On Writing (And Art)

Every time I reach that point of writing (too often) where I am stuck, I remind myself of that ever present advice - 'just get the first draft down.  It doesn't have to be good. Edit later.'

Just block it in I hear myself saying, and then it hit me this morning. 'Block it in', that is what I do with my art. It was a real revelation.

- Rough outline.

- Block in.

- Details later.

Now I am not sure why I never compared the two before, but as an artist and a wannabe writer it made perfect sense.

In my art classes, I am often consoling students about the early stages of their paintings. "It's just the block in stage, don't stress. All those luscious details will come later. Be patient."

Outline.

So let's compare.

Outline - in painting - Sketch in with paint the basics of your image - a guideline.

Outline - in writing - Plan out your story and break it down into a basic outline.

Blocked in

Block in - painting - Cover the canvas in paint, block in your basic colours until no canvas is showing.

Block in - writing - Write the first draft, roughly, but enough to say it is done. The story is written.

Layers and final details.

Details - painting - Build up your layers, start bringing in all those interesting details. Give your painting life.

Details - writing - Build up your story, edit, bring in those interesting details and give your story and characters life.

Details for both is not just a one off thing, it is about a process of building up, layers, edits, corrections and so it goes.

I have never had any problem building my paintings up using this process, so why shouldn't the same process work with writing.

It shouldn't and with this revelation hopefully I will get over this writers block thing and march ahead, putting on my layers of paint until I can have fun with all those yummy details.