Have you heard that old expression, “He could make a silk purse from a sow’s ear?”

If you haven’t, my apologies, it’s kind of a weird expression. But it does make a point, at least in regards to this article. And that point is…if you’re good at your craft, you can take the most inferior statement and make it seem new again.

When I was a kid I had a poster hanging on a wall in my room. It was one of many to be sure. But this particular poster was one of my favorites. It was a picture of the Nobel Prize winning physicist, Albert Einstein. His elderly head full of thick white hair, was in complete disarray. The caption under the picture went something like this…Hair, it’s not the style that counts, it’s what’s under it. From a writers perspective, the caption could read something like this…Writing, it’s not the words you use, it’s how you use them.

Yes, there is power in the pen. A quote out of the Bible, from the book of proverbs states, “The written word is more powerful than any physical weapon.” The more modern translation, and the one most of us are familiar with states, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

So what’s my point in all of this? My point is simple. It doesn’t matter if a person has been written about a thousand times before, you can still use words to make that tired old story seem new and refreshing.

I’ll use a real world example to make my point. Let’s take a look at some short stories written by published authors and short stories written by amateur writers. Yes, these are western short stories. Not a real popular genre, but that’s my point. A person can take any genre, western short story or situation, no matter how many times it’s been written about, and with the power of the dynamic pen, make it seem new again.

The stories written by the published author, Tom Sheehan, on the site you just went to or will go to, is a perfect example of what can be done with words. Tom Sheehan understands his craft. He has learned how to take an ordinary situation that has been written about a thousand times and write it out in a fresh new way. He not only writes well in the western genre, but also in poetry, and other genre as well. How does he do that? He understands words and he knows how to use them to his advantage.

This is something we all should strive for. If you write column’s, writing well will bring you more readers, and if your ultimate goal is to sell novels for profit, you have to learn how to write well. After all,
if the written word is indeed more powerful than any physical weapon, your very survival depends on it.

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Filed under: Writing

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