how is description a part of creative writer's toolkit

Science Sonnets

The surprising connections between science and letters

The Creative Writer’s Toolkit: Diction

Scientists and science communicators looking to better engage the public with their work can learn a lot from creative writing. In this “toolkit” series, I take lessons from poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction and apply them to the science communication context in order to show how science communicators can leverage the lessons of creative writing to build empathy, emotion and gravity into their work. In this post, I will explore diction .

Diction is simply a writer’s choice of words. This may seem like an aspect of craft so obviously central to writing as to render it a useless metric to focus on. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Diction is a specific stylistic choice that can make a big difference in how a reader engages with writing. Working to hone your attention to diction can make you a more effective communicator of science—whether that’s writing press releases, science journalism, or giving a presentation.

Consider a blog post about a newly discovered ant species that starts: “Last week, scientists found a new ant in South America that sprays stinky goo all over would-be attackers.” Now consider a different article, about the same new discovery, that starts, “Last week, researchers at Duke University described a new species of Formica ant that can emit a noxious compound from its abdomen to deter predators.”

What differences do you notice between these two ledes? To most ears, the first will sound more casual, more fun, and perhaps more engaging. The second is more stiff, formal, and clearly intended for a different audience. This difference in tone is due in no small part to differences in word choice—in diction. What is the effect of choosing the phrase “stinky goo” versus “noxious compounds?” They both accurately describe the formic acid emitted by this family of ants. The former is simply more relatable to a general audience. It’s easy to imagine stinky goo. It’s much harder to place what a “noxious compound” looks like.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the first lede is better (though, in contexts where a more casual tone is appropriate it likely would be). But it does draw attention to the power of word choice in shaping tone and appealing to different audiences.

Diction also extends to the choice of parts of speech. In general, creative writing teaches us that nouns and verbs work better than adjectives and adverbs at conveying specific meaning—perhaps the ultimate goal of any creative writing. “A huge piece of ice quickly fell off the glacier and made a really big splash” is clearly less effective than “An Eiffel Tower of ice calved from the rest of the glacier, shattering the silence of the bay.” Choosing good, highly specific verbs and nouns is, of course, harder because it takes more thought. And that’s really the point.

Diction can also be wielded effectively as a means of continuing a theme or establishing a motif that runs through an entire piece. Even if this sort of “easter egg” isn’t noticed outright, it invariably brings the reader’s attention closer to the writing. Note in the above example the use of the word “shattering.” This word, beyond being a more engaging and informative choice than “made a splash,” is effective because it maintains the through-line of the narrative—the reader is inhabiting a world of ice, and ice shatters. This same reason is why, in good writing, a story about cadavers describes the morgue as “dead” quiet, or a story about searching for anacondas in the Amazon describes an old dirt road as “snaking.” It’s a way of building intrigue, or, in the case of a mystery or horror story, anticipation and dread.

Diction used in this way can of course also begin to sound contrived if too on the nose. Diction is, like all elements of craft, a balancing game between overwriting and underwriting.

So how might a science communicator utilize diction? One of the most important takeaways of a close study of diction is to be brave. Consider a neuroscientist preparing to give a talk about their research to the general public. In weighing how to talk about her work on synapses, she is faced with a choice of how to describe them. True, they are the tiny intercellular space where two neurons meet to exchange chemical and electrical signals. But they are also, truly, the brain cells’ personal space where they have a conversation, the forcefield space between two ends of a magnet that won’t go together, and the gaps in our brain where our memories live. Scientists and science communicators can be uncomfortable with this sort of interpretation, borne of the unconventional word choices. The sorts of descriptions and metaphors don’t show up in textbooks, certainly. But they aren’t any less true than a scientific explanation of their purpose. Being unconventional, within reason, can make your communication far more engaging and much of that “unconventionality” can come from more deliberate word choice.

It’s not an easy process shifting your thinking to more closely consider the diction in your communication. Fortunately, there are tools out there to help. One example is the fabulous website “UpGoerFive” an online text editor that underlines in red any word you use that is not in the 1,000 most used words in the English language (the site, appropriately, refers to these as the “ten hundred” most used words). It’s a fun and often absurd challenge, especially for writing about science, but it can be a really helpful tool in taking your use of diction to the next level by thinking outside the box. And of course, another training strategy is to go to the “source material,” as it were. Reading work by diverse creative writers can expand your understanding of how the pros utilize diction.