- There are certain words that I use almost automatically because I love the images that you can use them to elicit. Words like edge, shadow, curve, sharp, thin, little words you can push together into new combinations. I probably overuse a lot of words. But they are the ones that slide to the front of my tongue with the greatest ease, so to speak.
- RHYTHM. Obviously. Where the emphases are and where they need to be. I think this also might be why I sometimes abandon contractions completely, because it's a lot easier to get the rhythm right when the words are separate.
- Sometimes I just find new words that I really like, and shove them into whatever I'm writing at the slightest excuse. This is not a very good habit. But I do it nonetheless!
- And then there's the fact that I just have not-very-rational hatreds of particular words and refuse to use them. My characters are far more likely to mutter something than mumble it because I DO NOT LIKE the word 'mumble'. Obviously they're not interchangeable because they convey completely different moods and tones, but if someone needs to mumble something...I will often express it in more words. Different words. (This is what Dieter calls shooting yerself in the foot. <--- I AM ALARMED THAT I CAN QUOTE THAT OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, FOR THE RECORD.)
- Because really, I love choosing words that express a concept with great elegance. Why use two sentences to describe what 'solipsistic' or 'vertiginous' can do with a single word? Yes, yes, I'm terribly inconsistent.
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- There are certain words that I use almost automatically because I love the images that you can use them to elicit. Words like edge, shadow, curve, sharp, thin, little words you can push together into new combinations. I probably overuse a lot of words. But they are the ones that slide to the front of my tongue with the greatest ease, so to speak.
- RHYTHM. Obviously. Where the emphases are and where they need to be. I think this also might be why I sometimes abandon contractions completely, because it's a lot easier to get the rhythm right when the words are separate.
- Sometimes I just find new words that I really like, and shove them into whatever I'm writing at the slightest excuse. This is not a very good habit. But I do it nonetheless!
- And then there's the fact that I just have not-very-rational hatreds of particular words and refuse to use them. My characters are far more likely to mutter something than mumble it because I DO NOT LIKE the word 'mumble'. Obviously they're not interchangeable because they convey completely different moods and tones, but if someone needs to mumble something...I will often express it in more words. Different words. (This is what Dieter calls shooting yerself in the foot. <--- I AM ALARMED THAT I CAN QUOTE THAT OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, FOR THE RECORD.)
- Because really, I love choosing words that express a concept with great elegance. Why use two sentences to describe what 'solipsistic' or 'vertiginous' can do with a single word? Yes, yes, I'm terribly inconsistent.