As a fairly new writer, my thesaurus has quickly become a
close companion. A thesaurus is used to find synonyms or antonyms to common (or uncommon) words--they can be helpful for vocabulary building, or just adding some variety to your writing. A thesaurus can be an excellent writing tool but it can also get
you into trouble. Currently, I use an online
thesaurus rather than a print one simply because it is at my fingertips on my phone, tablet, or laptop.
What happens when you look up thesaurus in a thesaurus?
I tried it on
thesaurus.com and was rewarded with this
list of words:
- Reference book
- Glossary
- Lexicon
- Onomasticon
- Terminology
- Vocabulary
- Language reference book
- Sourcebook
- Storehouse of words
- Treasury of words
Dictionary.com defines the word Thesaurus as ‘a dictionary
of synonyms and antonyms’
As I am writing, or rather, as I am editing, I begin to
notice words terms I have used over and over again. These repetitions
make my writing sound tired and dull stale and boring even to me. If I can’t be excited about what I have
written after only the second or third time seeing it, I know it will not seem
fresh to a readers eyes either be stimulating to my reader either.
In the above paragraph, I used the strike-through so that
you could see some of the possible changes a thesaurus can help you to make.
(Apologies for any difficulty you had reading it as a result).
I use my thesaurus to banish clichés from my writing, I use
them to improve the description of a scene, and I use them when I cannot find
the right word. I occasionally use the thesaurus to find a word that I have previously heard in conversation but am unsure of the meaning.
'Why should a writer limit his vocabulary to words he's known and used all his life? If a word is correct for your story, it doesn't matter if you've known the word for years or if you just learned it.'
(Note: this is a partial quote, for the caveat; click through to her
blog post).
Writing is not simply putting one word after another; good
writing has a rhythm and flow that is almost musical. Consider your favorite
Dr. Seuss book. Would he have been so popular writing about Sam the Turtle
instead of Yertle the Turtle? Of course not! The lyrical way that he organized
words is what made his books popular.
Readers do not want to read tired sentences; they enjoy
lyrical locution.
Would you rather listen to someone lecture in a monotone, or
are you engaged by speakers with expressive inflection? Do you tune people out
when they use the same tired words again and again? Personally, I would rather listen to someone who has life to their voice, and similarly want to read
someone who has given that life to their words.
Perhaps you already know hundreds of thousands of words, and
don’t believe you need a thesaurus. Let me ask you. Can you always recall the
exact word you want to use at a given time? Do you know their meanings, and can
you arrange them in a sentence with lyrical flow? If so, perhaps a thesaurus would
not be your tool of choice.
Look at the possibilities for replacing the word "large" in your writing...
Look for inspiration in the antonyms too!
The thesaurus can be a great asset to help you find
less-used words, or to help banish clichés from your writing but it can also be your downfall.
When you look up synonyms, you might see a word there that
you had overlooked or didn't previously know the meaning to. Before you use it, consider this—will your reader know what it means? There are some words you can
let context define for you, but if you get too heavy-handed with these flowery
words, your reader will feel as though you are writing over their head and will
lose interest quickly. Let this be a word of caution to use those words
sparingly.
'By using the thesaurus to change words I thought were “common,” I ended up sounding fake. And readers can always tell if a writer is being genuine or not.'
Consider these examples:
The blonde laughed at me.
The golden-haired beauty giggled at me.
The auricomous gentlewoman cachinnated at me.
I personally would not have a clue what the writer was
trying to tell me if I read that last sentence. I would either skim it and keep
going—perhaps losing an important element in the story—or I would lay the book
down and probably not pick it back up. Either way, if the writer did this to me
again—I would be turned off and would not bother finishing the book.
A thesaurus can be a great tool to help you engage your
reader and offer them some verbal variety but you must be careful not to
overuse it.
Do you use a thesaurus in your writing? If not, will you after reading this article? What is your favorite writing tool? I would love
to hear from you in the comment section.
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