The most basic building block of writing is the word. As famous British poet and critic Samuel Coleridge once wrote, “Prose is words in their best order—poetry is the best words in the best order.”

As writers, regardless of genre, we have an obligation to our readers to choose the best word and the best order. But, how can we make that choice?

On January 31, 2015, at The Double Tree Hotel in South Burlington, Stephen Kiernan, author of The Curiosity and Last Rights, gave some insight on this quandary in a talk titled, The League of Vermont Writers. 

In this talk, Kiernan addressed both the importance of sound and of specificity in language.

“Sound is a part of what you’re doing,” he told the writers present. “We’ve got some kind of internal trumpet that helps us hear the sound of words.”

As an illustration, he asked volunteers to give two words that were opposite to each other in a non-English language. Then, based on sound alone, he encouraged participants to guess the meaning of the words. For example, the French grand (big) has an open and big sound, whereas its opposite petit (small) has a closed, small sound.

After this activity, Kiernan encouraged writers to consider sound in words chosen to convey ideas. Because, he argued that sound alone, and its deeper linguistic underpinnings, could determine the best word for a given writing piece.

After making his point, he traced the painstaking process of choosing the right word in his own writing, for sound and for specificity.

For example, Kiernan traced the process of determining the right composer to express melancholy in a scene in his upcoming novel The Hummingbird to be released September 8, 2015. He considered not only the works of the composer, but also the feel of that musician’s name within the context of the scene. 

“I tried all kinds of composers, Beethoven, of course, and Handel and even Tchaikovsky,” Kiernan said. “But when I wrote Bach, the single syllable of it, all the resonance and religiosity, it was like a period, a punctuation mark on this man’s life. I literally pushed back from my desk and clapped my hands. God bless Bach, his name was simpler and more direct …like a gavel banging.”

 Therefore, word choice, he emphasized, is the painstaking work of rewriting. “I’m a much better rewriter than a writer,” he said.

However, it can also be fun.

After his story, LVW President Alyssa Berthiaume used an easel and took dictation from audience participants on words with a quality of specificity and sound. “I like the word hurricane because it’s raising Cain in a hurry,” one participant contributed.

As a final note, Kiernan urged writers to choose the most descriptive word possible as the group brainstormed synonyms to move forward. Investigating the difference between words like run and gallop, Kiernan pointed out “gallop gives the reader a place to go and they can do the imagining.”

 “It’s an enormous privilege, writers, that readers let you in,” Kiernan summarized, echoing Coleridge’s call over a century ago. “We have a responsibility to be fastidious. We take white paper, and we make dark marks on it, and that makes us cry.”

Kiernan referenced these works in his talks

The Waters William Matthews

Book of My Nights Li Yung Li

For Desire Addonizio

Politics and the English Language George Orwell

In the comments below, share your difficulties with word choice or give me a call. We will discuss different methods of overcoming this hurdle.   

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This article originally appeared in League Lines: The League of Vermont Writers’ Newsletter.