How to Build Your Writing Vocabulary
Vložit
- čas přidán 27. 06. 2024
- Great writers equip themselves with an arsenal of words. An expansive vocabulary allows you to capture precise images and emotions, but there’s no need to resort to purple prose. Here, you’ll find tips for building your vocabulary while striking a balance between rare and common words.
You can read a text version of this video on Medium: / 10-strategies-for-buil...
Love my channel? Treat me to a cup of coffee at ko-fi.com/quotidianwriter.
My Published Stories and Poems: www.quotidianwriter.com/my-wr...
Twitter: / quotidianwriter
Title and End Music: “Clockwork” by Vindsvept - • Fantasy Music - Vindsv...
Background Music: Podington Bear
Introduction (0:00)
Vocabulary Journal (1:52)
Flashcards and Apps (3:33)
Learning Jargon (5:06)
Word Bank and Hit List (6:46)
Word Misuse (8:37)
Character Diction (9:27)
Using Rare Words (10:37)
Writing Exercise (13:08)
Hi there, viewers! You can read an adapted text version of this video on Medium. medium.com/@quotidianwriter/10-strategies-for-building-your-writing-vocabulary-54232a6f075f
When i'm writing my first draft, i use shorter, and simple words. And when i'm rewriting, that's when i search, and use some vocalbulary words.
SCRIPTURIENT
adj. Having a desire or passion for writing; having a liking or itch for authorship.
n. One who has a passion for writing.
'Komorebi' is a Japanese word that doesn't have an English equivalent. It's a descriptive word for the occurrence where sun rays shine through tree leaves and create this sort of glorious curtain over the forest. (I think I first saw it mentioned in an anime, then read it in the book Ikigai).
I also learned the word 'maktub' from The Alchemist and asked a Moroccan friend to explain it. She said it translates to: "It is written" and means that our choices are already set in stone for us. It is then up to us to make the decision whenever they arise.
I love how language-specific words can tell so much about what a culture finds important.
Those are wonderful examples!
maktub is arabic for "it is written down" and mektab is morrocan way for saying " it's destiny/fate"
In portuguese we have the word "Saudade", that means "I miss you". A whole feeling described in one word. You guys should invent a equivalent.
The most beautiful word I ever encountered is the turkish word "yakamoz", which describes the reflection of the moon in the water. It's absolutely astonishing for me that a culture actually invented a word for that.
Like there are German words to describe several feelings that we don’t even have words for
Whenever I write I try to check the dictionary to see if there's a better word for what I want to write. Most of the times, there is. But that's so time consuming that it takes me too much time to complete a paragraph. I've downloaded apps to help me. Sometimes while writing I suddenly think of an imaginary word and then go through the dictionary to check if such a word does exist. 60 percent of the words do exist which muddles me. The rest of the 40 percent is closer to another word that means something completely different.😂
Thanks for your help though.
use the thesaurus in MS word. you right click the word and it will give you a bunch of common suggestions and I find that is a great way to see if there is a better word. It doesn't give weird and strange alternatives, just the common ones which will still resonate with readers.
an online thesaurus is great for when you do want a weird and wonderful word
Verisimilitude:
noun - The quality of seeming true or of having the appearance of being real.
I love the exercise you proposed near the end of this video, taking three words and working them into a paragraph. I used to do that as a daily writing exercise using random words. It's also how my first novel ballooned from a 500 word flash fiction story into a 70K novel :)
you sum it up perfect ... using too many big words knocks people out of the moment. I had someone I tried to tell this too but they kept getting upset because they loved looking up weird and wonderful words. That is great in itself, but I'm all for it, but if your reader has to stop for a dictionary every second word they probably won't read your story.
Using one or two is great. Too many and it feels like language of some another time which takes the readers out of focus.
Most popular bestsellers are easy to read and digestible.
Very relevant (hence why I searched it). My writing includes a lot of ridiculously overcomplicated words. My fiance said that, although the story is interesting, the pace was shattered by her seeing so many words she did not understand.
This will be one of my main focuses when writing the 2nd draft.
I learned ‘Facsimile’ today.
