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Writing Life: The Harmful Effect of Words

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

© 2008, 2013  by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

[caption id="attachment_119" align="aligncenter" width="300"]another story on paper... Harmful words waiting to be written?[/caption]

"The power of language is highly variable, even unpredictable "

In the course of your writing career, have you ever used the wrong word by mistake, a sharp criticism —a foul invective,  the 'f'-word, poorly expressed, unnecessarily  uncivilized language,  and perhaps too late concluded a far better, less damaging choice of words could have been made? Welcome to the harmful effect of words.

As writers, our use of words is fraught with traps and treasures. Words from the heart, off the tip of the tongue, or withdrawn from deep in the mind can do many things, both positive and negative, at times unexpectedly.

From any perspective, words used effectively can delight, make the human spirit soar to ultimate happiness, joyand enlightenment, or reduce an already barren, downtrodden human being to extreme depths of despair and helplessness and ultimately, destruction. Words may also initiate,cultivate  and exacerbate the darkest, intractable hate.

 Harmful effect of words: the unpredictable

The instantaneous power of language is highly variable, even unpredictable.  Words by themselves may be completely innocent, innocuous, or in the other extreme, wickedly pointed, savagely powerful and dangerous.  Unknown to us, the derivative effects of words may be even more so.  Caution is required. Why? Interpretation, although normally  'routine', can result in the unexpected.

The listener, the reader, the condition of the  recipient mind —may be unknown, undefined,  and unpredictable;  in that respect, words are virtually unlimited in interpretation.  We do not know what thought, feelings or actions words taken out of context may precipitate.   Eloquent, specific and careful, even gentle use of words —both written and spoken is clearly a worthy goal if the potentially harmful effect of words is to be avoided.

Writers may benefit greatly from thoughtful word usage, or equally, find themselves subject to severe criticism for using words that inadvertently result in pain. Even using gentle, ordinary words without malicious intent may, in interpretation, appear to describe traits, savage the character of individuals, alienate, or colour an individual group with an indelible stain.  Inadvertent or careless reference to  ageism, gender,  race, or a miscellaneous classes of people in an  indiscriminate manner can be damaging,  hurtful —and unnecessarily so.

Used with offensive context,  indeterminate interpretation of simple truth as criticism, the wrong words can wreak havoc unintentionally, invoking stress,  negativity, and at times, unwanted backlash, warranted or not. The wrong words can dethrone kings and destroy careers. At times it may be difficult to avoid foul language and four-letter words, achieve a reasonable balance in wordsmithing without succumbing to the stupidity of excessive "political correctness gone mad,  especially where topics and issues invoke outrage, bloodlust and passion. As writers, thinking thrice before writing once can certainly —at least at times, be extremely helpful in avoiding the potentially explosive and harmful effect of words.

We try, but may not always succeed. Should we feel bad about it if we fail upon occasion?  No. Yes. Maybe.  Perhaps all we can ask of ourselves as we relay a blistering message important to our hearts and the well-being of humanity  is to be aware, and ultimately do our best in applying pen to paper.  Let's have coffee and think about it.

Is that Incoming I hear?

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Posted in Business, Ethics, Life, Publishing, Reflections, The Human Mind, Writing Life | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

2013: Wrap it Up

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

© by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

Happy New Year!

imagesParty, people!  It's already December 31st and  2013 has been consumed, used up, down the pipe, glug-glug,   it's  gone!  New Year's Eve!    A perfect day? Yes!   Sun was out.   Here in NW Ontario it's been incredibly Canadian today, brutally  cold and bright for the last day of 2013.   At -38C,  the snow  squeaks when you're brave enough to go out and  walk on it, Apparently it is too cold for Florida-types,  but in reality,  it was a perfect, normal, winter day. Perfect for partying New Year's Eve, and the party's ON!

Speaking of perfection, in 2013, completed goals,  fulfilled dreams, even small successes helped and it's a perfect day to stay in and  wrap it up.

First of all, with something over  381,000  hits on this website in just over 11 months (since the 'hit counter'  was installed on this site, that is  ) —which is amazing — I want to thank each and every one of my loyal readers for stopping in here at Incoming Bytes.com. 

I also wish to thank my friends  around the world near and far;  those with creative, persistent ideas, wonderful solid people  who continue to inspire and support my dreams. Movers and shakers, individuals with dreams of their own,

For example, Robin Tidwell at Rocking Horse Publishing suggested we put my previously-published eBook    Morgidoo's Christmas Carol  (a unique Christmas classic for all ages ) into print.  Not just an idea!  It's done and out there!   Fantastic.   

Rocking Horse Publishing designed a new cover for the  2nd edition.   Robin did a  wonderful job on the project.  Morgidoo's Christmas Carol 2nd edition  is now out  in the USA,  Canada, UK, India, Australia, France,  Germany, Spain,  and everywhere else Amazon reaches. In fine bookstores everywhere.  How can that NOT be an inspiration and good luck for an author?

Now it may sound strange that I  specifically  mentioned Robin Tidwell, but she was actually the first person ever to read 'Liv Manlin' , my first novel that was collecting dust,   and encouraged me to submit it for publication.  It ended up being named "The Fires of Waterland" (historical fiction) (Redmundpro)  that was published and launched in January of this same lucky year. 2013, The Year of the Writer.  How do you beat that?

Then there's the  luck of the Irish,  —After all, everybody has luck, don't they? er....No

Did you publish a best-seller, too, win the Megabucks lottery or perhaps a free ticket for the Super 7?  How about the gazillion-buck SuperBall?  Did you even come close? Win a free donut?  Find a quarter on the coffee-shop parking lot?  Write a few short stories?  As an aside, did you ever persuade the spouse to read your first poem?  My first poem was awful. It's still awful.   

Nooooo...you say?   Okay, those were trick questions anyway.  Did you close your eyes, scribble more poetry, and just buy another ticket ? Did you keep on writing no matter what your critics said?  Did you listen to your instincts? There you go, that's called persistence, and optimism. Hope.   It is lucky to be persistent.   Join the group.  You're in great company. We all win when we keep trying. Smile.   Lottery non-winners, authors-to- be published or not,  scribblers and lucky anonymous, terrible poets, ordinary people.   The eternally hopeful. God Bless us all.

That's the point. We're optimistic, looking forward to 2014 and the NEW opportunities offered. Learn lessons in life. Take notes. Who knows, we may even publish again, put out a new edition,  and really get that best-seller going —and win the lottery too, (which might be easier) in 2014...er...we hope.

Meantime, good health, no accidents---how can good luck like that be beaten?

We may have to look this way and that, searching under rocks, and think positively to identify the genuinely wonderful things that did happen looking back at 2013,  because  sometimes they're tiny. Miniscule tiny miracles.  A page at a time.  We always have greater expectations, don't we?  I  have to admit that  2013 was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination,  and let's be realistic. Publishing a book or, winning the lottery doesn't guarantee life will be better. . Oh yeah?  but it wouldn't be nice to run a test on that theory ?

Let's Wrap it Up

No matter; the year 2013 is toast anyway 365 days gone, so let's wrap it up.  Best of 2014 to EVERYONE. Have a Happy and Safe New Year,

p.s.  And please don't drink and drive, plan to come home to your loved ones in one piece..

Happy 2014 !!

 

Is that Incoming I hear?

photo credit courtesy of www.gahzebo.com

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Posted in Life, Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments