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RE: I Have Decided To Try Everything
Perhaps narrative voice isn't appropriate for this particular context. Writing for science is part of writing for academics, and academics is notorious for jargon and inscrutability of language. It's why it takes 2 hours to read something which should take 15 minutes.
We're used to thinking about writing as something done for short stories, novels, and non-fiction books. Narrative voice is expected in those works.
However, there's another form of writing where plain language not only rules but is vital. This is copywriting, the form of writing used to persuade readers to take an action you want them to take. Persuasive writing is sometimes used to describe copywriting.
Most examples of copywriting come from the world of marketing and advertising, because the people selling their goods and services want people to buy them. Other examples of copywriting include requests for charitable donations and election campaigning. Copywriting is conversational writing, and when we have conversations with most people we're not using technical jargon or buzzwords. If we use those words, people will know if we're being sincere or trying to pull the wool over their eyes.
I mention copywriting because although it can include narrative language (because the writer is telling a story whose purpose is to get readers to act), the most successful copywriting is done using plain language, the language of the people. Most people don't care about fancy words or language used only by a small number of people. Clarity is more important than how words look.
More important than the words we use are the ideas we want to communicate to readers. No matter what kind of words we use, if readers have to scratch their heads to ask what they just read, then we failed as writers because we weren't able to get our message across.
It's been said that to become better writers we need to read more. More reading exposes us to not just more ideas but also to a larger selection of words and language. After a while, thanks to all that reading, that language becomes part of us. Then we can have it available to us for when we need to write.
Use the words you need to use, and make sure the people you want to read them can read and understand them. After a while, the sophistication of the language can take care of itself. Then you'll know when it's OK to use jargon and when the simple words are enough.
I understand using plain words for clarity, especially in stuff like copywriting.
But sometimes I feel like I'm using these words too much, and sometimes I feel like there's a better word I should have used for a proper understanding. Like there may be things you want to say, but you just don't know how to say it so people will understand you, yeah.
So I thought the issue must have been from having a limited knowledge of simple good words, or maybe lack of a good writing voice.
Sometimes things we want to say had been said already by other people. Some of those people said it better than others. It goes back to reading, and the more we read the better we write (and speak).
Simple language is limited by the number of words available to it. That's not a criticism about simple language; it's just a fact about it. So we need alternative words to supplement simple language.
Try this: just write whatever you need to write so that it's out there. See what's repeated, then find an alternative word for it. Repetition is OK and sometimes necessary, but we need to space it out.
If you have a favorite writer (or even if you don't), see how that writer uses language. If it's language which reaches you, use it and make it your own. Television and movies are also good for this purpose, especially if you've already seen what's being shown.
At the moment it seems like a problem big enough to have you worried. We all go through that occasionally, whether we're learning a new language or we're award-winning writers like J. K. Rowling. With enough practice, we'll find ourselves writing in what feels like an inspired manner. Then the gaps between moments of lack of words become greater and greater.
You'll figure it out soon enough, and then it will click for you.
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