Words for which you wish there were more synonyms.
My vote would go for KISS ~ writing these sexy stories I am often finding myself wishing there were more words for kissing.
SMOOCH is nice but not very sensual, PECK is too prudish, SNOG is a bit too comical to convey tenderness (and I'm not sure American readers are familiar with snogging).
I'd like to hear any other writer's thoughts about words they have to repeat time and time again.
Yes, it's a problem I run into quite a lot. Which word is the problem depends on the story. If I was writing a story about, say, carrots, I would soon be wishing there were more synonyms for carrot. But when I find myself groping for more synonyms, sometimes I think it is just an indication that I am over-using a particular subject in my story and that I should move the story on.
For kissing, you can just describe it, "she felt the touch of his lips on the sensitive spot just below her ear", or "his open mouth brushed against hers". Or is that a bit too Mills & Boon for you?
Thanks for your responses, I just find myself wishing there were more kissy type words when I'm writing.
Another of my wishes would be for more (and better) synonyms for Vagina.
There are seemingly thousands for Penis but only two or three good ones for Vagina.
While we're on the subject, one word I can't get along with is PETALS ~ my vagina does not have petals!?
Maybe I'm growing the wrong flowers in my little garden but I've never looked a some petals and thought, "Hey, that looks just like me!"
I need more words for pussy. Though pussy is a great word.
Words that I need more synonyms for at the moment are:
Tentacles. Sprite informs us on another thread that more stories are required on this topic, so I am attempting to fulfil the need. Are they limbs? Arms? Or legs?
Bikini bottom. That's a horrible term anyway. "swimming costume" sounds about 60 years out of date, and "swimsuit" not much better, as well as implying a one-piece.
Fabric. You can say "material" or specify the type of material, maybe "cotton".
So I can write a sentence "The slimy tentacles wriggled all over the flimsy fabric of her bikini bottom", but it gets difficult if you want to write several paragraphs on this theme.
Depending on the mood of my character, will depend on how he describes it. However, I don't think I've ever used the word vagina. Usually, it's just the phrase "enter her," but I've also used phrases like "intimate area". Pussy has been used but I've never used anything too vulgar because I find it a turn off. There are many words for having sex though which can remove having to use the word vagina such as just saying "I make love to her/become intimate/fuck.." (and then continuing to describe the act.)
cunny, molly, oyster, dove (a common Spanish euphemism, for whatever reason), cooch/coochie, lotus, cauldron, pan (older than Shakespeare), biscuit and bean (a term passed on by an English exchange student -- cracked me up), eel trap (kinda ich), quim, yoni, jelly roll, minge...
Really, the list is endless, if you're not feeling lazy.
And, to answer the obvious question, I do have a fondness for pussy.
"Kiss" is the one that gets me, too. Always agonising over different ways to write about kissing.
"Smile" as well. I have plenty of synonyms, but my characters seem to be smiling a lot and I quickly run out.
With "smile" wouldn't be possible to use some of the different 'ways' of smiling? Like beam, grin, smirk, simper, sneer...
Curiosity is one of those insatiable passions that grow by gratification.
A few more that came to me in my sleep (for pussy): entrance, cleft, sex, forest
In the last thing I wrote, would have been nice to have an alternative to "stare" that wasn't a cliche.
for earth the wonder of,
of all life not above,
heed love, need love;
seed love—
love love.