The Flexing Phase

Yorth

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For some reason, every author that I know of reaches that phase in their career where they start flexing to kingdom come. For every word, they would use thesaurus and try to find its most archaic form. Every description is prose within prose. Now, I'm not saying that I can't enjoy a very complex writing style, but I just find it fascinating how writers always reach this point in their career without fail.
 

CupcakeNinja

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For some reason, every author that I know of reaches that phase in their career where they start flexing to kingdom come. For every word, they would use thesaurus and try to find its most archaic form. Every description is prose within prose. Now, I'm not saying that I can't enjoy a very complex writing style, but I just find it fascinating how writers always reach this point in their career without fail.
Then every author you know is an uppity little cunt.
No offense. Im an arrogant twat myself.

I dunno. Its prolly cuz they think they hot shit? Or something like that. Authors like that need a slap to the face. I mean there are complex stories with great concepts and shit which are meant to be portrayed using a certain level of diction simply due to their nature. But then there are stores that are just full of themselves and use unnecessarily large/obscure words for no reason.

There is a balance between using certain words to get the point across more accurately, and being a try-hard pseudo-intellectual.
 

Phantomheart

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Methinks that it is also a process of trial and error: diction is good; too much diction is bad.
 

steryx

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Not gonna lie, back when I wrote fanfiction I used thesaurus to make my fanfic looked less amateurish.
 

Ace_Arriande

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For some reason, every author that I know of reaches that phase in their career where they start flexing to kingdom come.

Hey, every author includes us here, and I don't think any of us go out of our way to flex = P. Hecc, my whole thing is writing with such simple language that ESL folk and others who might not be proficient at English can still understand it with ease.

But that aside, honestly, I don't know a single author who has reached a phase where they start to "flex" with a thesaurus. I've seen quite a few authors start off that way since it's what they consider good writing, but I've never seen somebody start off differently and then start to use a thesaurus.

Now, there is one series I have in mind that's a long-term project of mine which would require the use of a thesaurus... but that's because I want to write it in a sort of old-timey style that makes heavy use of that sort of language, not because I want to flex, and it would only be that one story.

And just as a somewhat related note: personally, I absolutely adore archaic English. I despite overly-complex thesaurus-binging purple prose where people use the biggest most obscure words that they can find just to look smart, but I seriously love old English. A lot of people find some of the characters in FFXIV cringy with how they talk using archaic English, but god do I love it. I just think it's cool and romantic in a way, not superior.
 

Polpota

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I think I’ve seen more new authors start off with a thesaurus than experienced ones. However I have seen a few go to the extreme after they’ve been around a bit and got a bunch of negative feedback as a way to overcorrect.

Speaking from my own history, I haven’t used a thesaurus when writing. I can only write what I know so if I don’t know it I don’t write it. Easier to get a point across if I’m comfortable with the words I’m using.
 

Gerazzza

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In my eyes it's a pointless thing to do. You'll be turning off most readers as they can't understand what you wrote. Trying to make words unneccesary complicated is just a waste of time in my point of view, both for the readers as well as for the writer. I mean, if it's really the way the writer write then there's nothing you can do about it but if the writer suddenly change his/her style of writing from simple to overly complex with foreign unfamilliar words that're rarely used, then that's a big dumb dumb in their part, since the readers he/she gain up to that point were those that enjoy the simplistic style of writing that doesn't overcomplicate things.
 

AliceShiki

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For some reason, every author that I know of reaches that phase in their career where they start flexing to kingdom come. For every word, they would use thesaurus and try to find its most archaic form. Every description is prose within prose. Now, I'm not saying that I can't enjoy a very complex writing style, but I just find it fascinating how writers always reach this point in their career without fail.
Never saw anyone doing that tbh... And I'd probably drop a story if the vocabulary got too annoying.

I mean, I had to deal with people using Thesaurus to use the most unknown words possible back when I was in university and had to read academic publications, I'd rather not deal with that when reading fiction too.

Like... Why would I try to use complex words when I can use simple words instead? It's easier on me and on my readers... >.>
 

BenJepheneT

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the scariest thing about this thread is that i haven't reached this phase yet, and thinking i'd eventually walk down this road is nothing short of watching a snowplower slowly makes its way towards you as you're hogtied to the asphalt
 

Yorth

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the scariest thing about this thread is that i haven't reached this phase yet, and thinking i'd eventually walk down this road is nothing short of watching a snowplower slowly makes its way towards you as you're hogtied to the asphalt
I think you found your style already, from what I have seen.
 

BradCarsten

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That was me in the beginning. I never really used a thesaurus, but I tried to write "beautiful prose," that ended up being awkward and flowery, with sentences that sounded complicated but didn't mean anything. I would spend weeks on a single paragraph, writing it over and over 30 or 40 times, but it's exhausting trying to keep that up. After I had finished my second book, I went back and simplified everything and it was so much better. (And quicker to write) I don't think I could ever go back to that.
 

GDLiZy

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When I wanted my scene to have the mystical feel into it, I'll sometimes find the hard words that no one really used to describe the scene. Do I use it often? No. But does it feel good? Hell yeah, it does.
 
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