The dizzying world of words

There’s so many words. Sooo many. I come across words I’m not 100% sure of the meaning of every day. It’s kind of pathetic — I pick up a book, I read a few lines, then I have to put down the book in order to look up a word or phrase I wasn’t sure of.

I mean, sure, I might’ve heard these words before, but I can’t rely solely on context clues to define words I might have to use when I write. Guesswork could end up making me look like a total idiot.

Some words are just silly — words that end up making the author sound stupid, like he’s trying too hard to sound scholarly, or like he’s exploiting the built-in thesaurus feature in Microsoft Word. Fortunately, I can tell the difference, and I can do without those.

Other words, though, are simply important to know; words that could make the quality of a high fantasy novel suffer if the author doesn’t know them well enough. I’m talking about words for architecture, diseases, economics, geography, and any number of other important facets in a fantasy world.

Facing the mast, the ’starboard’ is the right side of the ship. The ‘larboard’, or ‘port’, is the left. The ‘bow’ is the front and the ’stern’ is the back.

A ’scepter’ isn’t just a staff held by a ruler or sovereign, it can also be a title or a term to refer to the sovereign. It’s so diverse, it can be used either as a noun or a verb.

A ‘rainshadow’ is a dry region ‘leeward’ of a mountain range.

‘Leeward’ is moving with the direction of the wind. As in “moving with the lee”. Uh-huh….

Did I know all this before I looked it up? Hell no. Will I be able to remember all this when it comes up in my stories? Hell no. I sure hope so.

Every time I get in the car—every time—I think of something I’d like to add to a scene I’ve already written to give it clarity or realism or have it make more sense. Then I have to turn off the radio and chant out loud what I have to remember over and over again until I get to a computer so I can type it down.

Today, as I got home from work, I came up with three different ideas. I had to string them together and hope I didn’t run into anybody that would want to chew the fat with me in a parking lot or outside my house so I’d still remember my ideas by the time I got inside.

Mental note: I need a cellphone with a built-in voice recorder.

Anyway, I’m taking a break from my novel. Yes, you heard right. I’m sure there’s no escaping it and more ideas are going to pounce into my head, anyway.

But here’s the situation:

I’m not satisfied with having only one short story written that could possibly be good enough for publication. My other two short stories aren’t publish-worthy. I want more short stories in circulation, and I want more experience writing them. The only short story I have out there is tied-up in a contest that won’t resolve until sometime next year, and the wait is killing me.

To remedy this situation, I’m going to finish the short story I might’ve mentioned; the one that was from a woman’s perspective and had heavy dialogue.

Anyway, when I get back to my novel, it’ll be right before a ‘candybar scene’, so I’ll hit the ground running.

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~ by cirellio on November 20, 2008.