Wordsmith

Writers' Wednesday!!!

If you've ever written in earnest, you've reached a place where no word seems to fit and the thesaurus is no help.  A perfect time to invent a word.

Inventing words requires an above average understanding of how phonetics invoke emotional responses and often the use of a wide variety of prefixes and suffixes.

If I told you a puettrangilia is a type of flower, could you describe it?  It doesn't matter if everyone reaches the same description.  Chances are that the writer would mention its characteristic attributes.

David encountered a nevsist while crossing the park earlier today.  Is that a good or a bad thing?

How many different ways can you use conmotraflict in a sentence?

The key to communication is ensuring that the person receiving the communication understands what the sender means by the words s/he uses.  That's how malapropisms can go unnoticed and aposiopesis doesn't doom conversations to an endless waiting game.

Context and character reactions can go a long way in defining new words.  Maybe a new use for an old word is what you really need.  The process of inventing the perfect word can even help you decide which existing word fits best.

Lexigenesis also serves as a welcome and fun distraction to staring helplessly at the wall.

Now, inventing words and having them catch on... that's a different challenge entirely.