There is power in words. I bet you have heard that cliche before. And if you haven’t, I’m confident you agree with the statement. I believe words are one of, if not the most powerful things in our disposal. I am in constant awe of the power of words.
It all started when I was a little kid. I was quite shy and didn’t talk often to other kids or even family. In fact, growing up I struggled learning how to talk and was labeled as having a speech impairment. Apparently it was because my parents spoke both English and their native tongue, Tagalog, which was difficult for me to grasp speech as a toddler. Fortunately, I am able to speak just fine now even though it took me a little longer than others and a few speech classes. Despite struggling with speaking, something that caught my attention was stories. I wasn’t the best at drawing or coloring, but I enjoyed making my own comics and stories. I would just pull out a blank piece of paper and start drawing and making my own stories, which were often inspired from fictional characters or superheroes like Spiderman. I would stuff all my comics in a drawer. I have tried looking for them, but they seem to have all been discarded.
I didn’t really do much in my early adolescent to middle adolescent years that led me to realize I loved writing. However, looking back to the past, there were moments that I wish had sparked the writer in me to emerge earlier. In elementary school, I was often proud of my stories. There was a writing competition that our teacher had our entire class participate in. My story was a mystery and I had stolen ideas from detective shows like Law and Order. I had fun writing it and upon hearing that the winner wasn’t me, I was quite disappointed. Similarly, in middle school, our English teacher assigned us to write a story. We had just learned about the hero’s journey and we were to write our own story using the same template. It was meant to be a few pages long and only take a couple of weeks to write, but mine ended up being twelve pages. Despite the tremendous effort put into this project and the story itself which was about being an author, I still was unable to realize how amazing writing and storytelling is.
In my junior year of high school I found one of my first passions, theatre. Acting became my way of releasing my pent up emotions and bringing my crazy ideas into reality. It was fun, but also frustrating. The first production that I was a lead in, The Taming of the Shrew, the language and diction seemed insanely obscure since it was Shakespeare. Analyzing the script made me realize how powerful language and speech was. It became clear to me that words can control one’s emotions, the atmosphere, a story, and basically anything. Then came the pandemic. The world was shut down and acting with others on stage wasn’t plausible. I was stuck at home just like everyone else. Without a way to express my creativity or vent my emotions, I started to write. And I fell in love.
Words have limitless power. Entire story’s can be flipped with the change of a few words. You can learn about someone’s life by listening to the way they speak. A single word can have a single definition, but the weight of the word can change based on the atmosphere. The beauty behind words is what fuels me to write. I can’t wait for what stories that I will write, read, and be a part of.
Teach Me How To Write 