Language vs. Words

Still on chapter 2

Writing Tip: As in most things in our lives, our writing must be balanced. The difference between journalistic writing and purple prose needs to be understood. Neither is suitable for storytelling. One is too stark, the other is too extravagant.
Words lined up to convey meaning is where we start, but the simple sentence is just the jumping off point. When creating literature, we stretch and create language expressive of mood and emotion. Language can compel change. Language can assuage guilt. Language can motivate or release an individual from striving, giving peace.
Language lifts the story rather than just relays the facts. Many people will tell you that the mastery of language is the accomplishment that infuses the narrative with voice.

Language that reveals life, truth, and beauty moves an ordinary piece of writing to classic stature.
Literature that sheds light on life exposes the relationship between the comparatively small package of one man's experience to the vast "big picture" of the universe.
Literature that simplifies a universal truth expands the understanding of the reader.
Literature that clarifies beauty amplifies what can be seen to what can be felt.

Words can convey a set of facts, but language interprets facts and raises the reader's awareness. Language speaks to the soul as well as the intellect.

And in the end, language that brings the reader to the point of sharing in the common experience of mankind (themes like love, hate, loss, faith, innocence and the loss of innocence) has a unique role in reminding God's creation that there is something beyond the here and now.

The story is important. The theme is important. The expression of your Christian worldview is important. Expressed in mere words, your rhetoric falls flat. Painted with the brush of masterful language, your message has wings.

"Press on."
Philippians chapter three