~That Is The Question~
*I posted this quote/question on my Writer's Page this week from stand-up comedian, Steven Wright. It's kind of cute, and made me think about how and why I use my thesaurus.
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A very famous author has been quoted as saying: "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule." ~Stephen King~
And when I say very famous, I mean VERY famous. Is there anyone who has not heard of him?
Many of his books have been turned into some of MY favorite movies!
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| The Shawshank Redemption |
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| The Shining |
I'm sure most of you also remember The Green Mile, Firestarter, Dream Catcher and 1408. All Stephen King stories turned into great movies. And so many more, which proves he is a great story teller. And yet, I beg to differ with his opinion about the use of a thesaurus.
What about finding alternative words when you've over-used a word or you just want to avoid using a cliché? What if you just want the right effect and you know the word in your mind just won't do?
I use an online thesaurus called WordWeb that also utilizes the dictionary- so as not to accidentally throw a word into my work that is incorrect. I am aware that some writers do that, and I am very careful to make sure I understand the definition of a (new) word before I use it. Perhaps that is why King believes any "hunted" word would be wrong.
Do you agree with Stephen King? If not, which one do you use and why?
And, what do you think (believe, consider, imagine, suppose) Stephen King meant (had in mind, implied, intended, thought) when he made that comment (remark, input, statement, assertion) in the first place?
I would LOVE (enjoy, like, desire, want) to hear your thoughts on this!
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*The answer to Steven Wright's question: Thesaurus = word finder, word book, synonym-dictionary.
Thanks for reading!