A facsimile is an exact copy of something. The word is also used to refer to a system of transmitting and reproducing graphic matter, such as printed text or photos.
// The forged painting was an impressive facsimile of the original.
Example
“Walls are now decorated with posters and murals of facsimiles of old newspapers that tell the tales of the team's big moments.” - Carlos Monarrez, The Detroit Free Press, 29 July 2022
***
My wife used this Vocab Series in homeschooling our kids. "English From the Roots Up." Latin and Greek root words are used to build many English words. Learn the roots, prefixes and suffixes, and you have the pieces necessary to learn dozens of other words you have not studied.
😌 This is oddly relaxing to listen to while I learn. Thank you for this diamond of knowledge.
Good topic. I’m Dutch, but I just like writing in English so much more. Improving my vocab is probably a pretty good idea
Mee eens
Ja toch
i’m german and i think the language makes basic sentences and words sound very uncomfortable
Anathema - something loathed. I learned it from a book titled "The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart: 1,200 Essential Words Every Sophisticated Person Should Be Able to Use" by Robert W. Bly.
It's a church word
I learned this word from The Putnam County Spelling Bee musical. They have a lot of big words in the lyrics because, well, it’s a spelling bee! haha
anathematize - curse
@@rodschmidt8952 It is still plenty used in secular life for its mundane meaning.
I just downloaded it... Thank you!
Another brilliantly presented roadmap towards that "someday on a shelf " dream of all readers and potential authors. The voice over winds like a silk ribbon, colouring all as it spins and weaves and imparts gems and avoids painful literary surgery later.
It's crazy, I've found that I use the words "the" and "end" in nearly every story I write.
Diane Callahan - Your videos are beautifully written and edited. Viewing one of them is like watching an entertaining film while receiving a genuine benefit from doing so.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I always appreciate your comments, cjpreach. :)
Im crying you’re so helpful 😭 thank you for existing
I really like the word “ergo” it means therefore not really specific but it has a nice tone to it that colors the fantasy settings my writing frequents.
Buckminster Fuller uses ergo frequently in his writings, thanks for turning on my light
I encountered the word 'equine' a few days ago while reading Ulysses, and I love the way it sounds, as well as the cleft between its elegant phonetic properties, and the somewhat base and, to me, unexpected and random-seeming meaning it actually conveys (that of relating to horses). I think a character's face is described as "equine in length" which is such a fresh way of making the antiquated "why the long face" joke.
Carapace. 'Tent' in Spanish is 'una carpa'.
So that's what the thing on the end of a shoelace is called!
I am so thankful CZcams recommended your video yo me
Hi there, I am study at university and my work assignments have become dauntingly long. I just want to say I am really happy I found your channel because I seriously enjoy writing but I fear my own capabilities. Thank you for creating this channel, very much appreciated.
Thank you so much for your kind words and best of luck with your assignments! You can do it! :)
Whenever I go to write I create a a list of words that I recently learned and try to put them into my story.
Specificity is a beautiful thing. I love finding cool new words and then using them in my story. I honestly don’t read enough but I love my dictionary app, it gives fun new words every day.
Diane your videos are eye opener and a great inspiration.
Thanks for shedding light on "quotidian". I never thought of looking it up since it seemed like fantasy novel jargon.
I'm gonna use sconce candle holder in my story.
Haven't heard this beautiful voice in ages.
Hey! This was really an amazing video. I also used to do it in the same way, writing it down on post-it notes; however, in that way, I usually never go back to writing all the words and their definitions and then in the end it demotivated me from reading. This cycle became too much for me. This way of Vocubalary Journal is soooo smart! Thank you so much.
Is this free? This is free, right? I haven’t stumbled into CZcams Red by mistake? Because this channel is amazingly valuable; worth at least two semesters worth of a Creative Writing course, probably even more.
Yep, this channel has helped my writing improve more in two videos than all three college writing courses did. Where were those schools hiring from 😅
This video helped me augment my vocabulary index and improve my inscribing while journal for a passionate hobby, thank you Diane Callahan!
