A Moral Tale

Who knows now what it was - some childish transgression.
The culprit was caught, mute and immobile.
Father glared down and demanded, "Answer me: Yes or No!"
The kitten-blue eyes looked up at him, puzzled, and then the sweet tiny voice replied, "Yes or no..."
God, it was hard not to howl.

Ah yes, clarity in expression. Underlines the value of beta readers.
We have to watch the choice of words too.
While the dictionary of antonyms and synonyms can be our good friend, the frantic search to avoid useful but mundane adjectives can result in peculiar constructions.
To evade, I presume, similarities to hard, granite, piercing and the like, to describe the hero's gaze, I remember an occasion when the word adamantine was used.
Fine. Then it was repeated. And repeated. Stuck out like a writer's thumb on a thesurus - in part because it did not co-ordinate with the rest of the story's language.
The term orifice , for example,when used to describe an alien on Planet X seems entirely appropriate, but if used in a romance in connection with hero or heroine...Well, it would make me wriggle, and it tinkers with POV.
And when using unusual or technical words or foreign phrases, it's a good idea to decrypt the meaning either by context or by an observation of another character.
Sorry this meanders, am on a blood work fast and have not had my coffee.
Blogger won't let me upload my cartoon!