I don't like the way the word sounds, so I'll look up a synonym that's softer/harder/more lyrical/more gutteral/starts with the letter "s." Rhythm is very important to me, so the way a word sounds makes a big difference.
A lot of people have mentioned they use a thesaurus to find the word with the correct rhythm. Rhythm is very important to me also, but I know so little about how it works. I hear it; I'm just not sure why some things sound better than others. That's my next question, I guess!
Thanks for linking to that discussion! I should really read 3D. I wasn't thinking about word choice as it related to the 'verse or characterization, more as it relates to the rest of the piece itself and also to the audience. That's partly because if you're writing a character in "voice"--say, if it's in first person or a very close limited third--then word choice isn't going to be about "does this fit?" so much as about "would character X say this?"--which is a lot more about characterization than the other things I brought up in this post.
With a more distant third, or maybe if you can get away with it, a second person, word choice (and rhythm, and everything else that's not dialgue) become a bit more about the narrator, or the author (usually both) than they are in close third or first. And so I think it's possible to do something like say, make *very* introspective observations about Buffy, without having Buffy (not given overly much to introspection) make them. The key is to have a narrative distance--which I know I've fucked up in several fics, by either saying blatantly, "Buffy thought," or having Buffy react to thoughts I do not think she'd really think, or slipping into a tone that sounds like a much closer limited third than it really is.
But even then, now matter how much distance you put in it, there can be words, language, images, thoughts, that simply don't fit in the world of the characters--then it's not so much a matter of characterization as simply mood. entrenous88 said something to that effect in reponse to that NFA 5 Things piece I did that really resonated with me. She said the actions of the characters seemed appropriate but at times she didn't feel like the characters she knew would "inhabit" (such a great word choice!) some of the words and images. While I had realized some of the characters might not think the things I had them thinking or, more often, floating about their heads without them really thinking them, I hadn't considered how just having those observations *there*, combined with the words and images that helped illustrate them, might still affect characterization (insofar as the moods and tones with which we normally see these characters dealt).
no subject
A lot of people have mentioned they use a thesaurus to find the word with the correct rhythm. Rhythm is very important to me also, but I know so little about how it works. I hear it; I'm just not sure why some things sound better than others. That's my next question, I guess!
Thanks for linking to that discussion! I should really read 3D. I wasn't thinking about word choice as it related to the 'verse or characterization, more as it relates to the rest of the piece itself and also to the audience. That's partly because if you're writing a character in "voice"--say, if it's in first person or a very close limited third--then word choice isn't going to be about "does this fit?" so much as about "would character X say this?"--which is a lot more about characterization than the other things I brought up in this post.
With a more distant third, or maybe if you can get away with it, a second person, word choice (and rhythm, and everything else that's not dialgue) become a bit more about the narrator, or the author (usually both) than they are in close third or first. And so I think it's possible to do something like say, make *very* introspective observations about Buffy, without having Buffy (not given overly much to introspection) make them. The key is to have a narrative distance--which I know I've fucked up in several fics, by either saying blatantly, "Buffy thought," or having Buffy react to thoughts I do not think she'd really think, or slipping into a tone that sounds like a much closer limited third than it really is.
But even then, now matter how much distance you put in it, there can be words, language, images, thoughts, that simply don't fit in the world of the characters--then it's not so much a matter of characterization as simply mood.
Uh, I hope that makes sense.