{"id":1113,"date":"2016-05-09T11:51:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T16:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=1113"},"modified":"2016-11-02T02:34:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T02:34:24","slug":"vocabularied-egos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/05\/09\/vocabularied-egos\/","title":{"rendered":"Vocabularied Egos"},"content":{"rendered":"

My vocabulary has always been a point of pride for me. \u00a0I am a collector of “abstruse”\u00a0words, and occasionally I like to use them in my writing. \u00a0I actually revel in being stumped and having to go to the dictionary, because it means that I’ve learned another word. \u00a0If this sounds like you, I highly recommend any of Cormac McCarthy’s books; they are a goldmine of eclectic vocab (e.g.\u00a0his use of “Salitter<\/a>”\u00a0in\u00a0The Road<\/em>).<\/p>\n

You’re probably thinking: “there’s a ‘but’ coming, right?”<\/p>\n

And I’d say, “Yup! \u00a0There’s a sweaty ol’ but\u00a0<\/strong>on its way.”<\/p>\n

BUT when we’re building sentences, we writers have to remember that we’re not all Cormac McCarthy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This isn’t to say that vocabulary is unimportant. \u00a0Being precise and concise through word choice is, in this author’s opinion, the most important writerly skill to hone, because\u00a0it’s well within your ability to practice.<\/p>\n

What I mean to say is this: I could submit the manuscript of\u00a0Blood Meridian<\/em> to an agent tomorrow and, ignoring the obvious plagiarism, this would never work in my favor. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because new writers simply don’t get away with using that kind of vocabulary in today’s market.<\/p>\n

Don’t believe me? \u00a0Well… What’s the last book you read that was published post-2010? \u00a0How many words did you have to look up?<\/p>\n

I can bet that Anthony Doerr\u00a0didn’t use the word “salitter” in All the Light We Cannot See<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>and if he did, his editor had the good sense to delete it for him before it hit the shelves. \u00a0I say this not to discredit Doerr as a writer\u00a0in any way. \u00a0If anything, this makes Doerr an even better writer, because he has considered his audience.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0is really the whole point. \u00a0Most readers don’t like to dive into the dictionary like I do. \u00a0Some might even feel bad about reading something they don’t understand, which is the opposite goal of most writing. \u00a0Isolating the author or work from readers doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, at least… Therefore, vocabulary usage is powerful. \u00a0And, as we all know thanks to Spider Man, with great power comes great responsibility.<\/p>\n

So, when you find yourself\u00a0truculently\u00a0bedighting your scrivenery\u00a0with\u00a0inimical prose, serried and thick as chaparral; I, for one,\u00a0recommend\u00a0elision instead. \u00a0Otherwise, your writing may appear solecistic, and you, as a writer, solipsismal.<\/p>\n

\"breathtaking_mountain_landscape-wallpaper-1920x1080\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2016\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you find yourself truculently bedighting your scrivenery with inimical prose, serried and thick as chaparral; I, for one, recommend elision instead. Otherwise, your writing may appear solecistic, and you, as a writer, solipsismal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2,6,21,27,29,30,33,34,50,52],"tags":[58,59,60,88,89,126,132,152,166,194,200,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/22\/review-of-cormac-mccarthys-the-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":0},"title":"Review of Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD","date":"January 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"And that's what I love about this book. The small things--the personal--become epic triumphs.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Book Reviews\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/21\/query-queueing-qqs\/","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":1},"title":"Query Queueing (QQs)","date":"January 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Even if your prose would make McCarthy cry with jealousy, your book will not see the light of day without a well-crafted query.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Fantasy\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/07\/title-of-post-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":2},"title":"[title of post here]","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Small things direct our lives, I realize. Minuscule impulses. An unimportant walk to the icy sea, a casual glance to the dark shadows, a tingle of curiosity. And like lightning out of a clear sky, the world is irrevocably changed.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Social Obligations\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1367,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions\/1367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}