadequate lexicon, nag, scribble, nag, wake up yelling and grab for note-pad...

Iterate grimly until either the right 'turn of phrase' is found, or I re-write the entire section to make the problem go away...

Um, I'll usually glance back over a story while I'm extending it. I'll change a few words, re-arrange a sentence or two for each paragraph I add. Sometimes I change around a lot more than I add...

It does tend to suppress some of the spontaneity...

FWIW, I seem to have clawed clear of my 'Curious Cases' log-jam: Tale just hit Notepad's free-flow limit at ~108 kb text-file, which Word claims is ~19,300 words. Printed in my preferred 12pt Arial, the chunk is 39 sides...

Plot and characters interacting nicely, my research is bearing bizarre fruit, and the story is moving along...
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Richard H. Fay
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Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 523
Location: Upstate New York

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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:43 pm
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In terms of my poetry, there are times that getting just the right word is vital. If I need something specific to save my rhyme or metre, I usually agonise over the word for minutes, hours, or even days (perhaps a bit of an exaggeration). I scour my multiple dictionaries and thesauruses looking for that right word.

I've been known to do this, to a lesser exent, with my prose as well.

Do I eventually decide on a compromise? Perhaps, if nothing else seems to work right, I'll settle upon a word. However, word choice can make or break a poem, so I had better make sure all the words work the way they should.
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David Thomas Lord
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Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 172

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Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:33 am
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Vio, say what you have to say. No writer in the world knows every word, so there is always the possibility that there is a better word than the one you used. But is there a better word for you, for your writing? You can rewrite, revise and reword a sentence to a point that all the life has been drained from it. Using a thesaurus constantly absolutely shows in a story.

I have a number of books on words and linguistics. About once a week, I'll kill an hour or so thumbing through one of them, or a dictionary, or an old thesaurus. If I find a word I didn't know previously, a word that "fits" with me, I'll do my best to remember it. However, nothing looks worse than a story that looks to be as "cut and pasted" as a kidnapper's ransom letter!

Your words are your words as much as your stories are your stories. Don't try to shoehorn an alien expression into them.
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Peter
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Joined: 21 Apr 2006
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Location: NSW, Australia

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Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:38 pm
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I've found acting out the part/scene I'm trying to write often helps, as it puts it into "real world" terms and sometimes gets over that word hurdle you've run into.
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Gordon Long
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Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 203
Location: Vancouver, Canada

PostCan't put it into words

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:52 am
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I figure there is rarely the 'perfect' word. It's more a bad-medium-good-better-bestIcanthinkup situation.

If I can't find a word that's better than medium, I change the sentence, go at it from another angle. If that doesn't work, I just leave it in and come back to it later.

I have, on occasion, been unable to find the word I really want. In that case, I just shrug my shoulders and leave bestIcanthinkup in there, and hope it's only me being too self-critical.

Of course, being a playwright, sometimes that means I have to listen, over and over again, to someone repeating a line that bothers me. This is a spur to work even harder next time. If it really, Really, REALLY bothers me, I sometimes change it, but this does not impress the actors. Unless they didn't like it either, in which case everyone is happy.
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Shadow_Ferret
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Joined: 03 Apr 2006
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Location: Milwaukee, WI

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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 6:32 pm
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I'll write something like: "scene requires such-and-such description, but having trouble coming up with the right word." I highlight that sentence in yellow and move on. Many times the right word is on the tip of my tongue but I can't for the life of me get it to come out, so I highlight the passage and move on hoping at a later time the word will come to me. It usually does. Sometimes it never comes and I end up rewriting the paragraph with compromise words.
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Violanthe
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Joined: 24 Jul 2003
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:05 pm
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I often run into the trouble where there will be a word I want to use "right on the tip of my tongue" but I won't be able to find an actual word to meet the urge.
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Nik
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Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 804
Location: UK

PostWhazzisname...

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:21 pm
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Funny thing is that you can suddenly find your subconscious rolls it up...

Like movies-- Whazzisname ? Dunno, wasn't he in, um, er ?? Or was it ...??

Then, hours or days later, without warning, BOTH of you will yell the answer together.
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Violanthe
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:16 am
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Well, sometimes, because I've studied a bunch of different languages, it will turn out that the word I'm looking for isn't English, and thus of no use to me in writing.
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