Writing and Self- Expression: Going Beyond the Paper By Ruth Chee Qi
Writing is a form of art. In a sense that it is not just paper printed with written words. It is a way for writers to express and convey their deepest feelings through how they write their stories. You may commonly hear skilful writers mentioning this phrase, ‘Show, don’t tell’. This refers to being able to describe emotion, the setting, scenes and instances in the story by using adjectives or phrases. In this way, the story is brought to life, involving and encouraging the readers to paint vivid images of how the story is depicted to them in their minds and making their creative juices flow. That is the main aim of writing, to make readers fully experience this story you are telling, in various ways. It is not just to make them blindly read words off the pages of the book. In writing, we use words that we do not necessarily use when communicating with others. However, writing involves the depiction of emotions, thinking, perspectives, characters and places. There is an important need for these words. Sure, everyone knows the basic words used to describe emotions, such as anger, sadness, happiness, et cetera. However, it does not stop there. There are many synonyms and phrases to take describing emotions to another whole level. Take real life as an example. No one would openly tell you, that they are angry or upset. I may be no psychologist, but you can still observe their behaviour, and interpret it. For example, someone who is down in the dumps will avoid having eye contact with others. Someone who is furious 50