Big Words?

[AnyaKimlin]

Having said that I use: equerry, singeing, cloisters, sea-stack, nefarious, moidered, engender, ergo, driech etc naturally but after feedback from beta readers on Mayhem I ended up having to make sure they were better explained in the text. If the word is embedded in the text a reader doesn't need a dictionary to continue with the story. You have to have an instinctual understanding of the word to be able to do that well.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I could be wrong, but I think 'moider' is dialect? Nefarious, cloister and equerry are imo perfectly ordinary words.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I could be wrong, but I think 'moider' is dialect? Nefarious, cloister and equerry are imo perfectly ordinary words.

Welsh but it was used in the North West of England as well. Dreich is Scots. Equerry is one nearly every reader struggled with and nefarious didn't fare very well. Enough wobbled over cloister and sea-stack to require them to have a little explanation. Engender had readers unsure if I meant a character was being castrated. Singeing was described by one as pretentious

 

[J D Foster]

Actually I might give a particular character "big words."

That feels like really good advice to me. I re-read something yesterday where I had a doctor saying "I think," which of course A doctor would never say. She now says "I suspect," instead. (Neither difficult words I know, but the principal is the same, she is far more likely to use a word I need to look up than the soldier she is treating would).

I used to read Dickens with a dictionary in one hand and the book in the other. Slowed me down and made the reading process less enjoyable, however I relished at his use of words I didn't know. He also used other words within a sentence that helps you to understand the main word.

Something like: 'The street was small dark and incommodious', the first two descriptors give a clue as to what the long word means so that you could get the gist without looking it up.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Yep. Don't dumb down. I learnt from reading at an early age. Also, I have tonight written the words, 'Josiah saw the flash of a brassy peduncle,' and not many people will know that a peduncle is the part of a fish from which its tail grows. But there's a qualifier in the next sentence. If they still don't get it, well... You can lead a horse to water...

pH

 

[Lafayette]

Please do not be James Joyce. He is to writing what Schoenberg was to music.

I remember first reading James Joyce over thirty years ago in Norton's Anthology of English Literature and was overwhelmed. The print was all ready small, but the footnotes were even smaller and on some of the pages the footnotes covered half the page.

I won't say I felt stupid, however I knew I wasn't in the same league as his readers were/or are. I concluded that one not only had to have a good grasp of English, but also of Gailic, Latin, and Greek and. However, I am going to be mindful of not being like James Joyce and keep my footnotes to a minimum. I want my readers to enjoy my story and not to be intimitated by it.

As for Schoenberg and if memory is correct he is in the same spot that John Gage is in. I don't like either one.

 

[chrispenycate]

"What are you writing, Uncle Biscuit?" (Don't go there.) I have never had the character to generate and raise offspring, so the family lent them to me, letting me 'babysit' while they did christmas shopping. Not that at five the twins were babies any more, but the language lacks synonyms with increasing age, and I was certainly not 'chaperone' yet. A neighbouring family had taken advantage of the transport and left a couple more offspring.

"I'm writing dragons right now.' In a note book, with paragraphs scribbled out or added, none of the elegance of computer editing.

"Ooh, can you read us some?" Reading, yes - but books with big letters and bigger pictures. And the twins spoke Yorkshire as their first language, while for the neighbours it was probably Urdu.

Now, I have never stinted on my vocabulary, but am vain enough that I like showing off, so "If there are any difficult words you don't understand, stop me, and I'll explain. It's no problem, I wasn't writing it as a children's story." Making it a challenge to them, rather than me. I concentrated on infant dragons - Solfrenia's first day at school, Hoopy's flying lesson - but I just generate heavyweight words. Not 'run, Spot, run' writing at all. Yet there were no interruptions, no puzzlement on young faces; the story was traversing the word barrier into thought without notable effort. Oh, reading some of the terms would have been work, but delivered as audio content? Direct osmotic absorption, even the next door but twos.

Difficult words drop you out of a story when you are already not deeply immersed, and are more often an excuse than truly a reason for losing the contact.

 

[Lafayette]

"What are you writing, Uncle Biscuit?" (Don't go there.) I have never had the character to generate and raise offspring, so the family lent them to me, letting me 'babysit' while they did christmas shopping. Not that at five the twins were babies any more, but the language lacks synonyms with increasing age, and I was certainly not 'chaperone' yet. A neighbouring family had taken advantage of the transport and left a couple more offspring.

"I'm writing dragons right now.' In a note book, with paragraphs scribbled out or added, none of the elegance of computer editing.

"Ooh, can you read us some?" Reading, yes - but books with big letters and bigger pictures. And the twins spoke Yorkshire as their first language, while for the neighbours it was probably Urdu.

Now, I have never stinted on my vocabulary, but am vain enough that I like showing off, so "If there are any difficult words you don't understand, stop me, and I'll explain. It's no problem, I wasn't writing it as a children's story." Making it a challenge to them, rather than me. I concentrated on infant dragons - Solfrenia's first day at school, Hoopy's flying lesson - but I just generate heavyweight words. Not 'run, Spot, run' writing at all. Yet there were no interruptions, no puzzlement on young faces; the story was traversing the word barrier into thought without notable effort. Oh, reading some of the terms would have been work, but delivered as audio content? Direct osmotic absorption, even the next door but twos.

Difficult words drop you out of a story when you are already not deeply immersed, and are more often an excuse than truly a reason for losing the contact.

Uncle Biscuit? Never heard of him.

I am writing a fantasy with what I hope to be a French flavor. I am doing this for a number of reason. I have noticed that a lot of fantasy has Celtic/ Saxon/ Nordic influence and have enjoyed them.

However, I haven't read or heard much with a French influence (outside of Beauty and the Beast) and thought that might be nice. My other reason is: I have noticed over the past twenty years or so the media has given the French a bad rap where they have been portrayed as weaklings, cads, cowards, and villains. I know the French are far from perfect, but give them a break. My last reason is it a flimsy way to get in touch with some of my roots.

To be honest the only thing I know about French culture is that they are promoters of art, fashion, make great wines and cheeses,, were in the 20s and 30s more accepting and welcoming of black singers and musician than Americans and have a beautiful language.

Which brings me to your comment, "Difficult words drop you out of a story when you are already not deeply immersed, and are more often an excuse than truly a reason for losing the contact."

I am becoming aware to do what I want and not lose my readers is going to be a balancing act. I'm also aware that I may not be experienced or gifted enough to pull off this act. Nonetheless, I won't know until I try. As one tv painter said, "No guts no glory."