Thesaurus Abuse
Visit a thesaurus website or grab a thesaurus from your book shelf if you have one. Search or flip through until you find five preposterously verbose, bombastic, grandiloquent alternatives for everyday words. Using all five terms, write a scene about a character who writes “purple prose” or speaks in overly flowery language.
Writing Prompt: Thesaurus Abuse
Visit a thesaurus website (like Thesaurus.com), or grab a thesaurus from your book shelf if you have one. Search or flip through until you find five preposterously verbose, bombastic, grandiloquent alternatives for everyday words. (See what I did there?) Using all five terms, write a scene about a character who writes "purple prose" or speaks in overly flowery language. Make sure the character uses at least one of the words incorrectly. Include the reactions of the less pretentious characters he or she is addressing.
Need help getting started? Try looking at the list of synonyms for these terms: happy, smart, ugly, proud, brave
Post your response in 500 words or fewer in the comments below.
Take It to the Next Level:
Consider why a person might go out of their way to incorporate unnecessarily flowery language into their everyday speech or writing. Why do they feel the need to impress others in this way? What effects does it have on the character's social life? Using the scene you already created, write the character's internal dialogue, showing their search for the "right" fancy word and where they heard it in the first place.
Jess Zafarris is the Executive Director of Marketing & Communications for Gotham Ghostwriters and the former Digital Content Director for Writer’s Digest. Her eight years of experience in digital and print content direction include such roles as editor-in-chief of HOW Design magazine and online content director of HOW and PRINT magazine, as well as writing for the Denver Business Journal, ABC News, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She spends much of her spare time researching curious word histories and writing about them at UselessEtymology.com. Follow her at @jesszafarris or @uselessety on Twitter.
