{"id":2039,"date":"2020-07-16T16:57:44","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T20:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2020-07-16T16:59:44","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T20:59:44","slug":"whats-that-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/16\/whats-that-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s That Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>On the night of my tenth-year high school reunion (many years ago), I was crossing a dark street with some classmates on our way to a local bar where we could catch up on each other\u2019s lives. We glanced both ways and, seeing no immediate traffic, stepped out into the street at a leisurely pace. Only there did we realize the car coming toward us was traveling at a faster pace than we\u2019d anticipated. I said to the group, in my usual way, \u201cPerhaps we should walk a bit more briskly.\u201d\n

One of the women with the group turned an incredulous eye on me and barked with a laugh, \u201c\u2018Perhaps? Perhaps<\/em>?'\u201d It took me a second to realize that she was taken aback by my manner of speech, not my $\"\"$ trepidation at the speed of oncoming traffic.<\/p>\n

How odd, I thought at the time. \u201cPerhaps\u201d is a common word. Why would she would mock my choice?<\/p>\n

I never understood it.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2020. I\u2019ve passed the third draft of my current WIP\u2014a medical spec-fic intended for an adult audience\u2014to beta readers, several of whom flagged words in the draft which they did not recognize. (For the record, some of those words were: detritus, chiaroscuro, atoll, pareidolia, deleterious, and epigenetic.) Some of those\u2014specifically chiaroscuro, pareidolia, and epigenetic\u2014didn\u2019t surprise me. The rest did. I\u2019d thought them common words at the level of everyday language. It never occurred to me that they might be unfamiliar to an average adult reader. I mentioned this to a friend, who recommended I choose different words, or find some way to embed a definition of them in the surrounding narrative.<\/p>\n

Okay. I can probably change chiaroscuro, and lose pareidolia, though doing so will take a shade of meaning out of the immediate moment in each of those scenes. For epigenetic (an essential word to the medical spec-fic narrative), I will need to be sure I use the surrounding narrative to clarify its meaning without actually defining it, since the characters using the term are both CDC professionals and would understand its meaning already. I\u2019m not sure what to do about the rest.<\/p>\n

It made me wonder how other writers determine their word choices. So I posted a query on Twitter to ask whether other writers avoid using \u201cbig words\u201d or vocabulary that might be unfamiliar to a segment of their readership. The response was outstanding. Interestingly, about half said yes, they would avoid anything that made their readers reach for a dictionary, or that they themselves would put a book down if there were \u201ctoo many\u201d words they didn\u2019t understand. To be fair, I suppose if there was a glut of polysyllabic profundity on every page, I probably would too.<\/p>\n

But one comment\u2014that using simpler language would widen the readership\u2014may not be as on-point as it seems. I personally tend to favor books that are written at a higher reading level. I\u2019m not interested in reading a textbook for enjoyment, mind, but I like learning new words and concepts. I prefer a reading experience that makes me think, especially if it leaves me pondering its plot and characters for days after the last page is turned.<\/p>\n

So, apparently, did the other half of my respondents on the Twitter thread, who agreed that a book written at more basic reading levels felt \u201ctoo simple\u201d for them. I get it. I\u2019ve read books where the story $\"\"$ was entertaining, but I didn\u2019t need to chew any of it. I could simply absorb and move on. No unnecessary thought required. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I liked them. They were good escapist fare, and fun to devour while my brain was fried from writing or researching. Besides, not every reading experience needs to equal the difficulty of an El Capitan or even a Matterhorn ascent. Sometimes, an easy stroll across a gentle, grass-covered slope is just what a reader is looking for.<\/p>\n