I love your educationally-engaging content 😀
This is wonderful advice. Thank you ❤️
Love the examples at 14:54. As a non native speaker, a more practical use is my go to, but being enrich with new words so often, is a delight.
I simple tip might be: if a word occurs to many times in a sentence or paragraph consult a thesaurus.
I love your posts and this was one I really needed😊
The right content I was searching for so long. Thank you!
Okay all this is too uncanny i am literally working on a story and EVERYTHING in my story is in this video lol and so many subtle hints that I am on the right track the whole topics portion I literally am writing about a rare jewel my character is studying for an anatomy class her favorite place to be is a library the gothic architecture except the classical music but i can def use that too omg thank you for these amazing videos i subscribed and thanks universe for these many confirmations i am on the right track!!!
New word, *caparison* - an ornamental covering for a horse or for its saddle or harness; trappings.
From "In the Midst of Life," _The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce_
With its surprise twist, "In the Midst of Life" is a brilliant short story.
I highly recommend reading _The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce_ to anyone who, like him, tends to cast a jaded eye upon the human race.
This is wonderful advice. Thank you
I really appreciated this video lesson and the process in which you utilize your tools to absorb words! I use to work on memorizing the dictionary, and a lot of those words just evade my need of them lol. I am going to try some of these techniques! Thank you!
I loved this video. Thank you very much for your advice. I've downloaded one app already, and may start a vocabulary journal based on your suggestion.
I love this!!! Great tip!!! Thanku!!
I LOVE your content!!!
Thank you Diane. This has been of much help to me. God bless you
Thank you because you have just taken the vocabulary work I do for fun to the next level. I am an uneducated beginner and trying to learn as much as I can before I attempt formal education. Sub'd!
I'm glad I found this channel.
I love Mark Twain. Have you read his autobiography?? It's the size of a dictionary and that's only volume 1 out of 3. I decided to get the audiobook so I could play it during free time or when cleaning and organizing my place... vol. 1 is in 20 CDs - each CD has 24 tracks each 3 minutes long. The word you ask for - how about "torpor" meaning a state of physical or mental inactivity; lethargy. From Toni Morrison "source of self- regard"
I really appreciate your videos!
Love your videos! Thanks for sharing! :)
Watching this before bed! My favorite kind of videos. 🥰
First, I though it is the plot detail-vocabulary as line-vocabulary in drawing.
I love learning new words. I even found an excuse to use them in writing or speech. I believe that the more vocabulary you learn, the better the expression of idea is. I was influenced by poetry and having a larger range of words is important. You make you better at crafting! It is important to be bi-langage to understand the ethymology.
Teaching English in Greece to an ex-priest friend who knew Ancient Greek, High Church Greek, Kathourvasa and modern Greek he, Argeriz, often said 'Ha, this word is not Latin, this word is Greek.' Story and history is from Istoria used in modern Greek still as is Thema, misanthrop, catastrophe with so many others. Every writer needs to spend a least two years in Greece mostly on an obscure Greek island that is still largely untouched by tourism and the odd months in Athens--with a friendly guide. Rome was based on the science and breakthroughs of Greece, something not enough realised.
Great insights!
Thank you. This helped a lot
Thank you so much, I love the idea of a Vocab Journal
Good, solid advice Diane that, like most great advice, bears constant repeating! As the Taoist say, "The right road is easy to follow. but people love to be side-tracked." Thanks for another fabulous post! "I'm on the track! I"m off the track! I'm on the track! I"m off the track!" : )
"Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie," Latin for "Give us this day our daily bread."
That is what I first thought of as well when she mentioned it.
Exceptional content
Cacophony! It’s used multiple times in The Martian and definitely one of the authors “cinnamon words”. But I loved it and have adopted it into my vocabulary. Made me laugh when it was mentioned in this video
I love this, recently i noticed that i repeat certain words in my stories.
Keep looking for synonyms. That's how I learnt new words
The word I learned was Quotidian... it didn't mean what I thought it meant.
« Maladroitly » didn’t know that was a fancy English world. In French it’s so common to use it « maladroit » which means the same thing !
trovo che i tuoi video siano interessanti e molto curati. Grazie per i preziosi consigli. I found your videos interesting and tidy. Thanks a lot for the precious advises.
