# Are some words more valuable than other ones?



## Queshire (Jun 17, 2015)

A certain something happened recently that reminded me of a theory I've had bobbing around my mind lately. I'm not really ready to share it quite yet, but it involves word choice.

There's only so much space on a page and there's only so many pages in a book, right? Well, I suppose in this age of massive digital storage it's more appropriate to say that there's only so much interest one writer can devote to a book and similarly only a certain amount of interest that a reader is willing to commit to it. You don't have an infinite number of words you can put into a story so that means that the words you do put in are more valuable than the ones you don't, but how do you decide that value? What makes you go with A instead of B?


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## MineOwnKing (Jun 17, 2015)

It's great to have a thesauric vocabulary, but overdoing it can be jarring.

For example:_ Untenable_ is a great word but if _Flimsy _works well too then I would use flimsy instead.

Too many words that are outside the spectrum of daily usage can make the reader feel like you're looking down your nose at them.

2 pages of Moby Dick can give you enough thesauric fuel to blow the moon. Even though I love Moby Dick and really enjoy geeking out over the wide vocabulary, it does detract from the pace of the novel.

Moby Dick is an extreme example but I think you probably get my point.

Pace is important.


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## Lunaairis (Jun 17, 2015)

this reminds me of this--> 




Yes words are important, each word as a history and a meaning and that in conjunction the words can bring a reader into a different mindset as they read the page. 

Its something important but not so important that you should worry about it on your first pass (or two) on a draft. But when you got back to edit one thing on your checklist should be "Do the words I use evoke the right feelings in this scene?"


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## stephenspower (Jun 17, 2015)

I think the best word is the simplest but also the most culturally relevant. For instance, I love how hobbits constantly use food imagery ("I feel thin. Like butter scraped over too much bread."). In addition, I think etymology matters too and can be a way to differentiate cultures and practices subtly. For instance, JK Rowling's fancy spells have Latin names, the homey spells have Anglo-Saxon names and the healing spells have Greek names.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Jun 17, 2015)

Queshire said:


> A certain something happened recently that reminded me of a theory I've had bobbing around my mind lately. I'm not really ready to share it quite yet, but it involves word choice.
> 
> There's only so much space on a page and there's only so many pages in a book, right? Well, I suppose in this age of massive digital storage it's more appropriate to say that there's only so much interest one writer can devote to a book and similarly only a certain amount of interest that a reader is willing to commit to it. You don't have an infinite number of words you can put into a story so that means that the words you do put in are more valuable than the ones you don't, but how do you decide that value? What makes you go with A instead of B?



I think that it all depends on the context of what I am writing. For example, suppose I am writing an urban fantasy, I would never write thine and thou when dealing with normal conversation. Also, to use MoK's example, I wouldn't ever use the word untenable when describing a bridge but would use it if a person was talking about another person's position or argument in a discussion. Last, suppose I am writing about an attorney reviewing a contract, I would try to use some of the technical jargon properly. These terms would be offer, acceptance, consideration (the three pillars of contract law), promissory estoppel, frustration, impracticability, parol evidence, or express and implied warranties. Yet, I would never, ever use these terms in literally any other setting. So, deciding what is important depends on context. 

Those are extreme examples. Perhaps something closer to the line is when I have to decide between using two very similar words, like between ball and orb. Let's consider context again. If my characters are playing a game that requires kicking or throwing a sphere I would call it a ball, since that implies something one uses to play with. However, if I was writing about say a wizard's magic doohickey that was also a sphere I would probably call it an orb to impress the nature of its strangeness.

In short no word is more valuable than another, unless the context decides other wise.


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## Penpilot (Jun 18, 2015)

Actually, my college writing teacher always told us what's not said can be just as important as what is. I tend to agree. What's on the page is just the tip of the iceberg, where most of the mass is below the surface unseen. There's even a writing theory for it. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_Theory


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## Russ (Jun 18, 2015)

In law school this book was mandatory reading, and I hope it still is:

Plain English for Lawyers: Richard C. Wydick: 9781594601514: Books - Amazon.ca

Don't let the words get in the way of the picture you are trying to paint, and this is very  much one area where you  need to know your audience.

And Mark Twain had some great thoughts on the use of correct words:



> I never write metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get the same money for cop.
> - Simplified Spelling speech, 1906





> “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”


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## wordwalker (Jun 18, 2015)

Here's another dimension to it:

Oftentimes what makes a word important is its relationship to the other words on that page, and to how that fits into the story.

