” ‘Commissioned’ is too difficult a word for young adults,” I was told by an editor at a writers’ conference a few years back. Really? Commissioned?

In fact the entire theme of this particular conference seemed to be ‘Dumb Down Your Writing’. I was so discouraged by this, I left early and went directly to Barnes and Noble. I grabbed a couple of unforgettable stories that people love. Here’s what I found:

This excerpt is from Eragon by Christopher Paolini…

Between these two rode a raven-haired elvin lady who surveyed her surroundings with poise. Framed by long black locks, her deep eyes shone with a driving force. Her clothes were unadorned, yet her beauty was undiminished.

And these words were gleaned from the first chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings:

inexhaustible, reminiscences, outlandish, commodity, scintillating, impromptu.

‘Commissioned’ would feel right at home among these words. People want to read good stories. If the story is good, they will read it even if there are a few words they don’t know.

My six-year-old loves watching Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibilities. She doesn’t understand every word, but she still enjoys the stories! And, funny thing, her vocabulary includes words like ‘perhaps’ –not that this is a particularly difficult word, but not many six-year-olds use it.

Knights of the Angel Realm is a book that only dreams of being as amazing as Lord of the Rings. It won’t need a companion dictionary. But it was written by an author (me!) that wanted to tell a good story. It was written by an author who didn’t have to consult an ‘approved vocabulary’ list first.