"The inequity between the right word and the practically right word is the inequity between lightning and the lightning bug." --Mark Twain
Lightning dazzles the eye. The sky is split open. Sometimes it makes our hair stand on end. A lightning bug, on the other hand, is a small, cordial flicker in our back yards, not adequate light to illuminate even the smallest corner.
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Mark Twain uses the lightning/lightning bug comparison to talk about the significance of seeing the right word at the right time in our writing. The right word will illuminate our writing. It will stand the reader's hair on end. The almost-right word has no heat, no real power. It glows safely and dimly.
How can we know when we have the right word? Do we wait for our own hair to stand on end, or the sky to split open? How do we write in lightning and not in lightning bugs? The right word is rarely the one you pluck from a dictionary or thesaurus because it sounds good. Use these books to find the strict word you need, not a fancy one. One mark of an insecure writer is overuse of so-called words. If you need a dictionary to understand a word, chances are your readers will, too, and they will not love you for it.
This is not to say that writers shouldn't cultivate a rich vocabulary. Words are your raw material, just as your memories are. The more you have of each, the good your memoir writing will be. The trick is knowing how to use those words. To find the right word, use your imagination. Place yourself in the scene you are writing. Discard any adjectives or adverbs that occur to you. Incorporate on nouns and verbs.
What comes to mind? Now ratchet your thoughts up a notch. What comes to mind now? Then do it again. For example, suppose you are recalling something that happened at a Fourth of July celebration. You might at first think, "The fireworks sparkled overhead." Perfectly serviceable. Now ratchet it up a notch. "Fireworks exploded nearby me." Better. Try again. "Fireworks crackled in the sky." Ah. Now we're getting somewhere. We expect fireworks to sparkle and explode, but the crackling sound they make is normally ignored.
Word choices help you invent character and setting. When you write, discover the verbs and nouns to see if they can be ratcheted up a notch without using words. Select words that illuminate and forewarn without spectacular, the sentence. For instance, what if we tried to ratchet our example up other notch? "Fireworks pirouetted straight through the sky." Hmm, nice word. But nowhere near as tantalizing as "crackled."
Word Lightning Will Dazzle Your Memoir's Reader
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