#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.

[newspecies]

I don’t know exactly how to word this but can u please tell me about like. The story that Leshok and others in that same story is like???? I am just assuming they’re part of something?? Cause isn’t there like. A story you have that has like a ton of OCs in it? Correct me if I’m wrong and also I hope I make literally any sense?

im going to put this under a read more cuz it got really really long

ok ok so basically theres this parallel universe to our own called Olvion(ours is called Cosmos) and in it there are these weird creatures called Olagi(olagus singular) and they’re shapeshifters. in Olvion death just,, does not exist by the way. before the Olagi found their way into Cosmos they had no idea death is even a thing. there's also a different like,, plain of existence i guess???? it doesn't have a name yet but its populated by creatures called The Lost who used to be other things like mortals or Olagi but they got turned into the Lost for some reason idk i haven't worked it out yet.

there are gods too by the way. all of them take the form of animals. Kane is the rattlesnake god of death, Jack is the grey tabby cat god of knowledge, Lampshade aka the Light Barrier is the caterpillar god of light, colors, and like,, idk what's the opposite of change?? Mazgomoth is the chimera god of darkness, monsters, and change, Terrag is the spider god of sleep and thought, Chreechur is the turkey vulture god of decay, detritivores(animals that only eat stuff that's already dead), and i guess Creechur is also a death god of some kind. Pyxis and Cyphi are both black cat goddesses of fear. Raan is the calico cat goddess of hunting.

the gods are not known by mortals but the Olagi are very aware of them rather than worshipping the gods, they fear them instead. 

most of the story takes place around Earth and Olvion’s version of Earth. there's still some stuff im working out with the timeline and the Lost so i'm probably not going to mention them much at the beginning here, but the gist of what's going on with them is that something happened that made it necessary for them to purge themselves from everyone’s memories, including their own, but it didn’t really work that well. see, when a Lost forgets what they are, they revert back to what they were originally, but its kind of finicky. some, like Ribbin, forgot but stayed Lost, others didn't forget at all, like Navita and Fulminis, Keelin didn't forget but still reverted back to an Olagus and Venx both forgot and went back to being an Olagus. honestly, the whole thing was a mess. no one who wasn’t Lost remembered though, so at least that worked out.

moving onto what's happening in Olvion now. Olvion has never had a ruler, its always been lawless and chaotic, but two siblings thought they were fit to rule. Arianwyn and Kudjion declared war on each other and most of Olvion was split in half. while this happening, Raan chose an Olagus to do generally cause havoc for her. idk why she's just like that i guess. this Olagus doesnt have a name yet but he looks like this so im just going to call him evil rabbit

Evil Rabbit found another Olagus named Alarik, who he told some stuff to. he becomes important later. now to talk about main characters!!! at this time Kyrell is basically a celebrity, he’s called the Judge and people go to him to make decisions for them and also tell him their secrets. he’s not super good at this and has no idea how he got this job. meanwhile, Surlmog thinks this whole war thing is bullshit and decides to form another side, full of people who liked Olvion better when it didn’t have any leaders. at some point a fight breaks out in the middle of a laboratory where Leshok works and it escalates really really fast and it's a full battle by the time Surlmog gets there and he finds Leshok covered in scratches attempting to get away from this and Surlmog protects him and that's the start of their friendship!! so they’re now friends and they're both helping people out and Kyrell seeks them out because he also wants to help. so Kyrell has joined the party but Surlmog’s “attack first ask questions later” attitude kind of clashes with Kyrell’s own pacifist personality. Leshok just wants to get out of this alive.

switching over to Thistle, they’ve been traveling and guess who finds them?!?! Alarik!!! he attacks them and tears off their antennae and leaves them to bleed out on the ground. obviously there's not dying in Olvion but it still really hurts. Surlmog, Leshok, and Kyrell find them and take them in, making sure they’re alright. also Thistle still has both eyes right now.

the gangs all here!!!!! now what? well now i’m gonna tell you a little bit about what exactly Leshok was researching in that laboratory. basically he found a way for Olagi to be banished from Olvion permanently, he realized this information was far too dangerous to keep, but before he could destroy it Evil Rabbit found it and decided to make this as public as possible. because he’s evil. both sides were made aware of the findings and used it to their advantage. basically people realized that if they can trap an Olagus in Cosmos, it’s possible to kill them. so a bunch of people start dying and this becomes a bit more high stakes.

while this is happening, Alarik is stealing people’s limbs and sewing them onto himself, including Kyrell’s tail, Venx’s arm(he also took their leg but didn’t end up using it), Keelin’s leg, Minty’s wing and bunch of other people.

the war goes on for a while and at some point Arianwyn realizes that she's losing, fakes her death, and runs away to Pluto, leaving her entire army behind at the mercy of Kudjion. soon after Kyrell, Surlmog, Leshok, and Thistle all get banished and start hanging around on Earth.

most of this is revolving around Surlmog, Kyrell, Leshok and Thistle but i assure you there is a bunch happening at the same time with different characters. 

this got super super long so im gonna stop now but it does continue so maybe ill make another post abt it. thanks a lot for asking and also thanks for reading all this!!!!!!!! <3