12 Words Every Writer Should Know and Use

In a previous post, I talked about words and how powerful of an art form they can be.

Houghton Mifflin publishes a popular book called 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know. While perusing the list, there are numerous words I’d have to ask someone to use in a sentence for me because I know I don’t use them in everyday language and I have no idea what they mean. There are exquisite words like gerrymander, lugubrious, obsequious, quotidian, and usurp. You can read the entire list for yourself by clicking on the title above, but if you love words like I do then be sure to grab your dictionary first! Senior editor Steven Kleinedler states, “If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language.”

Just the words “command of the language” makes me chuckle and brings back an odd memory concerning an old boss of mine from when I worked in a bookstore. She’d say “pacific” instead of saying “specific.” I cringed every time like nails on a chalkboard when that came out of her mouth. “You’re not being pacific enough!” she’d yell at our weekly manager meetings. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just too Gulf of Mexico,” I’d reply to myself, holding back my laughter and hoping she didn’t see the grin on my face.

My (ex) boss knew what she meant and so did we, but she just used the wrong word or was mispronouncing it. Writers can definitely relate to such arguments when it comes to words like “their” and “there” or “you’re” and “your,” but at least those words sound the same and no one would know the difference when you are speaking them out loud. But as soon as you write them down, the wrong word will reveal all.

So, the 100 words I should have known got me to thinking about words all writers should know. Like any 21st Century writer would probably do, I Googled it. Just the words “writers should know” brought back a plethora (another good word) of information about publishing, plagiarism, copyright, and the like. All of those lists were “Things Writers Should Know About ___.” But I wanted to get right down to the physical words themselves and what they mean to writers. So, I grabbed my notepad and started my own list.

While I didn’t come up with a hefty list to compete with Houghton Mifflin, I did narrow my choices down to just a dozen words. They are just 12 simplistic words that can’t compete with the superiority of “chicanery” and “soliloquy” but without these words, I don’t think we could be writers.

And so I present in no particular order…12 Words Every Author Should Know and Use:

Creativity: One of my favorite writers, Truman Capote, said “To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music the words make.” Let’s face it. You have to have some kind of notion of creativity, some talent in putting words down in cohesive structure, a craft for telling a story, or a good imagination if you are writing fiction. That’s why they call it creative writing.  Now, if your writing a dissertation on Noetic science, the material itself may not be so creative to work with but the writer’s ability to put together facts and write a winning academic paper still takes creativeness.

Storytelling: Jean Houston said, “If you keep telling the same small story, you will keep living the same sad small life.” We’ve all got stories to tell, and I’m not just talking about those stories our parents told us from memory at bedtime. My father often shared stories with us when I was growing up. Once such story was about a call he got in the middle of the night from someone who had mistaken by dad for someone else who actually had the same name.

“I’d like to buy those cattle you showed me,” the caller said.

“I don’t own any cattle.  I think you have the wrong number,” my dad said.

But the caller was persistent that he had called the right person.  My dad was tired and just wanted to hang up the phone and go back to sleep.

“Put a check in the mail and go take all the cattle you want,” my dad finally said, and then hung up and went back to bed.

The end of the story?  My dad pauses for effect and then says, “I never did get my check!”

This story always made everyone laugh.  It later sparked the idea for a short story of mine, which eventually turned into a collection of short stories based on the small details like this that I remember from my childhood.  My dad had (and still has) tons of stories, but it was his ability to hold my attention while telling them, his skill as breathing life into it that is the reason I still remember them today.

So, practice being a good storyteller in your writing and don’t forget the pauses and nuances and details that capture your audience.  Don’t know if it works?  Read the story out loud to an audience and see if you captivate them.  And this is a perfect lead-in to our next word.

Listen: English novelist Nick Hornby said, “I think a lot of unpublished writers feel the same way. They’re not getting anywhere, and nobody’s listening to them.”  Publication aside, most people aren’t listening because you haven’t captured their attention or you aren’t saying anything worth listening to.  We’re writers.  We love to talk.  We love to tell a good tale.  But are we willing to listen to others when they want to speak?  This includes them wanting to give us feedback or constructive criticism.  You should. A good writer knows how and when to listen.  And as a schoolteacher of mine once said, listening is more than just pretending to pay attention.  Listening is absorbing what you’ve heard.

Surrender: An American writer and aviation pioneer named Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, “If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.”  I added this word to the list for several reasons.  First, we’ve all heard the saying, “Surrender to your muse!”  Often, I sit down to write the story that I think is in my head; I’ve plotted out each scene and maybe I even know how it’s going to end.  But as soon as my fingertips touch the keyboard, the characters come out and take over and change everything I set out to do.  So, I let them.  I surrender to the story and let the characters go where they want.  I go with them. My last book started with a single sentence and a quote I liked; I had no idea where to go from there.  But I wrote that book straight through from beginning to end in just three months and self-published it a year later, all because I just sat down and let the characters tell the story.  Surrendering also means admitting your mistakes.  Know when you’re wrong and don’t be afraid of change.

Criticism: Ahh, the elephant in the room that no writer wants to look in the face.  The 3 star (or 1) review that came when you were hoping for at least 4 or 5.  We seek praise from our friends and colleagues, and instead we get slapped with criticism.  Writers (and authors) are the first to come to the defense of their work, even when it’s bad.  And that’s fine.  I think you should stand up for what you’ve written, for what you believe in.  And you should believe in your work. That’s great.  But you should also be open to hearing what other’s have to say about your work. Never, never, never be afraid of criticism.  You are not always right.  There’s always another writer, a friend, an agent, or an editor, just another person damn it!, who you should be listening to because maybe, just maybe, their opinion is for once better than yours.  Remember, the word Listen is on this list too. Know how to criticize constructively but know how to take criticism too!

Time: I hear it a lot.  “I don’t have the time or patience to write.”  My answer is always the same.  “Then don’t.” Writing definitely takes time and writers often seek out every ounce of it they can whether that be on a laptop in a cafe or on a notepad in a doctor’s waiting room.  I always carry a notepad with me everywhere I go and have been known to quickly jot down a thought at a redlight.  If you are like me, you’ve probably plotted out entire scenes or conversations in your head on the way to work. I also find that I’m more creative in the morning fresh out of bed with coffee in hand.  Through the week, I have a 45 minute window to myself before I have to get ready for work.  If I got up earlier, I’d have more time.  But my last book was written over 3 months within this 45 minute space of time and on the weekends. Like any hobby, if you want to write, you have to find the time to do it. Plain and simple.  Part 2 of that saying leads us to our next word…

Patience: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”  You should be patient with yourself and with your story. Know that some days you will write pages, and some days you will only write a handful of words, if any words at all. The story won’t always go where you want it to.  The characters won’t always listen to your fingers. Remember what I said earlier.  If you don’t have time and you don’t have patience, then don’t do it.

Read: In On Writing, Stephen King says if you want to be a writer then you must do two things: “read a lot and write a lot.”  King even says you should be prepared to devote four to six hours a day to reading alone.  And if you don’t know what genre you should write in, pick the one you like to read the most.  While I don’t think I have that much time to devote to reading, I do try to do my fair share of it by reading some every single day.  This year I made it a goal to read at least 25 books for pleasure and I’m about to finish #20 this week.  I know many of you out there are laughing at me because you read much much more, and obviously read faster than I do. But I also read and study the books I review here at LLBR, and I’m always reading blogs and industry related news to share with our readers. I learned how to correctly punctuate dialogue by going back and rereading scenes in books I had. So, read for pleasure, but also read to learn, and to improve your own writing.  And as King also says, “If you sit down to write and the words won’t come out, step away from the computer and go read something.”

