Synonyms

When writing the first draft, I’ll use the same word over and over again without realizing it. For example, I’ll use the word “and,” “as” or “the” to no end, or I might start a series of sentences the same way. It’s not until I begin editing the story that I’ll notice these redundancies, and I’ll look for words to substitute them (i.e. synonyms), or I might delete or rewrite the sentence so that it doesn’t sound repetitive.

The Thesaurus can be a great tool during the editing process. When I can’t think of a new word that I’m trying to replace, I’ll use the Thesaurus, which will give a list words that mean (or are similar to) a specific word. It can also provide antonyms, which are words that are opposite of that specific word. I’ll only use the Thesaurus, however, when I’m editing, since my focus during the first draft is to get all my thoughts down–to fill up the pages–rather than to polish the writing.