Damn, this was so so helpful
I'm so in love with your contents.
My imagination was excited to learn that "rapacious" (meaning "like a raptor, swooping down to kill its prey"), when translated from Greek to English, is "swindle." Now THERE's a word picture! I will forever think of a Swindler (a deceptive cheater) as a bird of prey seeking, attacking, destroying and consuming an innocent victim.
An Owl tho.
Now I'm thinking of a bird running a scam, a three-shell game or a gold-brick scheme
New word I.learned? Aglet, learned it a few seconds ago. Thank you from a new subscriber.
I totally agree with even expertise writers repeatedly using same words....... For example in Haruki Murakami's work the word ominous is quite prominent 👍😁
Decorous (adj) - in keeping with good taste and propriety. I heard it in the movie "The Imitation Game." I think it's where our word decorum comes from.
Great video. I have multiple pages of scribbled words I've been jotting down as I read. I'm going to have to Google them all eventually, but that detracts from my reading so I've been avoiding it :)
I love your videos !!!!!
Awesome channel. ..interesting content...thank u n have a great day.
This reminded me of when I caught JK Rowling using the word "gusto" twice in the HP series and I was like 😏😏😏
I love your videos! This one is especially great, I just have to remember to listen to this one over watch, my arachnophobia was kicking my ass in this one
awsmmmm👌👌
My favorite word, *raison d'etre* , a French word meaning “Reason for being” or “Reason for living”. It’s your purpose in life. What a beautiful divine word
That is absolutely beautiful!
CREPUSCULAR
adj. Resembling twilight; dim; indistinct.
As a child I used to be the best at vocabulary, I always aced my quizzes :P so in my writing, I flex my big words. Might need to tone that down a bit lol.
great video
'Appurtenance' is one of the new words that I have recently come across.
I also keep a list of words I want to use in writing. Legerdemain is a good one. Struthius is my favorite!
QueenCloveroftheice “penultimate”
*Words you should know.Sauna: FINNISH (Steamroom) Ombudsman SWEDISH (Public advocate) Good words! Thanks for the informative video.Bangkok-Johnnie CarSanook Media THAILAND not Taiwan, that’s an island)*
I too used etiolated, not in the context of creative writing but in gardening! Someone else pointed out I should use leggy!
I never meant to roil him as it was meant to be funny. But when he suddenly turned putrid, smashing all that he touches, I got stuck in a quandary.
A sentence would have to do.
Hi! I fell in love with your videos ever since i watched the
First POV part, and it helped me a lot.
I read and write as a hobby but I don't think that I'll ever get tired of it.
I love books too much.
The girl in black as she was coming out of the graveyard could sense the putrid around, it was getting darker so she roiled over the slanted slopy street recalled how quandarily her relatives looked and talked to her after the incident.
As the girl cladded in black began to make her way out of the graveyard, she took note of the awful, putrid stench hazing the air, causing her to lift her head to the skies to take a quick breather from the mugginess that surrounded her. Seeing as the skies were beginning into their dark descent, she rolled around onto the slanted street with a huff, recalling how quandary her relatives spoke and looked after all that had happened. After that incident.
I’m writing for my own stories, but I kinda liked looking at your story as it has a lot of potential for padding with certain moods or correcting certain words for catching a readers attention. Was this for looking into vocabulary or was it an example of your writing skills? I’m curious.
Never mind, sorry dude!
i love 3rd person perspective. but something I'd add to the disadvantages is that sometime, you switch to a pov of a less interesting character. and so you're stuck with him and his story line when you want the one of the anchor character, which can be frustrating
It is really necessary for writers to have a godown full of words to use while writing. But, at the same time it's a stress for me to capture every words( sometimes the most common words, cause of grammatical variations) and go about them to use them in my writing. Whenever I post my writings in the writers community, they come up with statements like you have "misplaced it" or "you could better look for a readable synonym, which would enhance the core meaning of the sentence."
