A Short Thought on the Words Themselves

Getting the scene right is important. How does the character feel and why should we care?

It’s all in the words.

What sort of traumas led to this moment? What sort of baggage does he or she carry to the future with them?

What words will affect author’s intent the most?

There are five normal senses, so which are in play?

How do you, as the author, use those senses to set the scene?

If something happened many years ago, why might it be relevant now in the current story beat?

Dig up the words from times long gone.

The words we weave for readers are often deliberate and chosen to invoke permanence of emotion through the entire narrative.

If even one word is misused, the entire scene might fall apart at the seams.

As artists, we can even break the rules of grammar and use it to great effect.

There’s no sense in destroying our artistic sensibilities by following Strunk & White to the letter.

Characters don’t always speak in perfect grammar.

One example of this is in my book, Lowella. I broke the rules to show the reader something is amiss about locations.

Why is this spelled this way, and not that? Why is this capitalized, or not?

Words are our magic wands, able to cast a spell over our dear readers.

Since reading a book is a long endeavor, our words must be treated like a clear vase full of red roses, interspersed with pink lilies, each stem cut at the perfect angle to allow the most growth, with some violet lilacs to round things out. It might be a vase sitting on a plain dining room table, or, it may accentuate a custom-built, timber-oil-stained masterpiece crafted from the depths of the wood shop in the garage complete with a center mat the color of a burning bronze.

Everything needs to have its own distinct style and flavor.

Only then will the book paint a vivid, wordsmith’s landscape with billions of shades over the gray basics.