Some authors say to never use a thesaurus. But guess what? I use one all the time–every week, often every day. Sometimes it’s when I’m editing others’ manuscripts but always when I’m writing fiction, and on occasion even for my blog posts.
Why do some authors say that?
Because a lot of people in the world use the thesaurus wrong.
At least when it comes to actual writing.
The other day I was gassing up my car while the screen on the Chevron pump advertised to me. One of the features they have at these Chevron pumps is a “Word of the Day” feature–one of my pet peeves that I love to hate. You may have heard me complain about them on here. The “Word of the Day” feature is practically useless.
Why?
Because they almost always highlight words that are useless. They’re so rare, so specific, or so convoluted that they actually have no real life (or real writing) value.
Take one I’m looking at on a website right now.
Squiz
Have you ever heard of that word?
I haven’t. And I spend A LOT of time with words.
So I click on it.
First thing I notice, this is actually an informal Australian word. That’s what it says, right on the page.
So if you are one of my international followers (love you guys 😉 you may have heard of this word. But for us here in the U.S. the word is essentially useless to know (unless of course we are working on something that relates to Australia)
If I use it in one of my stories, it’d be like me writing “trainers” instead of “sneakers” when the rest of my story is written in American English. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense.
Okay, so let’s see what the word actually means.
to peer at quickly and closely
Great. (If you are Australian.) But instead of using a word that most of my audience (which is in the U.S.) has never heard of before, why not just use these:
Sure, they don’t mean the exact same thing, but if needed, I can always add an adverb to capture it.
Angelica quickly inspected the advertisement.
Boom. Done. Now my target audience knows what’s going on.
See, a lot of people approach the thesaurus completely wrong: They use it to find rarer and more convoluted words, because they think it makes them sound smarter and like they are an amazingly educated writer. (For the record, I’m convinced this is a normal phase that writers go through when learning to write.)
But writing is a collaboration between the writer and reader. If the author is literally writing for themselves–even into the details–then the story isn’t as powerful. This is especially true when handling emotion in your story. Writers writing for themselves will try to write how they feel about that scene to render emotion, but more experienced writers know you need to instead focus on writing what will actually elicit those feelings in the audience.
Here is how NOT to use a thesaurus:
Tiffy is writing a novel.
Tiffy decides to use the thesaurus to come up with “a better word.”
Tiffy replaces the phrase “facial expression” with “physiognomy.”
And “breakfast” with “jentacular”
No!
This puts the audience at a distance and disadvantage. And it does more than that. It changes the pacing and tone of the passage–and probably in ways you don’t want.
Here is how to use a thesaurus properly:
Max is writing a short story.
Max could use the word “looked,” but it’s a little vague and doesn’t capture the moment as accurately.
Max decides to use the thesaurus to find a more accurate word the reader is familiar with and that will convey more than “looked” does.
Max replaces “looked” with “scrutinized.”
Way to go Max!
When and How to use the Thesaurus
1. Use the thesaurus when you can’t remember or come up with the EXACT word you are looking for.
Hmmmm something like “dance” but more happy … –> Prance
2. Use the thesaurus when you are looking for a word that carries a more accurate, more powerful, or more telling connotation or definition.
Ok this is all great stuff and I totally agree on this as the best way to use a thesaurus, but I feel like I need to weigh in as an Aussie.
Because you’ve inadvertently shown another flaw with the whole word a day thing. Because yes you now know what squiz means. But because you’ve never heard/read it in natural usage you don’t understand the nuance.
I would never write
Angelica squized at the advertisement.
That’s a ridiculous sentence. (and yes that is correct grammar for the dialect) If someone wrote that I’d laugh my head off. The word is extremely casual, and someone who says squiz would never put in the same sentence as advertisement.
I would write
“Oy, take a squz at this!” Ronnie said, pointing at an advertisement in the newspaper. Angelica leaned closer to take a look.
I don’t know if the nuance is clearer, but I can say that it’s always obvious when someone is writing from a place of using the thesaurus to find fancier words because they’re using words they didn’t earn, and the usage is often a little off pitch.
This. All of this. This is very good advice.
The thing about synonyms is that no two words mean exactly the same thing. Your goal is not to find the fancier word. Your goal is to find the right word, the word that has the proper meaning, rhythm, mouthfeel, connotations, whatever.
Once you understand that, you can unlock the power of synonyms.
Gay Hell 