Posted on November 18, 2020 at 10:18 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Several notable authors have expressed their disdain for flowery language.
Mathina Calliope — an author, editor, and writing coach who frequently contributes to Jane Friedman’s blog — is here to provide a counterpoint.
Long and/or obscure words simply for the sake of showing off your vocabulary (or thesaurus access) should be avoided, she agrees.
But in other instances, a writer is far better served by using a more complex word — for instance, “disasters” would be preferable to “things going wrong,” and “calamities,” depending on the context, could be even better.
Calliope explains how to know when a longer word is the right word and best word in a new post on Friedman’s blog.
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