#they're always super finicky and break if you look at them wrong

[ibrokeeverything]

I hope there's a special circle in hell for printers when they die

[zorilleerrant]

In most cases I think this makes sense, but in some cases it can really interrupt the flow of narration. Some people have very simple narrative styles - either because that's just how they talk, or they intentionally simplify it for some established reason - and using a complicated word will interrupt that. Now if you want it to stand out, that's great! It can kick off a new discussion or just remind the reader that's important. But if it is a trait of your character that they'd know the word mezzanine, but it's not important enough to highlight and you don't want to go into it, it can help the flow to use a different word. People refer to things differently by context, after all.

Likewise, a character who usually uses complex words for things using a simple/common word is going to stand out. And, you know, you have to be careful to balance realism with The Vibes on this one. Your typical botanist is going to call things by their common names a lot, especially if it's a common plant that's not easily confused (in context) with another plant. So sometimes it's the generally used name, sometimes a more field specific common name, and sometimes it's a scientific name. But! Even if by character trait/backstory it would make sense just to use an easily recognizable term for a plant, it may end up seeming too familiar, and place undue narrative importance on the plant in question.

Plus there's the fact that seeing certain words primes us for the direction the discussion is going to head, and balancing that with picking a word that's slightly more casual or formal won't always be super noticeable but it can really help arrange the consequences. With one phrasing, another character might be much more likely to ask an important question, or the reader will, or the reader will ask why they didn't think of that question. With another it might head in a more salient direction for the plot. Or, you know, avoid awkward innuendoes, which is where I generally change words.

Some of it always has to be elided, anyway. A character who's only just learning a language for the first time will barely know any words, but it gets tedious to describe everything in detail. A character in a totally unfamiliar landscape will have similar difficulties. But in order to get on with telling the story, you have to hand them a lot of terms they probably wouldn't know. The same goes for characters who use really simple speech, sometimes. They wouldn't call something by its name, but, since most of your audience does, it's generally going to break suspension of disbelief less to just name it.

The only thing I really think it's important to avoid is using words you as the writer aren't familiar with. It's one thing to look up a technical term when you already know where it goes in the sentence, but there are a lot of vocabulary items that are more finicky than that. Slang, regionalisms, idioms especially. But more than that, even if someone from some time or place or background would use a set of unfamiliar words, it's important to become familiar with how they'd be used before trying it. I see so many people use five dollar words wrong because they go, well, but this character would talk fancy. And, sure, but pick from the words you already know. Unless you intend them to sound like they're faking, which can also be useful.

This might be unpopular but I’m not going to use simpler vocabulary in my writing if it’s out of character for the narrator. If my POV character is a botanist, he’s going to call a plant by its name. If you don’t know what it is you can either Google it or move on just knowing it’s a plant of some sort.

I don’t like this trend of readers being angry that not everything is 100% understandable for them. I want my characters to be believable as people and sometimes people use words people outside of their field will not understand. That’s not a bad thing.

You don’t have to understand every word to get the gist of what’s happening. I’m not going to slow down an action scene to describe every weapon because someone might not know them by name. They can just assume it’s a weapon because that makes sense in the context of the scene.