About Word Choices

by Bobbie Christmas

Q: Is cell phone one word or two?

A: Merriam-Webster, the standard reference for book publishers, lists it as two words, cell phone, with an acceptable variant as one word, cellphone. While I don’t recommend using variants, writers can choose, as long as they are consistent throughout a manuscript.

Q. I have trouble writing about phone calls. We no longer dial Susie’s number, sometimes don’t hear a ring tone, there is no dial tone, and it’s darned hard to hang up on someone in a fit of anger. Do we instead punch in a number, hit speed dial (still dial), tell Alexa or Siri to call Susie, or what?

A: I agree with you that describing how we use phones today can be confusing, and sometimes it depends on the phone we use. On most landlines and cell phones we punch in numbers, rather than dial them. We can hang up a landline phone, but we don’t hang up a cell phone; we punch the red End symbol or wait for the other person to disconnect.

As for speed dial, my cell does not have such a function. It has a contact list. I touch a number that connects me or I tell Siri who to call; no “dialing” involved. If someone isn’t in my contact list, I do have to punch in the digits and then hit the green icon to connect. My landline phone differs. It has a directory, but no speed dial. Do today’s landline phones still have speed dial? It probably depends on the model. My advice? Forget trying to find the right words that apply to all telephone use. Simply say the character called Susie. Skip the details.

Q: Several times in books I’ve seen a character who “weaved her way through the crowd,” which sounds wrong to me. I thought wove was correct. Am I right?

A: The past tense of weave is weaved. Wove is an acceptable alternate, though. Either is okay. It’s like shine/shined/shone and dive/dived/dove. Sometimes writers have choices between or among words that mean the same thing.

Q: In order not to sound common or simple in my writing, I often use big words. For example I wrote this: Her ordeal was so grievous that she not only felt apprehensive but also melancholy and lachrymose on a daily basis.

I think writing something simple is better, like this: Her ordeal was so grievous that she not only felt worried but also sad and weepy on a daily basis.

What do you have to say? Should I leave the first or change it to the second?

A: Writing that tries to show off by using words that the common reader won’t comprehend can result in books that the common reader won’t buy.

Instead of displaying intelligence, short stories and novels should present a strong plot that makes readers turn the pages and keep reading. Version two (Her ordeal was so grievous that she not only felt worried but also sad and weepy on a daily basis.) is therefore stronger than version one, but it is still wordy. Consider a third version: Her serious ordeal made her worried and sad.

Let me offer a fourth option too. Instead of telling that a character is worried and sad, show her feelings through her action and dialogue. Dialogue shows, whereas narrative tells, and strong writing shows more than it tells.

Q: How do you feel about swearing in a book? I am writing a nonfiction book, and obviously a lot of that takes place. What are your thoughts about adding some of it to my book?

A: First of all, swear words and scatological terms should not appear in narrative unless the book is narrated by a specific character. Next, such words—even in dialogue—are considered inappropriate in some genres but acceptable in others. It depends on the genre of the book as well as the age of the intended market. In nonfiction when we quote others we don’t have to quote every word, as long as we don’t change the intent of the person’s message. A writer can delete swear words with no harm done. Lastly, all obscenities are expletives, and expletives by their nature are extraneous words with no purpose. Expletives don’t add strength; they weaken writing and therefore are good words to avoid or delete to make prose more powerful. All that said, if I smash my finger, I’m likely to say a few words that would best be deleted. Cuss words do an excellent job of indicating anger or pain. In mainstream novels and nonfiction books intended for adults, therefore, dialogue may indeed include a curse here and there. The less often such words appear, though, the more power they will have.


Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more Ask the Book Doctor questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.

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