A Love of Words

I love words and writing; I always have. Words convey knowledge and foster imagination; they educate, shape perspectives, and grow community. When words come together well in written pieces, they spark insights, elicit emotions, inspire my imagination, open discussion topics, and even prompt new beliefs and behaviours.

Sometimes a novel leads me to lose myself in another time and place. Sometimes a very short piece—a poem, a blog, a quick quip, or a comic drawing—resonates unexpectedly deeply, makes me laugh, reassess an idea, and stays with me much longer than I would have imagined.

How do authors steer me and other readers towards these responses? Some examples might be useful.

An historical/mystery/adventure novel I recently finished is set in 1890s London and environs.

The author is American. She evoked the period and the locations in part by using somewhat antiquated grammar, dated UK vocabulary, and descriptions of clothing styles and landscapes that no longer exist. These are only small touches. Her style isn’t perfect, but neither is it overdone; it is just enough to anchor me enjoyably in that time and place.

Sometimes it is the use of memorable mental images and repeated phrases that generate impact. As a child, Enid Blyton’s children’s adventure stories set in Edwardian England enthralled me. Along with countless others, I imagined belonging to a secret society, having adventures, exploring caves with friends, solving mysteries, and enjoying ‘lashings of cake and ginger beer’ along the way. (Outwitting adults was also part of the appeal, though not one I recognised, let alone owned up to in those days…)

I also loved getting lost in adventures within wholly imaginary realms, especially the countries within CS Lewis’s Narnia and JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth kingdoms. These authors’ complex yet convincing fantasy worlds and histories thrilled me emotionally while stimulating intellectual and spiritual enquiry.

I finished The Last Battle around the time I finished primary school. I was sure the Narnia books were ‘about’ something, but I did not recognise what that ‘something’ was. Very few people I knew then agreed with me, but the idea persisted. Eventually I found a satisfying answer about what that ‘something’ was. Lewis’s space trilogy subsequently gave me a lot more to consider about that ‘something’ while still giving my imagination a good work out.

Much of what I learnt in primary school came via reading systems such as the SRA Reading Laboratory. Using the SRA was a favourite school activity. These short, often non-fiction, pieces offered wider perspectives about the world and the life experiences of others. They broadened my vocabulary and taught me to better comprehend, question, synthesise, imagine, while also learning to appreciate very different styles of writing.

In my late secondary school years we read, watched, and critiqued powerful examples of propaganda. We also had to write our own propaganda. One exercise involved taking an innocuous newspaper article and ‘spinning’ it, either positively or negatively—intentionally blurring fact and fiction through subjective selection of content and ‘loaded’ language—to carefully manipulate the readers’ assessments. The opinion-shaping power generated through a few carefully chosen and nuanced adjectives, strategic inclusion or exclusion of one or two facts, subtle and not so subtle shifts in tone, and appeals for identification with the author both exhilarated and horrified me.

The power in written words for good and evil—to intentionally inflict pain, provoke discord or diminish others and, conversely, to heal divisions and foster peace —was, and still is, deeply unsettling. It leads me to question ‘factual’ writing and journalistic ethics. I read newspaper articles and watch news reports (and YouTube videos!) with eyes and ears open for what is being said, what is not being said, and how authors or journalists are conveying their messages. When I am really being reflective, I also question who might benefit from the way something is being reported…

Thankfully, propaganda techniques are not the only effective way of influencing with words. There are many ways of communicating effectively. Some can be great fun to use—alliteration, simile, wit, onomatopoeia, etc. Other useful techniques focus on the logic and structure of the argument as much as individual words and phrases. (Propaganda can also use these techniques; fortunately, it does not have a monopoly on them!)

Editing—helping others to develop, progress and polish their efforts to tell their life stories, inform an audience, or argue and persuade about values, beliefs, and discoveries that are important to them—allows me to share my love of words and writing with others. I enjoy helping people with a commitment to improving the lives of others to present their ideas with greater clarity. Depending on the content and purpose of each piece, and the type of editing requested, editing is a deeply satisfying activity—intellectually, creatively, emotionally, and spiritually.