Hello everyone! This is the sixth of 12 writing tips to improve your writing coming your way. These 12 tips are from my experience writing a book, writing poems and giving exams.
My sixth tip for you is to create and maintain a VOCABULARY FOLDER/JOURNAL
I have been asked this question numerous times- “How do I have such a well-developed vocabulary?”
The answer is simple. I keep a vocabulary folder. Every time a hear or read a new word, I google its meaning, screenshot it and save it in a folder on my laptop. I read through and brush through these words regularly and keep adding to them. But how do you learn new words in the first place?
You can learn new words everywhere. The key is to turn on your ‘vocabulary ear.’ Whenever listening to music, watching movies and TV shows, and also reading books, pick up new words and search for their meaning. Many of the words I learn and use in my writing are from some of my favourite TV shows. I also learn new words by reading other people’s written work. Not only books but also essays of my friends and classmates. Every new word you hear, write it down and save its meaning. You may never know where these words can come in handy.
I also tend to keep some words and phrases in my head that can make my writing seem more advanced, as well as work for any type of piece. For example, I usually describe many shining or glowing things in my writing, so I keep words like “glinting,” “scintillating,” “glistening” or “coruscating” in my head.
One mistake that I made in the past, was developing my vocabulary only on one side. I only had developed vocabulary used to describe nature. However, I soon realised that there are many other topics for which having a well-rounded vocabulary is extremely helpful.
When you are strong with words of only one particular category, it can become dangerous. When you know that you are strong with one particular category of words, you may force them into places where they don’t fit as you may not know other categories of words. Therefore, other than having a strong vocabulary, it is more important to have different categories of strong vocabulary.
Develop words for all different topics that can be used in any possible scenario. Once you keep using new words, they no longer become new but instead a habit. This is a habit you definitely want to develop which is why I highly recommend keeping an open ear for new words and storing them in one place- a diary, folder, or photo album- anywhere.
Bonus digital art piece (using a tutorial by GenevieveDesignStudios)
Hot chocolate mug
I really like the way you have thought about “categories” to develop vocabulary. I did not think about it in that way. so interesting Jyoti!!