Behind the Books: Just the Right Word, Part 3

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how my friend Susan Richmond helped me understand the underpinnings of lyrical text. In a nutshell, the anatomical structure of our ears combined with the physical laws of sound wave transmission combine forces to make certain combinations of sounds and syllables are particularly pleasing to our […]

Behind the Books: Just the Right Word, Part 2

Readers like surprises, such as playful and unexpected word choices. Simply put, they make reading more fun. Some examples of this include:—Gross, icky, silly,or sassy words—Big words, lo-o-o-o-o-ng words—Internal rhyme—Puns Many books make use of these devices, but here are two of my favorites. The main text of An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts […]

Behind the Books: Just the Right Word, Part 1

Last week I talked about paying conscious attention to the sound of words. But that’s not the only reason it’s important to think about word choice. The truth is that word choice is a very big topic. So to give the topic the space and time it truly deserves, I’ve decided to break it down […]

Behind the Books: Every Word Counts

When I was in high school, I took all the standard English courses. In college, I took quite a few literature courses that involved reading great books and writing papers about them. And then I went to journalism school and learned a whole new kind of writing.In traditional journalism, paragraphs are short and succinct. Quotations […]