Rejection: Rejection sort of goes hand in hand with criticism, but for me they are two totally different things. Someone can actually like your writing and offer you a good positive critique.  For me, rejection means “no.”  Now many of you immediately think of getting rejection letters from agents, and yes, that comes with the territory if you are out shopping your work to the traditional markets.  I sent out close to 50 queries for my last book and only got back a handful of responses which were all rejections.  My favorite was the shortest: “This is not for me.” -Liza.  Going back to Stephen King, I believe he said that 99% of writing was rejection, or something like that.

In April of this year, I wrote an article called How Not to Reply to a Rejection Letter.  I hate that we can’t read every book that gets queried to us here at LLBR.  Sending out rejection letters is not my favorite part of running the site, but there are only three of us here reviewing the books that come through.  Each of us does read the preview of the book and tries to make a good decision about whether or not we want to continue reading.  A lot of our decisions are based not just on the formatting or quality of the book itself, but also on whether or not it’s a story that appeals to our interests or personal reading tastes.  So, when we say “this is not for us” it should be taken lightly because it’s not meant to be offensive.  It’s being honest. Rejection is indeed a big part of being a writer and getting your work read, not just published.  Accept it.

Loneliness: John Steinbeck said, “In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.”  Mark Twain said, “Be good and you will be lonely.”  Does that mean that most good writers are lonely?  Probably.  The art of writing itself is very lonely.  Most of us do it alone.  We sit down with a blank white space and a blinking cursor, and a head full of stories to tell or with characters talking to us.  Okay, so it’s lonely and crazy.  You can certainly expel your narrative demons by telling the story out loud, but a writer goes away to a lonely place and concentrates on putting the story down on paper, on filling that white space with words.

If you are like me, you tend to keep that story all to yourself until it’s completely done.  It’s like a really good lover that you just met; it’s wild and exciting and you want to have them all to yourself for a while before you introduce them to family and friends.  But there is a cure for the loneliness.  It’s getting to hold your book in your hands for the first time, or better yet, handing that book to someone else.  For me, it was always a dream to see my book on the shelf in the bookstore.  It’s hearing what others have to say about my book when they finished reading it.

Just beware that you don’t use writing to try to cure the loneliness.  It won’t work. There are so many great authors who traveled that path alone who have gone before us who can attest to that: Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, Emily Dickinson, William Faulkner, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde just to name a few of my favorites.

Character: I’m not talking about those characters in your head either who breathe to life somewhere between your fingers and the page. Character is first defined at dictionary.com as “the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.” It is also “the account of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing.”  What does this mean to a writer?  For me, it means adapting those traits that make you a good writer.  Don’t always try to write like your favorite author, and certainly don’t borrow on their ideas.  Find the unique characteristics that make you an individual, that make your writing stand out from the rest.   A good example is the recent vampire phenomenon that’s run its course over the past few years and still going strong.  It’s fun to see what vampiric traits they have in common, which they borrowed from Stoker’s Dracula, and the new traits that make each of the stories unique in their own way.  And let’s not forget the stories that have piggy backed on the Harry Potter franchise. It’s fine to capitalize on what everyone is reading at the time if you have a good story to tell and you can sell it.  Just be unique about it and give your story those interesting characteristics that make it different, and better, than the rest!

Fun: What can I say?  If you want to be a writer, you’ve got to have fun doing it.  If your lead character is a professional sky diver, then get out there and try sky diving for yourself. If your story is told from the point of view of an old lady, then sit down with Grandma and ask her to tell you stories about her growing up.  Take notes but also record her actions and facial expressions.  If you are writing a story about an artist, take an art class.  Heck, take a creative writing class too while you are at it. Make the research just as fun as the writing, but the important part is to have fun in every aspect of what you are doing.  Have fun!  I still get excited when I sit down to write something.  My heart still races when I’ve finished a chapter. I cry and laugh with my characters as if I knew them. I do know them! Just like time and patience, if you aren’t having fun doing it, then don’t.  Or if it stops being fun, then stop doing it.  And go read something, or just go do something for a while that is fun…like looking up those words in the dictionary you should have learned in high school.