We’ve all been there – stuck in the middle of a sentence trying to think of the right word when nothing seems to fit. It’s unbelievably frustrating because you’ve got this great phrase or sentence…and it’s almost working…and it would be absolutely perfect if you could just come up with the one missing word. Thesauruses don’t help. Time is ticking away. This is getting ridiculous. What do you do?
You aren’t going to like this answer, but it is absolutely the best way to solve the problem: if you can’t find the right word, stop looking for it. Seriously. If the perfect word existed, it would be natural and obvious. You would have already thought of it by now. The reason you can’t find the mystery word is because it doesn’t exist.
The solution to your stalemate isn’t a new word, it’s a completely new phrase or sentence. Sure, coming up with a whole new sentence sounds like a lot more work than just coming up with a single word (especially when the sentence you already wrote is almost working); but the truth is, you’ll get out of this jam a whole lot faster if you simply back up, write a new sentence, and start moving forward again. After over 25 years as a professional writer, I still catch myself spending too much time looking for the right word, but I’ve learned the hard way, you can’t find something that isn’t there. If you can’t think of the right word, then write a new sentence.
One Comment
Good advice. I take this approach, but I add an interim step. As I’m writing, if I come to a stumbling block, I quickly add a ____ and just keep on typing. I also do this for items in a series. I like not having to pause to work out the order that will give the right cadence to my prose.
When I’ve finished typing the sentence or paragraph that was flowing so nicely, I come back to the hole I left. If I can fill in the word, I do. If not, I move on to rewriting the sentence. Like you, I have seen the minutes tick away as I look for the perfect word or phrase to eloquently express a concept. And you’re quite right — it often doesn’t exist. Better just to move on.