There’re only so many times you can use the phrase, “he smiled.” And then you’ve exhausted your “he grinned,” “he smirked,” and “his lips tugged north.” Now what? Well, the character quits smiling. And so does the writer. Or not! Check out these five methods to inspire some fresh verbs and nouns for your writing.
#1) Practice people-watching.
At the family get-together, while riding on the bus, at work pay attention. People say weird things. People behave weird. (Weird, as in different that you. Not weird as in… Never mind.) I might cross my legs (knee over knee)… but a co-worker might cross her ankles. Hmm. A family member leans his fork, prongs down, into the dinner plate when’s he done. Weird… but new. Increase your vocabulary with your eyes and ears. Then, when your character is sighing for the umpteenth time, you delete that and make him “drum his fingers against the tabletop” instead.
#2) Visualize… and write what you see.
You want to describe your character in utter frustration, but you want a more interesting version of “Tom frowned.” You delete that and type, “Tom lowered his eyebrows and frowned.” Better… but doesn’t convey the deep agony of soul. So, go ahead, and give your best frown. Feel your face. Whip out the mirror while you’re at it. What do you see? Now, write that. “Creases formed in between Tom’s brows and the corners of his lips turned down.” Wowza.
The same technique applies to scenery.
“The sunlight reflected off the water.” That’s nice. But it’s not great. Close your eyes. (Or, go to a pond, if you are so lucky.) And write what you see. “Sunlight bounced off the ripples of the water, hurting my eyes.” There’s action, movement, emotion. Or maybe your scene is not high-noon, but at sunset. “The crimson and burnt orange lapped in the water.” Writing what is seen throws so much more into a scene, much faster.
(If anything, this is an awesome exercise to get out of a writing rut!)
#3) Sleep.
This idea is as old as time, but bears repeating. When we sleep, our minds reorganize, clear away the useless stuff and make room for the golden stuff you’ll learn tomorrow.
There are deadlines. We have all-nighters. We lose precious hours of sleep to carve out time to write. This can’t be helped. One night I had an inspiration. I got up and typed up every word of it in four hours. Boy, was I struggling to stay awake at the end. But I finished and I don’t regret a second.
The moral of the story is not to deprive your inspiration and stay in bed. I’m talking about when you’ve exhausted your mental strength and you’re tempted to keep writing anyway. Don’t do it. Close the laptop. Drink warm milk, take the melatonin, whatever you have to. Just rest. Physically. Fully.
If you’re looking for new verbs and nouns for your writing, give your brain what it needs to work efficiently.
Reserve those all-nighters for truly inspired moments. Give your brain a rest. Or, rather, since your brain never “rests,” but requires some housekeeping, let it. And it’ll be ready for you tomorrow.
(I’m writing this at 2:49 in the morning, by the way. I’ll get shut-eye in a bit.)
#4) Write.
Duh.
Actually, I’m serious. You’re at the laptop, in the middle of a sentence and you want your character to do a certain thing… but what’s that word? You want to describe… ugh! I don’t know what! Something! You type a word and delete it. You frown and cross your arms. You open up the thesaurus and it does no good. What now? Follow my suggestion in rule 3? Give up? Pout, complain and go to bed early in the name of mental health?
Absolutely not!
My suggestion is to write through it. Write “Paula acted frustrated.” And then move on to the next sentence, the next beat, the next dialogue, the next whatever. Just keep writing. I’m not talking about creativity here. I’m not talking about efficiency either. In other words, skip the brainwork. You have bigger fish to fry, such as your word quota for the day. Or the next scene that has the meaty argument between Paula and Mr. Constantinople; the scene you’ve been dreaming of writing since page one.
“Paula acted frustrated” is telling, not showing, and a big no-no. It can’t be submitted as it is. The words will have to be edited… but later. You have to work on the description… but at a different time. Inspiration will come, I assure you. Perhaps when you’re re-reading the scene as a whole. Or perhaps after you’ve unleashed your shining verbs and nouns with Mr. Constantinople.
My point is: while you’re slaving away thinking of the “right word,” your precious writing time is dwindling and no writing is being had. The more you actually put forth words and write them, the more verbs-at-the-tip-of-your-tongue you’ll find. Muscle through it. Force the words – any words – in the time allowed. Fire up the neurons. Remember, those articles are applied toward the word count as much as the subjects and predicates.
Just as we get results by exercising pectoral and gluteus muscles consistently and frequently, we need to exercise the brain. This exercise is actually writing. As in keystroke (or pen and paper) writing. Not the thinking-about-writing kind. Save it for the treadmill and the shower. At the keyboard, for goodness’ sake, write!
Truth be told, you’ll have to edit later. And a lot *gasp* will need to be deleted. But over time, through consistent and frequent pounding out words, your brain will be so much more use to bringing forth words to the surface. You’re training your mind to naturally hunt for the most concise, powerful verb. And the more shelves paved in your mind, the library of inner verbs and nouns will be denser and more diverse. The more you write, the more you’ll sharpen the craft of writing. It’ll still be laborious down the line… but, oh, the phrases you will be writing a year from now!
And now, for the fifth, best suggestion ever to find better verbs and nouns for your writing…
#5) Don’t write.
What??? But you just said…!
I know what I said. There are times when you need to not write. Turn off the writer muscle and rest a bit. Take a walk. Look around. Be the “people-watcher” I previously recommended. Read. (Eh hem, not your manuscript obviously! Something else. Fiction. Non-fiction. The cereal box.)
When I’m reading for leisure, I can feel my brain rest. I’m just enjoying the ride. And pay attention. Why not? I didn’t come up with “his lips tugged north” entirely on my own. I mean, where does inspiration come from except from personal experience? And isn’t reading experiential?
Warning: This tip is for inspiring new verbs and nouns. Do NOT read if you’re looking for inspiration for an idea. That’s a different blog.
To find inspiration (again, for fresh verbs and nouns) do my favorite: wash the dishes by hand. (I’m being sarcastic, by the way. I find washing dishes by hand to be the loneliest, most boring chore on the planet. I mean, I cleaned the same plate yesterday!)
Seriously, though, the more mundane and boring the task, the more rest your creative self will get. And your subconscious will kick in. Fresh inspirations will come the next time you sit at the laptop. It’s amazing, but true.
Another warning: While you’re “not writing,” try not to “think writing” either. Thinking about writing is another brain exercise. Instead, stay in the moment. Your mind will remember that awesome idea later. No, scratch that. Your mind will come up with something totally, five hundred percent better than that idea if you give it a rest. For the moment, don’t write. You’re going to be okay. I promise.
Congratulations!
You have come to the conclusion of this tutorial.
On your mark…
Get set…
Find those slam-dunk verbs and nouns!
And share with me your findings!
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