Saturday, June 27, 2009

The power of words

I was reading a book recently, set in the time of kings and castles and witches and the king’s fool (yes I do love these types of stories). In this story there was a bad king who basically wanted to destroy his kingdom so he could more or less rewrite history. But the king’s fool who was actually rather clever had a better idea. He told the king about the power of words. He told him it wasn’t necessary to kill anyone. He said all the King had to do to rewrite history was to actually write the story (or a play in this case) and tell it to the people so that the story is what they would remember. Because he said a well-written story is just as powerful, if not more so, then a sword.
I sort of adore this idea.
That words have so much power. That writing can change the world for better or for worse. And that memory is so affected by what we write down (and the images we preserve). I know that words have certainly changed me and will continue to have a profound effect on me and so many of those around me.
What an amazing craft writing is.

3 comments:

  1. By any chance was that book 'Wyrd Sisters' by Terry Pratchet?

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  2. Yep! I had never read anything by him and someone suggested it. I enjoyed it. I am always looking for new books so let me know if you have any recommendations :)

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  3. haha, thought I recognised it from somewhere :D I actually toured the play version of that 4 years ago. Such a fun show to do!

    I'll let you know about new books as well :)

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