Power

I’m pulling this post from the archives (with a few revisions) because I believe the message is an important and timely one. You be the judge.

I’ve always believed words had the power to move people. Spin them the right way, target the right audience and they have the power to sway a nation. As tempted as I am, that topic is for another day.

Which brings me to the topic I wanted to discuss – writing and the power of our words. Isn’t that what we want our stories to do? Sway our readers?

Stories move us to tears, anger, make us gasp in horror, keep us up at night,or our bellies hurt from laughing.

A story can cause pain – dredging up ghosts or trauma of the past. Those stories are hard to read and even harder to write.

I’m 40,000 words into my first novel.Certain scenes are proving difficult to write because it requires me to dig deep into emotions I’d rather not feel again. I could sugar coat my words but every time I choke on the false words that ring so hollow.

I read a post today by Mary Jaksch at Write to Done that struck me right between the eyes. How to Bond With Your Readers: The Pain and Glory of Writing.

“Face the Pain and work through it.” Write to Done. Tweet This.

So, I have two options- I can dig deep and work through the pain or let my story gather dust.

It’s our job as writers to tell the best story we can with words that reach from the pages, grab our readers by the throat or the hearts.

So, make it count. Words have Power.

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilamgood, Contently, and Instagram. You can follow my reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

I’ve always believed words had the power to move people and nowhere was this more than this past week. Words have power. Spin them the right way, target the right audience and they have the power to sway the election for the of President of the United States.

Although I was rooting for the other guy and didn’t like the tactics used, I had to hand it to them. Their words had power and moved people.

After getting over my disappointment, I thought about what they’d done, tailoring each ad and story to each target audience. Which brings me to writing, Isn’t that what we want our stories to do?

But, let me be clear, I’m not recommending you emulate the campaign journalists and their spin, unless you’re writing bizarre fantasy. I recommend writing your story with words that will move with POWER, intensity, integrity, and authenticity.

Stories can move us to tears, or anger, make us gasp in horror, keep us up at night or make our bellies hurt from laughing out loud. It’s our job as writers to make sure we’ve done our homework, understand our audience, and tell the best story we can with imagery that places our readers in the story, with engaging dialogue, and characters that jump off the page.

As writers we have our target audiences, our genres. We share our books and stories on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, sell them on Amazon and iBooks and put ourselves out there for others to evaluate. So, make it count. Words have Power.

Leave me a comment.