“Is This a Word?”

One of my favorite stories I like to tell involves my grandmother and a little bit of deception. A few years ago, my aunt snuck into my grandmother’s house to retrieve my great-grandfather’s manuscript that my mother was going to have published. A few weeks later, my aunt returned the manuscript and my grandmother was none the wiser. After a little while, my mother had to tell my grandmother what she had done. Now, when my grandmother tells the story, she says that my aunt “snook” into the house to grab the manuscript. At this point, people usually laugh and ask what the word snook means. She fully admits that snook is not a word, but that she uses it anyway.

Of course, snook isn’t actually a word, but when placed in the proper context, everyone can guess at its meaning. That’s the beauty of the English language. Twist it a little bit, and you can create whole new meanings of existing words, or you can simply make up your own when you can’t think of a proper word to use. However, there are times that are better suited to made-up words than others.

Sometimes certain characters need to sound a specific way. It’s part of their make-up, and so, real words and sounds don’t naturally belong to them. For example, could you understand every word that Benecio del Toro’s character said in the movie The Usual Suspects? What about Brad Pitt’s character in the movie Snatch? Only about 50% of del Toro’s speech was understandable, while none of Pitt’s was. And that’s the point. If you were able to understand these characters they wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining as they were.

When creating memorable characters, don’t be afraid to use made-up words. After all, an author imagines every other aspect of a character. Speech patterns are just as important, if not more important than some physical traits. The way a character speaks, his diction, tone and vocabulary, will enhance him more so than some descriptions will. If you allow your characters to make up their own words when necessary, you free them from some of the more traditional confines that characters may wind up in. Plus, the characters will be more alive, and won’t sound so stiff.

Sometimes, though, making up words is inappropriate. I’m not referring to using made-up words in scholarly journals, biographies and other forms of nonfiction writing. Rather, a character needs to find his own voice. If that means that he speaks with perfect diction, then speaking with made-up words would sound terrible. Some characters will thrive on proper English. Get inside your characters and discover the way they would talk. Once you have that feeling, you will know what type of vocabulary these characters possess.

In the meantime, listen to the way people around you talk. Do you find that they are using words that you know the meaning of, but others wouldn’t? Some words, while not actual words, just sound good. Like the word snook; it just implies some sort of impropriety. Don’t be afraid to make up words if you think that the situation warrants it. Made-up words may just make your story sound better, your characters more alive and your book’s overall impression that much more realistic.

I would say that everyone, at some point in time, has made up a word. I know I have. And my grandmother? She continues to make up words.

By Jennifer Eritano, ABP Editor