Word Choice

I’m a fan of musical theater — not something you’d think has a lot of crossover with interest in writing and editing. But I’m specifically a big fan of Stephen Sondheim, in part because of his lyrics (okay, and in part because “Sweeney Todd” is my current favorite musical, but come on, Sondheim is the master of lyrics). Not too long ago I read the first part of his biography/collected works Finishing the Hat, and I was fascinated by his discussions of word choice as related to lyrics. I would have guessed he took it seriously, just from what he ends up with, but I was enchanted to hear about the level of thought he puts into the simplest words. He’s still upset about the name of a street mentioned in “Sweeney Todd” that, to him, doesn’t sound right for 19th century London — it sounds more Irish, he says, and he feels he should’ve spent more time looking through maps to find a street name that really worked. That’s serious business. Serious attention to detail.

Serious word choice.

We all hear, as writers and editors, about how important word choice is. And of course we know it – if we’ve worked hard and read a lot and concentrated on writing in a mindful way, we feel it in our bones. This or that word doesn’t fit the tone of the piece. That one does. But maybe we don’t focus on it as closely as we should. Words slip in, we use lazy language, we forget to really concentrate and choose every single word for the image it will evoke, and the rhythm it will drum into the reader’s mind.

There’s a hell of a difference between “Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd,” and “Hey, listen up!”