Vocabulary 101: Talk

There are as many different ways to talk as there are people in the world. Okay, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but finding the right word to describe how your character talks can make all the difference. My characters rarely talk. They would rather be chatting, gabbing, gossiping, negotiating, debating, schmoozing, chattering, or even yammering. 

Does your character exchange witty banter with a best friend? Backtalk to their boss? Spout blarney to their brother? Whisper sweet nothings to their spouse? Confess to their Twitter followers? Confer with a colleague? Or quip with a stranger? If the answer is yes, you are well on your way to creative writing!

Don't settle for talking when a wisecrack will do!

Vocabulary 101: Look

You know the saying, the eyes are the windows of the soul? Well, I'm not sure exactly how I feel about that. However, the eyes are great tools and indicators in fiction writing. Telling readers that a character is 'looking' at something or someone is fine, but showing them how a character sees the object or the person is much more powerful.

Let's say your character looks at someone across the room. That statement tells the reader absolutely nothing about how the character feels when they see that person. Showing the reader how the character feels requires a more extensive vocabulary. Let's say your character gawks at someone across the room. This tells us a little bit more. Your character is most likely attracted to the person. Word choice can be taken even farther here. A character who is typically shy might gawk at someone they are attracted to, while a more self-assured person may ogle. Is your character an awkward teenage boy gaping at a young woman? Is your character a creep? In that case, they might be leering at the person across the room.

Vocabulary 101: Walk

Readers will easily tire of plain words. One of the biggest and most boring culprits is the word 'walk'. There are so many ways and styles of walking. Each of them convey a more detailed understanding of the characters state of mind. For instance, some characters meander, others stroll, and the really confident ones strut. Clumsy characters stumble, sneaky characters tiptoe, angry characters trudge, others sashay, stomp, trample, roam, lumber, hoof it, bounce, wander, trot... you get it--there are many words that easily replace 'walk.'

Show Me All About It

We have all been there. It is so much easier to say something like: The woman sat in her doctor's office with a worried expression on her face. As writers, we must resist the temptation to tell our readers what is going on in a scene when we should be showing them. We should say: The woman teetered on the edge of her chair. Her eyes fell from the clock to the door as she waited for the doctor to enter. Her brow furrowed and she bit her quivering lip as her narrowing eyes glanced towards the clock once more. Showing the woman's fear is significantly more powerful than simply stating the facts.