Words matter.
Words begin all creation – John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word”
I love words, in all forms and combinations. Simpler forms provide foundations for more complex forms.
Properly crafted words in any combination trigger emotional responses.
For example, I love to read classical poetry, for the same reason I love to listen to great music. I hope to feel an emotional reaction to the story I decipher from its words. Something that makes me laugh, cry, catch my breath, and feel alive. Feel wonder.
Poems and songs are bite-sized, immediate injections of endorphins, through words that trigger emotions.
John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost immediately comes to mind.
John Dunne’s sonnet Death, be not Proud and his poem No Man Is An Island, provide additional examples.
Those poems triggered my imagination in ways that wove themselves into the upcoming novel, Spark of Faith.
The same is true for music. For example, I dare anyone who will read, or has already read the draft of SOF, to listen to Curtis Stiger’s Never Saw A Miracle and not stop in your tracks. . . and weep.
When Hollywood finally comes to its senses and turns SOF into a movie, and trust me it will, I will insist in my contract that this song makes the soundtrack.
You see, finding a modicum of success as a writer at my age, when I don’t have to rely upon its meager income to support my family, has allowed me to appreciate that the real reason one writes is to trigger emotions – make people think, to touch their hearts, to bring moments of happiness and catharsis. Make the reader feel alive.
Trust me, I don’t write for the money – at my present level in the literary pantheon, there’s no money in publishing. And I’m happy to write for free – I’ve shared four years of blogging gratis. I’m thrilled that there are people willing to take time from lives just to read my writing. But in the same vein, you can also trust that I will wring every penny out of film adaptations, which is the path of least resistance in disseminating my words/works to the masses. Witnessing the success of other books – series and standalone – transitioning to film – provide hope in the form of proof of concept. LOTR and GOT come readily to mind. Even the classic film, The Wizard of Oz, is based upon Frank Baum’s fantasy novel. Words that generate emotions becoming visual. Painless consumption of emotional thoughts.
Anyone who has read The Claire Saga will appreciate that my writing evokes clear visual images and I have a strong ear for dialogue. Indeed, I’ve explained that as part of my channeling process in writing, the stories play out visually like live theatre or films on the inside of my skull – my Cro-Magnon forehead provides space for wide screen projection – and I just act as the scrivener, chronicling the performance as fast as I can.
When it is all said and done, it’s all about the words and the emotions they invoke.
So, read my books so I can trigger your emotional responses. Treat is as an inexpensive form of therapy.
And when the opportunity arises, go see the film versions of any of the books I have or may write. Take your less literary friends so they can enjoy a comparable emotional experience but make sure to tell them how the book is better than the film.
Well, that’s my Tuesday morning rant.
Yes, that means my fine, five readers have made it past another mis-maligned Monday, and their work week is twenty percent shorter.
So, finish that last cuppa, pull up your socks and launch. Attack the projects – all the heavy lifting – today, so the remainder of the work week becomes a little more manageable.
And no matter what else we all get up to, let us make today a great one.
