The Power of Words

"The pen is mightier than the sword." -- Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Truth or falsehood in advertising has the power to entice one to purchase. Speeches stir patriotic feelings or spur listeners to action. Words in the Bible draw out spirituality within. A good book takes us into its world and lets us live alongside the characters. Each of these has a common element: The power of words. No wonder there are so many poets, authors, and orators! These two little words impact relationships: "I'm sorry." A sincere "I love you" warms the heart. What makes words so powerful? They convey emotion.

I've been reading mini stories--events packed with emotion--in JoLyn Brown's A Circle of Sisters. It's similar to my inspirational non-fiction, Bishop Stories. As I've gone over the submissions for this book, I've felt a range of emotions. I've laughed and cried at the tender sentiments conveyed through words. If you would like to be a part of this wonderful collection of stories, I am taking submissions through September 15, 2013. For more information, e-mail me at bishopstories.submissionsATgmailDOTcom or leave a comment. Emotion is at the heart of these stories and that's what makes them so powerful.

Have a great week!

Left Brain Quirks

If you consider artists as quirky, writers are sure to be included. Don't get me wrong. I love my writer friends. Almost every writer I've met at conferences and through social media has been delightful and several acquaintances have developed into lasting friendships. We share common goals but do we share common quirks? Let's see. Own up to your own idiosyncrasy first, keep it in mind, and compare with mine. Ready?

I think my quirk has something to do with the dominant Left Brain side of me. Yeah, that's the scientific/analytic side, not the artistic/creative side. In that case, maybe it has nothing to do with quirky artists--just my dominant brain coming through in a quirky way. See what you think. My Quirk: I play with letters when I'm revising/highlighting. Words that change before my eyes fascinate me. It's a visual stimulation. For a brief instant, it gets in the way of my Right Brained flow during revisions.

Here's what I mean:  I'm changing 'have' to 'leave' and I start highlighting the word to replace it when I notice that several letters are the same.       have → leave = __ave   
These don't even rhyme but my eye tells me I don't have to replace the whole word, just some of the letters. If the letters to change are within one swipe of my cursor, I'll leave the ones that already exist. Maybe it's a fairness issue. Wouldn't want those letters that can stay on the page to get unnecessarily wiped out when they were there first, now do we?

What oddity peculiarity do you confess to have? Remember that quirks make you YOU and you don't have to change them for anyone. Start the new year by embracing the neither good nor bad quirks that make you unique. 

Getting Real with Dialogue

Foul language is, well, foul. I don’t need it and I don’t think my readers will miss it—even if my male main character is a typical high school senior. Someone out there just rolled their eyes. A valid point. A writer needs to get real. Real emotions, real problems, real solutions. What about real dialogue? My critique group just discussed this. Apparently some swear words are more acceptable than others and what you grew up with is an influencing factor. Is it possible to write real dialogue without swearing? (Keep in mind that I’m aiming to please myself since I’ll never please everyone.) The MC, Josh, is a good kid with values, but he’s starting to run into some rough characters with grand theft auto on their minds. Can a writer show enough details and emotion through things like description and tension that the reader gets it without vulgar word choice? This writer is attempting to find out. Reality Zone is dead ahead. I’d love to hear what you think.

Simple Fixes → Big Improvements

The right word choice can tighten up your writing and make it flow. A recent reminder of this struck me as I went through some rewrites. Using more words than needed is a common mistake—but also an easy fix. Here are some examples:

Food started to sound good to me. → Food sounded good to me.
I pretended to look at something else. → I looked elsewhere.
She was going to be next. → She would be next.
I didn’t want to risk being seen. → I couldn’t risk being seen.

Each of these examples has something in common besides being shortened. The little word “to” following the first verb weakens the next verb that I’d rather emphasize. I don’t want a character to merely “begin to" do something. I want her to do it. This improves the drama and pacing of the writing. Make use of your Find and Replace Box to catch these simple errors. Type a space before and after ( to ) so you don't get every word containing those two letters. Beleive me, there will be enough of them without finding things you don't want.