"If you want to describe where a person lives, do you use the word “house,” “cabin,” “hut,” “apartment,” “hotel,” “garret,” “bungalow,” “residence,” or “home?” 9 different words. 9 different meanings. Each carrying ancient history and modern cultural baggage."
Great example, Todd.
If any given word has so many options, then any short sentence could have over a million permutations. This gets to the mystery behind writing voice. Some elements of voice are reducible to a rational trick (ie: sentence rhythm). But what guides you as you make the many micro-decisions on word choice? Any principles? Or do you just rely on intuition for each case?
Reminds me of the days when I slapped a commonly used word in a presentation, knowing it is the right word, but not knowing what it really meant.
"If you want to describe where a person lives, do you use the word “house,” “cabin,” “hut,” “apartment,” “hotel,” “garret,” “bungalow,” “residence,” or “home?” 9 different words. 9 different meanings. Each carrying ancient history and modern cultural baggage."
Great example, Todd.
If any given word has so many options, then any short sentence could have over a million permutations. This gets to the mystery behind writing voice. Some elements of voice are reducible to a rational trick (ie: sentence rhythm). But what guides you as you make the many micro-decisions on word choice? Any principles? Or do you just rely on intuition for each case?