Where DO The Words Come From?

Where DO the Words Come From?           

By John W. Vander Velden

 

A few of us met last night for coffee at the end of our writer’s meeting. We do so most months. To the outside eye it might seem, we are just three people from different backgrounds, talking about movies, books and other stuff, but we understand the common thread. We are writers...

The fact that each of us has been published is not the basis for the definition...writer. In my view anyone that takes the time to stitch words together to create something out of language deserves the title of writer. Simply...we do and so we are.

The conversation rambled about as it always does, but a question arose...where DO the words come from?

Those that do not engage in the pursuit, might not see the value of the question. Surely the author brings his knowledge and selects his choice words in the way he pleases. But the question is deeper than word choice...it is about the form those words take and how they generate the image a reader builds in his or her mind.

I know I have had times, many times, when I complete a scene and looking back wonder where on earth that scene was born. Surely I am unable to create something of that magnitude, on my own. Where did the sentences, the paragraphs, or the chapter that now fills the page that lies before me come from. I tell myself I do not have that kind of talent.

I believe that the best that I have written...and likely the best I will ever write, comes from places of which I have no control. Period!

Deep inside me there is a seed planted before my birth. Whether you agree with me on this point of not is your choice, but does not change the truth I feel. For I believe...strongly...that GOD has carefully placed that tiny spark in my soul. That he expected me to cultivate that seed and help it grow. That time and time again I would tap into that seedling and find something unexpected...something with power...something I should share.

That seed remains there. Year after year, it continues to feed new growth. It continues to provide many things, and among them the words these clumsy fingers tap out onto the page. So on days like this one...days when I read a line I have written that takes me by total surprise...I know where the words come from.  They sprout out of...life, its joys and pains. They grow out of...self-examination, carefully looking at my achievements and failures. But most of all they come from a small seed planted deep within me by GOD.  That is where the words DO come from...

(459 Words) 2-8-2019