Words, words, words. I think my brain is spilling out of my ears.

Every now and then I'll be reading something that challenges my extensive vocabulary pretty heavily. Currently, it's the series by Barbara Hambly called "The Darwath Trilogy." There are a lot of words, mainly archaic, out-of-use, words that catch me completely by surprise. I'm burning up the pages of my dictionaries looking them up, and many of the words are not necessarily the first definition, but rather older and less common definitions. I love words. I love growing my vocabulary. But, I'm of two minds in this case.

First, words are powerful things that are capable of expressing vast concepts and depths of emotion without going into burdensome detail. Using the right words at the right time can make sentences jump off the page, tickle your sanity, and help the audience flow with the story. It isn't showing off for a writer to use uncommon words, because it's a good thing for people to learn new words and new concepts. That's what I like the most about words.

However, the other side of the issue is that some words are too old to be of any real use anymore. Languages evolve over time as new words are introduced and old ones are left to rot. Using words that have lost their meaning bogs down a story, especially when it is heard (like in a movie or an audiobook). Even written in a book, and using an e-reader so the definition is quickly found, puts the story on pause while the audience researches what in the world is going on. One quick way to obviate this (lovely word, "obviate," but I'll bet you looked up that it means something on the order of relieving or enlightening a concept) is to use the word with heavy context in the sentence. Or, just give the definition right alongside... "One quick way to obviate, or explain, the concept is to..." You get the idea.

On the whole, I love learning new words. But, not at the expense of the story flow. There's nothing wrong with letting the characters sound human and not like walking dictionaries. Let the audience breathe a bit of fresh air, and give them words they understand... then throw in a few that they need to look up.

- M