He Who Must Not Be Named. Excommunication. Cancer. Rosebud. Serenity. Fellowship. Puppy. Fuck.
Words are powerful. Words have meaning behind them, connotations which can make or break the story. And finding the right words, for me, isn’t exactly the easiest. I’m an English guy, I do the writing thing, but I have a hard time finding the right word for me to convey the message I wish to present. Part of that is inadequacies on my own part. A lot of it, however, has to do with the connotations of the words I wish to use, and the effect it has on people when they read them.
The words in the first paragraph there are some of the things at the top of my head I know which carry some sort of weight to them. A lot of those words generally have a negative connotation to it. Cancer and Excommunication are horrible, scary things. Though, each one for a different population. If I said Excommunication back in the Dark Ages, people would freak the hell out. Same if I said Cancer right now in this day and age.
The trickiest aspect is that words aren’t equal. We decided that some words convey a singular meaning, and that meaning is either powerfully good or evil. We hold some words to a higher standard than others because of the personal or historical relationships we have with the word. If you are a big fan of Harry Potter, you know that the first word above is powerful in its own right. And we see, as the series progresses, that “Voldemort” becomes a very powerful tool. It conveys bravery in the midst of fear. It becomes a homing signal to the Dark Lord.
Like, I know I swear. And thank you, mysterious commenter (yes, I actually read those, surprise, surprise), I probably shouldn’t swear. But, I don’t have the same relationship to those words that you may do. Societally we have agreed that certain words are taboo and that in them being taboo they hold a certain power. I don’t see them that way. They are just words.
If we can give words power, and we can take them away.
I think that’s the angle that I’m trying to come at this issue here. Words have power, and the more you “revere” the word the more power it has. It’s like taking the Lord’s name in vain. To some people, it isn’t a big deal. For others, it is a major no-no. It is all based on what the relationship to the word that you have.
Now, as I said before, I’m a word guy. I do the word thing. I string together words into thoughts and concepts that are sometimes halfway decent enough to show the world. But damn, finding the right words to convey the meaning I want is freakin’ hard. If I name my protagonist Hermione and my villain Jesus, I’ll be looking out my window to see the angry mob with their torches and their pitchforks. You already know certain names, and already have certain connotations to those names based on the relationship you have with them.
So finding a name that isn’t steeped in history is practically impossible. Even if I write a new word or turn a new phrase, in order to get my point across, I often find that it is already used in some book somewhere or in some language. That’s a dilemma and a half right there. Almost makes me want to sit back and not do the words thing.
However, I find that not using the words would break me. I am made to do so much. My passion has been steeping myself among words and figuring out how I can use them to convey the mess that is inside my brain. And, if I were to stop I would probably explode.
And that would fucking suck. A lot.
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