The Importance of Words

I can say I’m passionate about writing, but that would be quite vague on my terms. Words are more important to me. I find words more interesting than the subject of a magazine because they speak more than the model’s facial expression. Why did they use peculiar instead of unique or the term black sheep instead of the word different? I’m passionate about words, that makes sentences, that make a paragraph, that makes a story and each of these components create a work of art that captivates the audience’s attention and causes them to feel what every word implies. Yes, I love to write, but it would be rather boring without words.

When I was in elementary school, we had Free Write Fridays. I would have to put “to be continued” on my stories because it wasn’t finished and I wanted to write so much. My creativity overflowed on the paper, so I had grammatical problems like run-on sentences and paragraphs. I didn’t fully understand the concept of a period or commas; I still loathe grammar to this day, but it’s a necessary evil. When I began to write my, still in progress, novel I had to think about the people who would read it. I began to be more intentional with what words I use and where I put them because every speck on the page has an impact on the reader whether small or significant. This is when I learned there is almost a word for everything, one of my favorites is petrichor, the air after it rains. There are words in different languages that mean something so specific that you say, “there’s a word for that?”, like hygge (hyu-ga) a danish word that surrounds a whole culture of being cozy.

I find it so interesting that a single word can create a whole mood. Like what do you think of when someone says “ I hate you” ? You get a more depressing feeling as if you got a shot in the heart, but what if they say “I abhor you like the plague that drowned my ancestors in their own blood” ? You might just die. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can’t hurt me”, but in reality, “stick and stones may break my bone, but words can cut the soul”. This is why I’m passionate about writing, because it can impact people’s lives and I want my impact to be positive.

Photo: Lisa Bonet_A Different World, couture icons-Tumbler