Recently I received an email requesting tips on improving vocabulary. I quickly threw myself into making a very helpful post on the subject! 😃 And guess what? This is the post I made a worksheet to go along with!

Never Use

There are some certain words that you should try to avoid if you can. If you ever use them, there are also certain ways to do so.

• Said. For 6 years of school, I learned that “said is dead”. It was under penalty of death that I avoided it. (Okay, not that dramatic, but I wasn’t allowed to use it AT ALL) Doing such a thing really forced me to find other words.
• Big. Saying that “he was big” is pretty relative. ‘Big’ can refer to many different sizes. If you said that he was monstrous, or that he was large as a house will give a reader a much better mental picture of this person. Different words for big objects (monstrous, ginormous, gargantuan, etc.) actually are a certain size and much more spot on in descriptions.
• Small. Just like big, small is a relative term.
• Go/Went. He went there. He will go there. Who cares?? What about he glided there, or how he will travel there? This both sounds better and gives a reader a better mental picture.
• See/Saw. ‘He saw it.’ ‘He sees it.’ Whatever. Just like go/went, see/saw sounds better with more description!
• Like. ‘I like it.’ Yep, I’m sure you do. Avoid using like. It’s not the end of the world if you do, but there are so many different words you could do instead!

 

Improvements

Here are ways to improve the use of the words that I named above if you ever use them.

• Tags. If you ever use the word said, you must add a description of how the character says it. “He said it mournfully” “She happily said” “She said through clenched teeth”
• Comparison. If you must say big, please, compare how big the object is to another thing. You may have noticed above in ‘he was as large as a house’ I could’ve easily said big instead of large. Very true. But because I mentioned exactly how big it was, you knew how to imagine it.
• Comparison. Small and big are complete opposites as words but the same rules apply to them.
• How. You must talk of how the character went or goes. Instantly much more descriptive!
• How. Just like go/went, you can improve see/saw by saying how they see it.
• Emotions. By digging a bit deeper and thinking about how they like it, you can get so much better results. ‘I adore you’ ‘I’ll cherish it forever’ ‘I believe he fancies it!’

 

Overall

When you notice your words getting repetitive, or your vocabulary monotonous, just replace a few words with better descriptive ones. I know, it probably sounds like I’m skimping on the tips in this post, but I’ve found that’s actually all there is to it!

And I know what you’re wondering now: where can you find those better words??

 

Free Worksheet!

Yay! I’ve finally done it! I made a worksheet for you! *throws confetti*

This worksheet includes the Do’s and Don’ts words for you, as well as words you can use instead so you can easily have a quick fix! 😃 (There are also a few other words and their replacements that I didn’t mention. 😉 This post would have gotten repetitive if I’d named all the Don’t words, so I’ll save you the time and help you with description!)

With this worksheet (which is less of a fill in the blanks on the sheet and more of a fill in the blanks on your writing) you will be able to diversify the words you use in your writing!

This thing took me almost 2 hours to make, so I hope you’ll put it to good use! 😂 I’m hoping it will help your vocabulary increase!

Click HERE and download it!

 

 

Beacon Book Box

I am extremely excited to announce that you can expect an unboxing post from me next month! August is my birthday month, and I decided to ask for the August themed box from Beacon Book Box. It is now ordered! 😃

August’s theme is ‘Buccaneers and Bandits’. There’s a signed book, a letter from the author, a book sleeve (which should hopefully help me from accidentily bending paperbacks when I read them 😖), and some of the items are themed Pirates of the Carribean, which I’m excited about. 😉 There are more items than that, though!

Please note, I am doing this by myself and was not asked by Beacon Book Box to. 😊 If you are interested in this box, make sure to click HERE and check it out!

 

 

Writing Updates

It’s Camp NaNoWriMo time, and I have been working to try to plot my book. I did a very rough plot, am doing a bit more in depth, and then plan to go scene by scene. My goal is 40 hours, though I’m only at 11. *cringes* Here are a few snippets from my work! (Remember, I share more when you’re subscribed to my list! You can click HERE and sign up!)

 

“No, I was terrified!” the knight laughs.

 

Arielle and I continue forward for ten paces before she gives into the temptation and nudges me.

 

“Don’t you have a dagger with you?” “Of course! But what would a puny dagger do against a dragon?”)

 

Did you enjoy those? 😉 Those are from my more in-depth plotting of the book. I keep on remember lots of small things that I forgot to add in and have to fix. 😖 😂 I actually began working to make the climax even bigger and better (so that it doesn’t fall flat) and it totally opened new doors for this book that could make it even better… though it means a lot of work for me! I have to replot them into the plot and redo the character arcs (horror of horrors) to match up with the plot line! 😰

Did this post help you and your vocabulary?

Are you going to download the vocabulary worksheet?

Are you going to check out Beacon Book Box? 😉

And what did you think of the snippets?

-Julia

 

 

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash