Some of you have been inboxing with words that flew like: Sometimes I have difficulties, to write. To vary the vocabulary, put a thought down. I get a block. I struggle.
I have taken excerpts of a conversation to set up the following. Thanks to the interlocutor. Here are some tips that worked for me!
You just give free course to your imagination. Let ideas flow in. Like you did above. Try to go in depth. You write to express essentially, as fully as you can. You don't have to use fancy words to impress. But at times, those 'fancy' words give depths too.
I hope this was of any help to anyone reading. To each his own way, his own approach. But these worked for me. They might for you too. Let me assure you, I was a horrible writer. I used to score pathetic 10s over the 20s in lower secondary classes. But I always wanted to write though. Writing was not my forte, I doubt it is today still.
How to improve the vocabulary?
1. I think one interesting thing to do is to have a bank of synonyms in your mind. It should click as soon as a word comes from your mind or you read a word. For instance, if you read the word 'measurable' you should instantly have other words like 'fathomable', 'quantifiable', 'gaugeable' coming to your mind.
2. And then vocabulary also has a lot to do with soulful writing, I feel. At least that's the case for me. I don't sit down with a vocabulary copybook or a list learned by heart. At times, you just get inspired or let yourself sink in the atmosphere, and the words come.
For instance, let's take a topic. Erm, let's say, the winds. Sitting in front of the sea would have you writing a piece of writing you would not write if you had been say confined in a room. You know what I mean? Words have a lot to do with the feels.
3. No, reading a lot is not necessary. Just learn them, remember them. Or you can cultivate a habit. It's a simple exercise we used to do in primary school. I'll give you a simple 3 words sentence. You make it become longer by adding vocabulary? Okay? I can write sentences with up to 75+ words.
So you can do it. For instance: The sky is dark. It could go as, very simply: "The sky is shrouded with an inky obscurity."
Don't bulge your eyes, these are not big words, not words you get while reading. You should just let it flow. It's like poetry. See, there's darkness. Another simple word for darkness is obscurity! I could have said simply: The sky is obscure. Or The sky has obscured! Now I wanted to add more to this. When the sky is dark at night, it's not black everywhere. You have patched of dark deep blue. Of black. Of some dark gray. That's like ink spreading. So inky obscurity. Shrouding comes from the verb shroud. Shroud is what they cover people dead bodies with.
You just give free course to your imagination. Let ideas flow in. Like you did above. Try to go in depth. You write to express essentially, as fully as you can. You don't have to use fancy words to impress. But at times, those 'fancy' words give depths too.
4. Just play with the verbs. The nouns. The adverbs and adjectives. You can interchange them a lot. It's pretty easy actually.
Contemplate/contemplation/contemplative or admire/admiration/admirable
So take a single idea and express the same idea using the 3 different words in separate sentences.
What I mean to say: I admire him tremendously. My admiration for him is tremendous. He is tremendously admirable to me.
So that's also another technique. Words are like Lego. Play with them.
5. Imagination and Practice. How to maintain and make of it a habit? And by practice, I do not mean sitting down with a piece of paper and then writing till forever. Do you have imaginary friends? Or occasional self-talks at least?!
One good way exactly is to talk to yourself a lot. In your mind basically. For instance, if you are sitting by the window some day staring at the sky, start describing it to you or your imaginary friends. Enhance the thought. Exaggerate the words. Get a bit philosophical. It may be small at the beginning. But you'll grow.
During the course of my writing, I realized tone and style have more impact than vocabulary really. I think that practice in important in whatever you do and you want to persevere in it. It's like math.
Daily 'practice' helps you master it. It was the same for my public speaking. Practicing with yourself or imaginary friends helps out a lot. I stopped, took a 4-year hiatus (break) from painting and restarted only very recently, I realized I had remained static in my learning process. The rule is simple, if you want exponential growth, practice is important. But I don't take it as a chore. Like a TO-DO thing. I let it happen naturally when I feel like it when I want to. Just going with the flow.
6. I have also known that one's work is just a reflection of what they really are. Working on oneself to produce amazing work, I believe is a great catalyst too.
How to produce content?
"My problem is that I don't think out of the box. Always remaining static. An example, you tell me to write a poem, nothing, zero."
Nothing is static. I bet you must have heard: Change is the only constant thing. What do you believe is 'thinking out of the box'? What do you mean by you remain static?
The point is not about having a purpose or an end-product. The point is to just live peacefully. Live your life. Naturally.
Ah, suddenly an idea/ a thought crosses your mind! Light bulbs like that naturally! Quickly take a piece of paper/tablet/whatever and jot your ideas down!
That's what I do! Actually! I write something/anything after inspiration struck. And then I put a title. At times, I may write a short story of 100 words. And then realize putting it into prose-s would be better. So I cut the lines. Tada, Poem!
Remember, Newton thought about the law of gravity after the apple fell. He didn't either forced the apple to fall. Or expected the apple to fall. It just happened. He got inspired. He started thinking. He jotted ideas/ possibilities down. And he took those drafts and then built a hypothesis. And then made it a theory.
Writing like any other artistic activity is not a systematic process. It's an organic process. It has to flow. You can't sit in front of a blank sheet and wait for an idea to strike you.
Let the idea come to you. You don't attempt to hunt it down.
Also, you should wait for the moment to come. Like, allow me to give you an example. I always wanted to write about the media unprofessional-ism in Mauritius. I hated the way some reportings were made. But I would never feel enough inspired to write about. I didn't give up on it. I just noted that I wanted to write about it and forgot it.
Then, one day, something at school happened, the suicide incidents and all, and the media did such a bad reporting on it, that I just felt enough passion to lash out words.
I wrote that article then.
It's really about conserving your thoughts. Being patient. Waiting for the time. Not forcing yourself.
And, one last thing. Do not attempt to think outside the box. Think as though there is no box at all.
I hope this was of any help to anyone reading. To each his own way, his own approach. But these worked for me. They might for you too. Let me assure you, I was a horrible writer. I used to score pathetic 10s over the 20s in lower secondary classes. But I always wanted to write though. Writing was not my forte, I doubt it is today still.
Until next time,
Be Light,
Much love,
. . .
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