Need help finding vocabulary

[Lester Curtis]

So . . . there I was, happily writing along on my novel, and *blink* -- the word I was seeking had just plumb disappeared from my brain. It's a synonym for "intelligent being, and I wound up just using "sapient," but I KNOW I've seen another, ending in "-ont." Is it "sophont"? That one doesn't show up in my huge, fat Webster's Unabridged Encyclopedic.

I really hate when this happens . . . damn scary, feeling parts of my brain go AWOL.

Help me out!

EDIT: Never mind, I found it.

[Megawatts]

My brain has always been AWOL. Or it functions as an abverb, I really don't know what that means, but it sounds interesting!

Have all the tools needed at your finger-tips---dictionary, thesaurus your writing journals---and go over them often, even when you're not writing.

Sometimes I'll try to show instead of using a word. It takes longer, but I can
'show' the exact thought that I was trying to say.

[Robert_Moriyama]

So . . . there I was, happily writing along on my novel, and *blink* -- the word I was seeking had just plumb disappeared from my brain. It's a synonym for "intelligent being, and I wound up just using "sapient," but I KNOW I've seen another, ending in "-ont." Is it "sophont"? That one doesn't show up in my huge, fat Webster's Unabridged Encyclopedic.

I really hate when this happens . . . damn scary, feeling parts of my brain go AWOL.

Help me out!

EDIT: Never mind, I found it.

Was the word you were looking for "sophont"?

[Lester Curtis]

Sometimes I'll try to show instead of using a word. It takes longer, but I can
'show' the exact thought that I was trying to say.

I couldn't do that in the particular instance where I had the problem . . . it came up in dialog, and the character speaks very concisely. Still, that's a good suggestion. Might increase the word count, too.

Yes, the word I was looking for is "sophont," but I couldn't use it in the context I had. Here's the text, as I finally left it:

"Understood." She paused for a moment, as though thinking, and her color turned a cloudy blue. "The Charter has determined the subject to be an authentic life-form, species unnamed, native to a Class One planet, location unknown. Sentience?"
Raj responded. "She has a sophisticated brain structure with a fairly high level of neural activity . . . we haven't been able to test her yet, but that's a promising indication. Also, her hands are very like ours, with opposable thumbs and comparable dexterity."

So, a noun wouldn't have worked there.

Yeah, I use my references a lot, especially the ones I've put together myself in a binder of handwritten notes.

Thanks, guys.

[Megawatts]

I've even asked my wife, and, to my surprise, she sometimes comes- through for me!!!!!

[Lester Curtis]

sentient

Why, yes . . . I believe I am . . .