The Word "Yet".

It's a fairly common word. Easy to say, easy to pepper into a work in the hopes that it sounds a little more sophisticated. But not so easy to use as it seems many think. Yet is a word that seems like your typical conjunction, popped in to separate two adjectives. That is, unfortunately, incorrect. "Yet" is not your typical "and" or "but". It has a great deal more nuance. "Yet" is the kind of word that is supposed to highlight the dichotomy between two ideas. It's supposed to make a reader try to bring two distinct feelings or thoughts together in a way that doesn't seem usual.

"Yet" is not for antonyms. A writer should not say "big, yet small". That has no subtlety. "Yet" is so often used as a crutch to help along limping prose that should be rephrased more elegantly. "Big, yet small" could be "The actual size of the thing was astonishing, but it was dwarfed by its surroundings." Many casual uses of the word are failed attempts at creating an atmosphere where a fuller description, or a description of their effects, would serve far more effectively. "Yet" is for bringing together two words that conjure different emotions in the reader, and that is very difficult to do in a three word phrase. So don't do it. It comes off as stilted, stops the reader from feeling your words and takes them out of the story to think about how antonyms can be present in the same thing. Find your feeling, then dissect it and use your words to describe it such that your reader knows how you feel. Subtlety is king in excellent writing.

Spend the time to make your words flow from the text to the mind.

Good luck,
scathecraw