User blog comment:MeltingLizard/Simple, useful tip for use in writing pastas(or anything else, really)/@comment-26030957-20150707233358

Another thing you may want to do is when you are reading write down any word that you either don't recognize or that stands out to you. I even organize them for later use. For instance I have a list of antiquated and old-timey words and phrases I can refer to if I want to write a period piece, as well as a list of medical terms and technology terms. I also write down phrases and sentences that I find particularly powerful.

Kindles are great for this, because you can highlight words you don't know or find evocative and they go into a vocabulary builder you can refer back to later. You can also highlight sentences and paragraphs, as well as book mark certain passages so that you may go back later and study what it was about them that struck you at the time.

Another thing I do is when I discover an author or book I find to be of merit I will read them over and over again, studying how they used words, how they developed and explored characters, how they conveyed the narrative arc of the story, often putting notes in the margin. For example, I have read Andres Dubus' The Garden of Last Days six times, closely studying how he switches POV and handles his flashback scenes. I have also read Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen many times studying how he uses nature as a metaphor and is able to weave such a complicated story from a single first-person POV. When I finished Donna Tart's The Gold Finch I didn't even put it down, I just immediately started over again.

One more thing, it may be quicker to just google the word you want with "synonym" written beside it. This is what I do.