Power of Words

Words have so much power, not because of the words themselves but because we give them power. They are a mode for emotion. Our emotions are extracted and placed into words to give them the love, punch or anger we want to convey., so it’s important for authors to choose the right words and link them together to evoke some type of emotion from the reader. Sometimes an entire book can leave us feeling angry, unsatisfied, happy or sad. It’s a huge achievement for a writer to make a long-lasting impression.

Since words have strength, there are some words we like and dislike more than others (aside from insults and curse words). Here are a few of mine:

Make me squirm: excretion, goiter, and scurvy.

Beautiful: soliloquy, ivory, and ellipsis.

Sad: pallid and ashen.

It’s also important to make sure punctuation, along with the words, add to the emotion. Sometimes we put in short sentences for emphasis, and sometimes we let a sentence flow to describe a moment.

Below are a few extracts from my current manuscript and working title, The Day I Found Me.

Opening Paragraph

“They all sat around, eyes on me, watching for signs of ... what? I felt like a substance in a petri dish. I had to keep looking down into my lap to avoid their stares. I opened my hand, my eyes tracing the lines, a large M in the middle of my palm, lines trailing to my wrist. Did the M stand for marriage? I couldn’t remember ... along with many other things. I bit my lower lip, scrunched my eyebrows, and looked up to find that nothing had changed. No one shifted or lost focus ... from me. I sighed looking at each strained face as if they were constipated. A puff of air escaped with a tiny laugh.”

Page 11 – Halfway down

“She left the room but I remained where I was, thinking about my circumstances. Punch drunk indeed. My liver might not appreciate the term, but my mind enjoyed the ride. I didn’t have to think of the horrible things going on in my life. But there wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to act as acid burn to smolder the heartbreaking memories. In a short period of time, I lost my mother to the hunger of cancer, my home to an unemployment sabbatical, and my boyfriend to a tall, skinny blond with long legs. Well, the latter was a blessing. I should have known something was up when he claimed ‘whiskey dick’ every time I made a sexual move. Someone forgot to send me the memo that he lost interest months ago.”

Page 11 - Bottom

“I walked into the washroom, turned on the faucet and threw cold water on my face. The cold made me flinch, but I appreciated the wakeup slap. It took my mind off PIB and my elbow. I placed my hands under the water, added soap, and rubbed them together while staring at the soap bugger on the dispenser. That’s how I felt ... like a soap bugger ... leftover and hanging.”

What do you think? What words do you like or dislike? Would you like to share a paragraph from your current works?

Words and Emotion,

Bea