Sunday, January 31, 2010

my words... my passion

I believe every writer has a passion for words, it is essential to improve your craft. If you aren't passionate, your goal of engaging the reader eventually becomes a loss.

I not only want to be passionate in the words I know, but to also embrace the dictionary and the theasarus and learn new words, better my vocabulary, and broaden my skill level. I have a passion for words, however the vocabulary I am currently using could be better.

My goal through blogging, writing prompts and overall my novel is to constantly engage my reader, keep them interested in the writing, the key reason I have my blog. I want to learn a new word each week and use it in a story, not necessarily a long story, but I should be able to use the word in a sentence and utilize it, after all I am the writer. I also want to work on my dialogue, when speaking through characters I want to use more than just 'she said'...

I hope all of you can keep me accountable, and feel free to leave comments sharing your thoughts, ideas, opinions, words, and anything in general! Your feedback is what makes me better!

11 comments:

Jonathon Arntson said...

The second paragraph speaks so clearly to me.

Bish Denham said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog Jen...and let me your 100th follower!

ann foxlee said...

Yes, thesaurus.com is my best friend when I'm writing. I always seem to have brain paralysis-- whenever I'm really trying to think of a word, it's just not there. So, off to the thesaurus I go, thinking... "I know there's a word, and it sort of means this, but with a hint of that too...AH! There, that's the one!"
Thesauruses can be dangerous though. I try never to use a word that sounds too much like I looked it up in a thesaurus! I only use the words that were on the tip of my tongue, or seem natural, or that I would normally use anyway (if my brain wasn't freezing up)

Good luck in your quest to broaden your mastery of words!

Unknown said...

Jonathan - I am glad!!

Bish - Thank you so much for stopping by and becoming a follower! Yay for 100!!

Ann - I know exactly what you mean, you don't want to seem to stuffy, using to many big words, but a few wouldn't hurt!! Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle Gregory said...

it's always nice to find other people who are passionate about words.

Natalie Murphy said...

Dialogue is so important to a story. I find that if there is bad dialogue, I'll likely put the book down and read something else.

My parents got me one of those word calendars for Christmas. The ones where you rip off the sheet to show the next day. It's a lot of fun. I already know most of the words, but I still like it.

Skinnie Minnie said...

Words are so powerful and to use them is a gift in my eyes. Sometimes people get offended, but words hurt as much as the truth.

Julie T. Ewald said...

What a great post! I think that the want or need to constantly discover and explore and learn enriches the human experience so much, and this want and need when applied to words really enhances a writer's life so much.

I kept a word journal for a time. Whenever I would find a word I didn't know in my reading I would write it down, and when I had a moment, I would look up these words. I have to confess that I never made a conscious effort to weave them into my writing, but my subconscious ended up shuffling them into my vocabulary.

Ellen Brickley said...

Great post, Jen - Stephen King wrote the book 'On Writing' because it bothered him that fledgling writers didn't ask questions about language. Amy Tan agreed with him, so he wrote a book of answers to the questions he wished he'd been asked.

We all need to be more aware of language, I think :)

Sharon McPherson said...

Hi Jen

A gift for story-telling along with your awesome word wizardry = Bestseller!!!

Go for it!

Carolyn V. said...

The language really makes all the difference. I love the post. Excellent reminder. =)