Is a paragraph about the main character, or the scene's main other character that the hero has to deal with-- or is it a lesser character or thing? Is it one of their minor moments, or a key pivotal instant (and on the same principle, is the whole _scene_ minor or major)? Every impression shouldn't be The Good Stuff, let alone the razor-edged climactic moment... other passages can be "also-rans" that keep the scene on track and do justice to their own points, but aren't trying to upstage the more important moments.

Even within a paragraph or a sentence, some parts can be more important than others. The right verb can energize a sentence by staying right in its center, while the problem with adjectives and adverbs is that they add their power a little on the side. It can be knowing how important a given sentence is, or that part of it where you pause to mention one piece of the image, that tells you whether you have room for--or need--stronger words, or actually more words, or both.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Jun 19, 2015)

Russ said:


> In law school this book was mandatory reading, and I hope it still is:
> 
> Plain English for Lawyers: Richard C. Wydick: 9781594601514: Books - Amazon.ca
> 
> ...



It isn't required at my school unless you take a class. But I found it incredibly invaluable for my own writing as a fiction writer and as a legal writer. It helped fix a lot of bad habits that I was developing in law school and most practitioners that I work with like this plain English better, professors on the other hand.


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## Agamemnon (Jun 27, 2015)

Well, for my two cents worth, I don't think it's so much that one word is more important than another, as how they're used. It all depends on the format and situation they're put into. One scene could make a word seem very strong, while another could make it very weak. It's all about how you use them.


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## K.S. Crooks (Jun 28, 2015)

Keep it natural to the way you speak or the way each character speaks. When you force things you forget to do it all the time, then breaks in your world happen which take the reader out of the story.


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## psychotick (Jun 29, 2015)

Hi,

Are we playing Scrabble? If so yes. Otherwise no. It's not about the value of a word it's about how it fits in the sentence, paragraph, chapter and book.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Miskatonic (Jun 29, 2015)

I'd say the amount of words you use and how you use them is just as important, if not more so.


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## chrispenycate (Jun 29, 2015)

Frequently, there is an optimal word to use in a specific position. At least as frequently there isn't, and one is obliged to compromise, to use a word which is nearly right, or invent a new one, which doesn't happen to have been dictionarised but is otherwise impeccable. Very rare is a situation where there is nothing to choose between two or more words, and decision is totally personal.

Almost invariably word choice is related to the words around, and factors include, as well as meaning, potential audience, rhythm, vowel sound, plosive or sibilant, avoiding alliteration and unplanned rhyme (rhyme in prose has a humorous effect - I had considerable problems with a saurian pulling a cart - 'dragging a dragon waggon' cannot be taken seriously), but prose writers cannot agonise over each syllable as a poet must - it would take roughly forever to finish a page. 

And the perfect phrase for one writer, in one book, might be vastly over-flowery or brutally stark for another tome. I do not anticipate anyone emulating my style, or wanting to, and even I don't tend to dialogue in it. The perfect word for a given situation is more than a utopian dream, but will not be the same for variations in author, reader, narrator, position in the document, required pace… or a thousand other differences.

'Seated one day at the keyboard I was weary and ill at ease…


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## Mythopoet (Jun 29, 2015)

No. Words are tools. A hammer is not more valuable than a screwdriver.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Jun 29, 2015)

Mythopoet said:


> A hammer is not more valuable than a screwdriver.


Unless you're tightening/removing a screw.


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## Mythopoet (Jun 30, 2015)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> Unless you're tightening/removing a screw.



That's precisely the point. It depends entirely on context and usage. There's nothing _inherently_ better about a hammer or a screwdriver. (I assumed we were talking about inherent value.) If there's a screw in front of you, you need a screwdriver. If there's a nail in front of you, you need a hammer. Don't be the guy who has a hammer so every problem looks like a nail.


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## Miskatonic (Jul 8, 2015)

One of the reasons why H.P. Lovecraft's work inspires me is his masterful use of language. He can make a huge impact with a mere sentence. Words I wouldn't even think of using, albeit some being somewhat archaic, he makes feel so natural. I hope to obtain that skill over time where a few words describe what might take others a paragraph or more.


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## wordwalker (Jul 10, 2015)

Mythopoet said:


> No. Words are tools. A hammer is not more valuable than a screwdriver.





T.Allen.Smith said:


> Unless you're tightening/removing a screw.





Mythopoet said:


> That's precisely the point. It depends entirely on context and usage. There's nothing _inherently_ better about a hammer or a screwdriver. (I assumed we were talking about inherent value.) If there's a screw in front of you, you need a screwdriver. If there's a nail in front of you, you need a hammer. Don't be the guy who has a hammer so every problem looks like a nail.



Well played, sir, well played.

And that includes the final explanation in its own right.


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