Bullshit, I am hella tired of it. I have read many books by authors who had a creamy command over the language. Writers like murakami, kafka and many like-minded who uses the language in a way to supplement their need. I have never seen a 50$ word used in murakami's writing, it's neat and clean. He writes simple, using the above ordinary vocabulary but still manages to say what he wants to say.
Vocabulary will feed anytime but language is the mood, if it wants, it can take it or throw it( clunky paragraphs, ornamented with diamond words).
Thanks a lot for the video, was an incisive one and damn useful.
It is really necessary for writers to have a warehouse in eastern Asia, especially India full of words to use while writing?
That's what I have focused on, too. I noticed that the moment I dropped the need to search up the most accurate word for every sentence, my writing went up from 2 points to 8. It's still not perfect, but sometimes a vocabulary just a little wider than average is all you need to convey every emotion with a punch.
It may not be the intention of this video but I found that your method for creating a vocabulary journal would also help people trying to learn a 2nd language.
I'm currently studying Japanese and I'm at a level where reading is enjoyable but a challenge. I often need to look up words that are relevant to story but I may not use outside of its text. In addition, there are other words that are new or interesting and I feel I *should* know them. With so many new words I often wonder, 'what am I going to do with all this?"
I decided that since I wanted to enjoy the book and move on I would only look up what words I needed to know. But I also make a point to record vocabulary or phrasing that I find may be useful in the future.
After watching this video I realized that one of the pleasures I derive from studying Japanese comes from the vocabulary that consist of Chinese characters called kanji that make up many of the words. These logograms, in essence, are similar to Greek and Latin roots of the English language (a class I throughly enjoyed in college btw) and is not only fascinating but very informative when coming across unfamiliar words. I love the idea of taking a deep dive into a few words then taking it a step further by getting an example from the news and then creating one's own sentence. I will definitely use these tips for my own study!
Such wonderful and thoughtful suggestions. Thank you very much!
日本語も勉強しています! I love the pictorial nature of kanji, too, as it makes them so much easier to remember. The other day, I came across the word for "letter" (as in a letter sent in the mail), 手紙, and was delighted to find that it was a combination of "hand" and "paper." I also got a good laugh out of this "new kanji" parody video by Dogen: czcams.com/video/S3Fx2FEhhf8/video.html
13:15
His wife had thought him crazy when he first applied for his open carry license. Even he sometimes wondered if his posh British debonair was being overly Americanized. Yet he couldn't help but palm the leather holster at his hip, which contained the heavy bulk of his brand new Raging Judge Magnum, loaded with .410 triple aught buck. It did seem rather overbearing, at least until he turned a corner and was confronted by a roiling putrid quandary shambling towards him.
"By jove," he blurted in stunned amazement, as he fumbled at his firearm, "the Texans have been right all along!"
Actually im spanish and when i saw that word, first thing I thought of was "cotidiano" haha
same, as a portuguese speaker. "Quotidian" is such a... quotidian word in our languages haha.
Zerkalo Didn't see that coming
It's weird that often for speakers of some other langauges there are many "advanced" or uncommon words that are much easier to learn than the more basic ones.
You are Amazing, I liké so much your vidéos❤️😘😘
Some of the things that you said cannot be stressed enough.
Merriam-Webster also has these nice word quizzes that make certain words 'sticky.' It's Halloween right now and they have a similar themed quiz. New words to remember! Snallygaster, anyone?
In hope that my comment might encourage you in your work; thank you! Excellent video!
*Excellent video. 10/10 Sutt Yoooot! As we say in Thailand. Thanks Bangkok-Johnnie CarSanook Media Thailand*
13:28 modern people who don’t know what an aglet is had no childhood
The comments are even more helpful 😭😭
What an insight! Most of the time I actually trying to sound smart in my writing and I didn't even realized it 😂! Yeap, the right word for the right moment.
p.s. : You spoke pretty fast. Sometimes it was too fast for me😅. I'm not a native English speaker, so it'd be great if you were to slow it down just a bit, 'cause your contents are on my waiting list 😄. Cheers.
You can slow down the video
I'm not sure if it counts of a learned new word but, my word/name is MORDRICK, which means, " An adorable fiery little guy that loves to explore and push boundaries."