Love Language for Writers (and Readers)

I’m a self-proclaimed, uber-proud word nerd. I love linguistics and etymology. As a child, pre-internet, I’d spend hours reading the dictionary, just imprinting words and their definitions into my brain and creating new neural pathways in and out of my left frontal lobe. Fun times!

As a writer, I see improving my vocabulary as adding new hues of paint to my artist’s palette. Our job as writers is to evocatively describe thoughts, feelings, and images with words and for that reason, I’m of the mind that you can never have too many in your repertoire.

This week, in preparation for Valentine’s Day, I’ve decided to share with you some ‘Valentine Vocab’ words and phrases that may be the exact descriptors you wish you had as you write romance. And if not, well, it never hurts to learn something new.

Image by Freepik

So here are a few of my favorites…

Belgard - (n) A loving, amorous, or affectionate glance.

This is especially useful in screenwriting when you aim to “show” instead of “tell.” Good s…