Hi thank you for all your advice! I'm a non-native English writer, and though I writte in English for the better part of my life, I see that I still struggle with vocab. My English is fine, but writing a 40k fic is just different. When I read other fics, I sometimes stumble on phrashing and descriptions I possible couldn't come up with on my own, and I think because of my very monotone writing, my fics tend to lack. Because reading phrashing like that just hits different. I already write in English all the time, watch English shows etc. Do you maybe have some other advice to improve my vocab?
First of all, congratulations on being as proficient in English as you are. I’ve studied several languages myself, and I’ve never gotten to the point where I’ve been confident writing fiction in them. You’re doing amazing. Truly.
Second of all, I’m not sure that this is a matter of vocabulary. Depending on the types of phrases and descriptions you’re talking about it could be a matter of sentence structure. It might also be using tools like metaphor and simile which help you describe the vibe of something rather than the physical thing itself.
These are both types of figurative language. Other types include things like hyperbole (using exaggeration to make a point), personification (talking about an object as if it were a person), and antithesis (describing to items that are opposites of each other using similar sentence structure).
Diving into these other kinds of descriptions, beyond just adjectives and adverbs that describe the person or thing literally, is probably going to get you farther than expanding your vocabulary will.
But that’s just what I think. What about the rest of you? I’d especially love to hear from people who write in a second or other language!
I’m a non-native speaker myself and write solely in English - for various reasons; one simply being able to reach more people, and then because it’s actually easier to write in English since I consume the media I write about also in English. Thus, my brain is already in a certain language “setting” when I think about the content and characters of my fics.
For anon, I assume it’s a mix of the two things: vocabulary and what acotd said. Sometimes, finding a specific word or phrasing can be hard in a foreign language, AND translating that into literary tools like metaphors etc. is yet another step.
From what you said, you’re already doing a great many things that are relevant for improving your vocabulary by consuming English content. Since you didn’t note it specifically, however, I would wholeheartedly recommend reading in English. And I don’t mean fanfiction, althought that helps as well. I mean authors whose grasp of language and writing skills are truly extraordinary. To put some out there from different genres: Ursula K. LeGuin (fantasy), Olivia Butler (SciFi), Robin Hobb (fantasy), N.K. Jemisin (fantasy/futuristic stories), Margaret Atwood (dystopias). All of them have an incredible style and are highly praised authors, so even outside of writing-focused reading, I wholeheartedly recommend their work.
If you read, pay attention to how they write their stories. Note what works for you (what kind of descriptions, what kind of metaphors, in what amount), and also what doesn’t (where do you start skipping or get bored and why), and try to include that into your stories.
It is totally valid to try and emulate the language of an author you admire. There is one fanfic author whose story I have clicked more than 600 times(!!!) just because the way she writes gets me so inspired. I have used phrases of hers in my own stories (phrases! Not sentences, not ideas - no copying, please) because they work so well. There is another writer whose descriptions are so poetic that I keep coming back to her just to get ideas how to draw parallels and use metaphors.
Please also note that a lot of these tools are, however, down to pure preference. Personally, I love writing descriptive because I am a very visual person and weaving somewhat flowery descriptions into my action helps me set the scene and the mood and makes it come alive before my inner eye.
My best friend, who writes as well, however, barely uses descriptions because she focuses much more on dialogue and emotions in her writing.
Both are valid ways to compose a story and work for different readers. So just because your stories are not metaphor- or description-heavy doesn’t mean they are flat or monotone!
Apart from reading and analysing authors whose style you like, getting a native-speaker as a beta might also help you if you don’t already have one. And most importantly: have fun :)
Hello! All of the above is excellent advice, especially the bit about reading media that was originally written in English. That will not only help expand your vocabulary alone, but also teach you more natural turns of phrase (etc.) in your target language.
But! I’m here to give the translator’s perspective, because you already have really good advice to go on for improving your vocabulary, sentence structure, and the general way you describe things.
As a speaker (and writer) of English as a Second (probably Foreign) Language, you’re probably somewhere on the scale of transitioning into full bilingualism. And a common mistake learners of EFL make is that they tend to think their sentences in their home (source) language first, and then mentally “translate” them into their second (target) language, usually trying to turn common phrases and sayings (etc.) from their first language into their second language. This generally results in what we know as “transfers.” You end up with what feels like an unnatural phrase in English, because the phrase is common in your first language, you wanted to use it, and it doesn’t really translate naturally into your second language. Which… also usually results in what we call “marked” language, that is to say, phrases that are grammatically correct in English, but which still sound weird somehow because we’re picking words a native speaker usually wouldn’t pick.
So, all of the above considered, my advice for you is this: think directly in English. This is to say, instead of thinking up what you want to write in your first language (in my case, Spanish) first and then transferring that into English when writing, think your writing up directly in English from the get-go. This will help your word structure flow more naturally, because you’re building your sentences already in your target language, which forces you to think using structures, phrases, etc. that already exist in English, and are available to you, rather than trying to fold, unfold, translate and turn around a phrase in a different language so that it makes sense in English, which doesn’t always work out the way we want it to.
Definitely read more books (fics aren’t bad, but books, specifically, are probably better for this), pay attention to movies (and watch with English subs if you can/want to!), listen to more music, etc., because that will help you build up your lexicon A LOT. But to truly tap into that when writing, try to come up with the phrases directly in English.
Also, WordReference is your friend when you can’t think of the word you need. And I’d say you can always use a Thesaurus if you feel like something doesn’t quite work right, or if you need a similar, but different word, together with a collocations dictionary (remember, not all words are born equal, regardless of whether the thesaurus notes them as synonyms), but in that case be careful! If it helps, I personally use Roget’s Thesaurus and the Oxford Collocations Dictionary, both of which my English teacher recommended back when I was in my last year of university. The Thesaurus especially is excellent.
Sometimes, despite thinking in English, you will end up with phrases in your own language you’d like to use. It sometimes happens to me, at least. The good thing is, you might be able to find a lot of rough translations of phrases from that language to English on the internet.
For some languages (or, more specifically, phrases) directly translating does work, but the phrasing itself is just slightly different. I wanted to use the Dutch phrase “stinkend rijk” for a joke, for example. It directly translates to “smelly rich”, and I was devastated to learn that “smelly rich” wasn’t used in English. After a bit more thinking, however, I realised that it’s not “smelly rich”, but “filthy rich”, and suddenly my joke worked.
I’m sure there are more direct translations that might not work exactly in English, but a different phrasing. Check if the phrase you want to use has an English equivalent, check how it might be used in context, and try to figure out if it works in your writing. If necessary (and possible), get a native speaker to proofread it. It might work!
One thing to add to this pile of excellent advice: if you're reading in English and want to look something up in a dictionary, use a monolingual dictionary. I usually go for Cambridge Online Dictionary (it's free!), but any one will work. This will help you with not translating in your head so much, and will let you learn words together with their usage, in context. Save your bilingual dictionary for things like plants, animals and chemicals, because no matter how well a definition is written, you will have a hard time figuring out what's a trout, a sole or a marigold. Anything else, you want to see it defined in English, not translated into your native language.
