7 Tips to Help You Gain Mastery Over Words
By: Lindsay Fortin
Prose is one of my favourite parts of writing. I love finding just the right words and weaving together a tapestry that makes up a larger story. I love the different story elements and putting together plot and character as well, but I think of those as the muscles and bone. They’re essential for the story to live and grow. Prose isn’t all that necessary for a story to be good. At least for me, that is. I’ve read lots of great stories that don’t focus on prose and have a very simple writing style that I’ve enjoyed. That being said, prose can be one of the most memorable parts of a book. It can also take your story from being great to being incredible.
It’s taken me a long time to even get comfortable with prose, and I still have a long ways to go. I have some sensory processing issues, and that’s been a double edged sword. It can be difficult to manage the overstimulation that often happens, but it also means that I’m much more aware of the little things than most people. Again, a double edged sword. I’ll pick up on all of the smells, sounds, lights, movements, and textures in an environment. I’ll also have a very strong sense of how an environment, person, or situation makes me feel. The only way I can sort through it all and begin to make sense of it is through words. It’s easier to try to invoke the way I’m feeling through descriptive language than it is to try and explain it literally. I’ve gotten better over the years, but it’s taken a lot of practice.
I also want to mention that my perspective on this will of course be limited to my own western, English speaking influences. The tips listed here only scratch the surface of this topic. There are so many ways to explore prose and poetry in different cultures, and those are all valid too! This is just speaking from my experience and how I learned to do things.
So with all that in mind, here are some tips to improve your prose:
1. Get in touch with your body.
How does a word feel? What emotion or sensation does it provoke? Language doesn’t just have to be literal — you can choose words that make you feel a certain way, too.
2. Read and analyze lots of poetry.
You might hate me for this one if you don’t like poetry, and I apologize. Before you quickly close out the tab, let me try to justify my argument here. Learning how to read and analyze poetry can be so beneficial to prose writing because poems have far fewer words. They have to convey meaning and emotion with precision, so every word, line break, sound, and meaning are chosen with intention. Learning how to take those lessons from poetry and apply them to your prose can help you convey the mood you want in specific scenes and hook in your reader.
And you might hate me again for this next part too, but start with traditional poetry. Yes, this means the stuffy poems written two or three hundred years ago too. Trust me on this. They were big on poetic devices back then and a lot of those rules are a bit looser nowadays. So poets like Rupi Kaur, Atticus, Lili Reinhart, Gabi Hanna, and others who write in similar styles are not a good place to start with analyzing poetry. This also isn’t about my personal taste in poetry, but rather me speaking from my own experience. I know that poetry can be alienating to some people and shorter, simpler poems might feel more accessible. But starting with older poetry and working my way towards modern day poetry helped me immensely because it allowed me to see the progression of how certain poetic devices were being used and how certain things became more subtle over the years.
If you have no idea where to start, here is a video from an English professor who I learned to analyze poetry from. I’d recommend starting at 5:15, but feel free to watch the whole thing if you’d like! I would also recommend this anthology of sonnets because it includes a wide range of sonnets from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Sonnets also typically only have 14 lines, which in my opinion makes them more digestible than many other types of poetry. Poetryfoundation.org is a fantastic resource and has tons of poems from all different time periods and walks of life in all kinds of styles.
And here is a video about poetic devices which you might find useful, which leads me to my next point.
3. Learn to incorporate poetic devices in your prose.
The poetic devices will be more subtle in prose than they would in poetry, but it makes all the difference. You’ll probably begin spotting your favourite authors using them in places. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t necessarily be using poetic devices all the time throughout your novel (unless you want to, of course). But a little here and there will improve the overall quality, and can even help you create the desired moods in scenes. (I could go into this even more, but will leave that for a future blog post.)
4. Describe mundane, every day objects.
Have a place to practice describing things you see on a day to day basis. I use the Notes app on my phone to work through descriptions. But even if I’m walking somewhere my mind will wander to how I might describe the things I see, which is still great practice!
5. Create lists to set the mood of your WIP
When I’m working on something and I notice that I don’t have much inspiration for the prose, I usually create a list. This list will probably be words that convey the mood, tone, setting, and imagery, as well as ideas for symbolism, metaphors, similes, and themes.
For me, I might get something like this:
- Willow green
- Moonbeams
- Iron
- Raven’s feathers
- Golden wheat
- Bears
- Blood
- Thorns
- Curse
- Silver mists
- Heavy swords
- Constellations
This helps me not only to brainstorm different themes and images I want to use throughout, but it also gives me a sense of how I want to use language in a meaningful way.
6. How does your character see the world?
If you’re writing from a character’s point of view (either first or third person) figure out how they see the world. Are they a romantic, an artist, an athlete, a warrior, etc… Because all of those things will affect the way you frame your descriptions. It will also affect the words you use. No two people will think of something the same way. A hardened warrior who prefers to be on their own might use sharper, shorter words with hard consonants. The sentences will be shorter, gruff, and they’ll most likely describe things based on their perspective as a warrior.
7. Don’t touch the thesaurus
Don’t touch the thesaurus unless you’re searching for a word and can’t remember it. Trust your first instinct with word choice. Once you get a bit more comfortable and practiced with your prose you can get more of a sense on how to bend this rule a bit, but for the most part, stick to your first instinct. It’s almost always right.
I hope that this has given you some new ideas about how to approach your writing! What are some of your favourite methods you use to improve your prose? Leave a comment down below and share with us!
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