When I think to myself, "Jesus Christ, woman, if you use 'snarled' one more time in this story, readerdom at large will rise up and strangle you with your own large intestine. Synonyms, bitch!"
Hahahahaha! I know that exact feeling; stultiloquentia mentioned that phenomenon above. I wonder why it is that we sometimes get stuck on a word...and it won't even be a word that's particularly applicable to a whole lot of things, but suddenly you want to use it every time you could. Drives me buggy. And I hate seeing it in published work.
On such occasions I'll often set the piece aside and come back later with a fresh brain.
I do that too. It's amazing how if you're not thinking about it, words can just sort of pop! into existence in your brain, and you're, I don't know, washing your sheets, and all the sudden you have that missing word for your story.
I tend to be more concerned with it on the level of sentence and paragraph than individual words--I mean, I want to get the exact right word, but I'm more concerned with getting the exact right sentence, if that makes any sense.
Perfect sense. As you say, part of it is about rhythm. And of course, the individual words themselves aren't what's important...and you never, or rarely, want the reader to say, "hey, that was a great word you used!"...you want them to say "hey, that was a great story!", and for that, the words have to fit with the sentences have to fit with the paragraphs have to fit with the story.
no subject
Hahahahaha! I know that exact feeling;
On such occasions I'll often set the piece aside and come back later with a fresh brain.
I do that too. It's amazing how if you're not thinking about it, words can just sort of pop! into existence in your brain, and you're, I don't know, washing your sheets, and all the sudden you have that missing word for your story.
I tend to be more concerned with it on the level of sentence and paragraph than individual words--I mean, I want to get the exact right word, but I'm more concerned with getting the exact right sentence, if that makes any sense.
Perfect sense. As you say, part of it is about rhythm. And of course, the individual words themselves aren't what's important...and you never, or rarely, want the reader to say, "hey, that was a great word you used!"...you want them to say "hey, that was a great story!", and for that, the words have to fit with the sentences have to fit with the paragraphs have to fit with the story.