You know what's strange/fun about writing?

[Forrest]

I am a musician, but I wish I could draw. I wish I could paint and draw all the marvelous things I see in my head.

So I was struggling with my trusty #2 pencil today trying to draw a really nice chair. And I imagined how a great artist would paint the chair, bathing it in a soft, afternoon sunlight. He would make every angle perfect, and he might even sketch in some ornate carvings on the old wood. It would probably take an artists many hours to make such a fantastic portrait of an old wooden chair sitting in a cabin in the forest.

Then I was thinking to myself how, with writing, I could simulate this feat in a matter seconds by writing,

"Deep within the forest, in the fading light of a warm summer afternnon, there stood a small cabin, nearly empty except for the antique wooden chair that sat bathing itself in the lingering touch of golden sun."

It just struck me what an interesting and powerful medium writing is. Nearly anyone can write a sentence that makes perfect sence, but only a WRITER can force your mind to immerse itself in the lush details that are coded onto a dusty page in the form of words.

It would take me days and days of labor to draw a beautiful woman, but with writing I could say,

"She was beautiful in a way that stole the breath and excited the heart, with her smooth brown curls and penetrating blue eyes."

I mean, that took me like three seconds, and it satisfied my mind's desire to see the woman.

Granted, the visual arts provide an entirely different experience, and I would easily trade my ability to walk for the ability to draw/paint masterfully. However, I can't help but be thankful that so long as my drawing talent fails me, I can satiate my imagination by transcribing my fantasies and impressions into words.

Fascinating and fun.:cool:

[milamber_reborn]

Details are my favourite part of writing. That's why I like Robert Jordan.

[Valada]

I may be typing rashly, and this may be too serious for how lightly the comment was no doubt written, but Forrest - don't so lightly speak of trading your ability to walk.

[enazwo]

Thoughtfully put Valada.

Perhaps Forrest that your perceived lack of drawing talent is fate's way of giving you a perspective with the textures of words in comparision with visuals. And the frustration that you're expressing here because of your perceived lack of art skills, will motivate you to make pictures with words.

[Forrest]

Originally posted by Valada
I may be typing rashly, and this may be too serious for how lightly the comment was no doubt written, but Forrest - don't so lightly speak of trading your ability to walk.

hrrmmm....I suppose I didn't put a lot of thought into that comment, did I?

I didn't mean to trivialize the gift of functioning legs.

I just REALLY REALLY REALLY wish I could draw well.:)

[LAJ]

You and me both. I can draw fairly well (being left handed ;) ) but I'd like to be able to draw what is exactly inside of my head. It comes with practice really, which I hope to do more of soon.

Do publishers allow you to draw you own pictures? I've heard that when publishing a first book, the publisher is over controlling, and not let you have any say about the cover or the blurb on the back cover.

[Brid14]

I wish I could draw. I practice and i can figure out how to make a face look like a face and not an egg, but I lack that extra thing which makes it look REAL.
You know? The shading and the angle and the detail which is enough but not too much.

But i write. Writing is almost just as good - it IS just as good, in a way. It forces the mind to process it and if you're reading about a movement, an expression on some beautiful face - it's really, really hard to get that into a drawing, but with words it just comes and you can picture it perfectly.
Being able to describe something well is just as much an art as drawing - but you can do it with having to know about angles.