Cool, unusual words

[Whispersecret]

I'm all for bending, Judo. Like I said, if it works for you, go for it!

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

I do vehemently believe in using the best words possible in my stories. As you mentioned, I've written some how-tos on writing, one of them about word choice. I highly advocate the use of a thesaurus. I don't see how anyone who writes anything can be without one. MS Word has a mediocre thesaurus built in. (Just highlight the word you want to look up and press shift, F7.) I don't think anyone's brain is so perfect that they can come up with the perfect word everytime without help. If they can, SURELY a thesaurus would at least save them some thinking time. Why spend time thinking of a word when it could take you 30 seconds to find it in a book?

You said you tend to repeat words. Oh, don't I know it. I do the same thing, and it annoys me, because those words sometimes come so naturally that I don't even notice that I've repeated them. As a writer of erotica, I feel that the more I write, the more difficult it is to describe the sex act in a way I haven't done before. Especially when you want to avoid all the usual cliches: explosions, melting, shattering, falling off a precipice, etc.

;
The thesaurus is fine WHEN USED CORRECTLY.
The purpose of looking a word up in the thesaurus is to get
a word you already know, but can't think of
at the moment.
There is nothing wrong with repeating the same word, just
so long as you have the same meaning for it. One word
which I've seen a pro editor advocate is "said." He points
out that you can use "John said," ... "Mary said," ...
all day without your reader noticing it; but if you say
"John whispered" ... "Mary insinuated," ... you had better
have a GOOD reason to use those words.
;

 

[Whispersecret]

One word which I've seen a pro editor advocate is "said." He points
out that you can use "John said," ... "Mary said," ...
all day without your reader noticing it; but if you say
"John whispered" ... "Mary insinuated," ... you had better
have a GOOD reason to use those words.
;

I agree completely. Any dialogue tag that isn't "said," should be used judiciously. Overuse of them in a story usually marks the story as amateur. To me, at least.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: Cool, unusual words

I agree completely. Any dialogue tag that isn't "said," should be used judiciously. Overuse of them in a story usually marks the story as amateur. To me, at least.

Dailogue tags are too often overused. Well written conversation can be written without using any dialogue tags at all. They should be used for emphasis and identification of who started the conversation.

A thought on reptitive use of words: Each of us has a ceertain set of "preferred words" that we use to describe things. Whether you think of a penis as a "cock," "dick," or "pecker," you'll always use that term by preference. By extension, each character in a story will have a preferred set of descriptors hat the author should use to distinguish and define the characters. The narrator is included -- the narrative voice should pick a set of words and stick to them.

When I see a story where the narrative voice changes descriptors with every sentence, I tend to think they author is trying too hard for variety -- it just doesn't feel natural.

Starting every sentence with the same word, whether it's "I," "He," or "Then," makes for a boring read bcause the sentence structure is too predictable. As WS pointed out, in the example it's the paragraph construction that makes the use of "I" stand out, not the word itself. If the sentence structure is varied and the vocabulary feels natural instead of forced, then repetitive words usually don't stand out.

Expanding vocabulary with recommended "cool words and phrases" is good for expanding characterization, but "cool words" are anything but "cool" when every reference to a body part uses a different name -- they stand out as "forced" simply because of the variety.

Choose one set of descriptors for each story/character and stick with them throughout. Don't indulge in variety for variety's sake. Indulge in variety for the story's sake.

 

[Ray Dario]

I looked up "bat." Here's what it gave me for the verb:

blow, knock, hit, rap, swat, sock, whack, strike.

Not a bad list, I think.

And if you think flutter works, I'd have to disagree. Fluttering IS an action, but it's not an action you can do TO something.

Perhaps you have a newer verions of MS word than I. I use office 97 cause I'm too damn cheap to spend the kind of money MS wants to upgrade to 2000 or XP.

When I look up "bat" in my version I only get a single word, "flutter." and no I don't think flutter works for "bat". I mean a bat can flutter, but flutter does not mean the same thing as bat. So I'll revise my statement, my version of MS Word has a very crappy thesaurus, perhaps later versions are better.

I'll stick with Roget's though.

There is another point that comes to mind about the use of a thesaurus. Words have underlying connotations, sometimes these connotations differ between societies (ie, British, American, and Austrailian, for instance) but they still have connotations. Indescriminently replacing words with another found in a thesaurus simply for the sake of not repeating a word could lead to very poor word usage.

Sometimes repeating a word is necessary. If it is the exact right word for two situations then substituting a less worthy word to avoid repetition would be bad, IMHO.

As far as writers that don't know of the existance of a thesaurus. I'm not sure I buy it. Perhaps there are some, but I'm not likely to read much more than a few words of their stories and chances are they will need much more than a thesaurus to make their writing palatable.

Oh well, this is just the rantings of a redneck, I'm sure I'll be put solidly in my place, again.

Ray

 

[jon.hayworth]

What a great idea this is - people chucking in their favourite words and not all of them in Rogets.

I only have a few L's to contribute -
liquorice
luscious
luxurious

some Ps
pneumatic
pneumatic walk (from R4D's story- well worth reading)

some Elizabethan words
quent (say it and you'll get the derivation of cunt)
biter
doxy
dugs (breasts)

Would it be a good idea when this thread dies out to post the sorted list?

jon.hayworth


I have copied everyone's contribution to a file, and am at the moment sorting them into an alphabetical order. Would it be helpful

 

[Whispersecret]

Ray, I'm glad you don't think "flutter" and "bat" can be used indisciminately. You had me worried.

Roget's? Take a look at Rodale's The Synonym Finder It's huge. The only thing I miss is that it doesn't have antonyms, like Roget's does.

About connotations. You're right on. I've often read stories in which it's obvious the person thought that synonyms are interchangable.

I'm sorry if I came off as a supercilious bitch. I don't mean to.

 

[P. B. Walker]

You definitely did not come off as a bitch to me Whisper...

I was hoping to spark a little bit of debate here... it's good to hear altering viewpoints. Makes us think a bit more and become better people and writers.

- PBW

 

[peterpan]

exquisite
arch
quiver
writhe
beset

Anyone tried a story thread where you cannot use the same word twice? (um, other than little ones, I guess) Alls fair so long as you are understood.

 

[jon.hayworth]

To anyone who is interested I have compiled the words contributed into an alphabetically ordered list - it does not replace a Thesaurus but may well act as an aide-memoire

ache
ached
achingly
Afterglow
aftermath,
agape
ample,
anus
arch
ardor,
areola
assuage,
beset
biten,
biter
blissfully,
boil
bootknocking,
bruise
brush
burn
captivated
caress,
claimed
cleave
clitoris
consume
content
coursing
deft,
deliberate
deliciously
delirium
depths,
descending,
desperately
devastated
devouring,
doxy
drive
dugs (breasts)
earlobe
eat,
engorged
engulf
enmesh
ensconced
entice,
entwine
enveloping
envision,
erect
erupt
essence,
eternal,
exhilarating,
expunge
exquisite
fatigue
feathery,
floating
flutter,
fiercley,
forcefull,
frivolous
gaping sweet wettness of my climax
gasp
genitals
glistened
globes,
glove
glowing
gnash
grappled
grit
gutteral,
gyrated,
hood,
hum
hypnotic
impale
innate,
intensity,
intoxicated,
intrique,
jarred
labia - major and minor
Lave
lavished,
lazily
lick,
lightly
lingers
liquorice
luscious
luxurious
juice,
mango,
mesmerized,
minx,
murmer
nibble,
nimble
nudge
peak
peaked
pendulous
perineal muscle
penis
poot,
pneumatic
pneumatic walk (from R4D's story- well worth reading)
probe,
proud
purr
quent (say it and you'll get the derivation of cunt)
quintessence
quiver
ragged,
raked
Ravenously
ream
receding,
recoil
relishing,
rhythmic,
rogering,
rough,
savory,
scratch
scream,
searing
seething
semblance,
sensitive
shaft
sheen
shudder
sinewy,
slather
sleepily
slide
slurp
smoothed
snog...
Soft & Slow
sore
sought,
spasm
sphincter
spear
spill/spilling
splendor,
sticky
streaming
stretched
subsided
succulent,
succumbed,
suck,
sultry,
supple
surrendered,
sweaty
swell
swelled
tactile
tantalizing
taunting
taut,
temptress,
tickle
tilltilate,
tired
tongue,
tore
tormenting
trace
tremor
turgid
tweak,
undulate
undulated,
unyielding
upthrust
vagina
velvety
vixen,
vulva
waft
wanking,
weary
welt
writhe
wryly,
yanked,
yearning,

hope this helps you all

jon

 

[BigBlackGodess]

good question

encompassing lapping straining protruding juicy

 

[LunaGirls]

Is word's thesaurus extensible?

I agree that MS's thesaurus leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the "naughty" categories. Do any of you know if it's possible to add to MS's vocabulary? That seems like it would be the ultimate solution, because you have to admit--Word's thesaurus is damn convienient!

I have a little extra time on my hands and would be happy to take Jon's list and enter it into Word's thesaurus if somebody knows how. I've been doing a bit of research on the web, but to no avail. If there are any Word gurus out there, now's the time to speak up!

Luna

 

[Guest]

I was just reading a story by the incredible Che, who always manages to delight me with the breadth of his vocabulary, and he managed to fit "sybaritic" in. Which is, frankly, genius. And the word of the day on Dictionary.com, fact fans.

I'd also suggest epicurean and debauched.

 

[Guest]

whimper/whimpered. i seem to be alone on this one, but i like it and never see it used.

xo,
ophelia
sedateher@hotmail.com

 

[MechaBlade]

Re: words

i do love the clinical terms!!!!!!!!!!!

Me too, sometimes. I like the sometimes clinical effect it has when I use them. Also, when every story you read uses "cunt," "vagina" seems like a dirty word.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I'm still looking for :

(1) a decent synonym for "nipple"

(2) another word for breasts besides tits that isn't derogatory or infantile (& don't give me "dugs" or "teats" please.)

(3) A word for the vagina other than "pussy" which is not deprecatory or condescending. Something that carries the nobility that "cock" does for the penis.

As far as using thesaurus word to describe her "globulate spheroids", forget it.

---dr.M.

 

[wildsweetone]

hmm how about...

1. nipple = papilla

2. breast = mammary

3. pussy = hmm nothing comes to mind apart from the 'love box', 'honey pot' phrases that I've seen and don't particularly like.

another option is to use a carefully selected adjective before the noun. i don't mean waffle on and on about beauteous bulbous banging balls or something... but perhaps a single adjective can change the tone of the noun sufficiently that you'll set a trend dr.