Writers: The world’s most gifted artists

By McKenna Darby On Jan 12 2012, 4:50 am in artist, connection, experience, feelings, McKenna Darby, toolbox, write, writer

Of all the world’s artists, I think God (or The Universe, if you prefer) must love writers best. 

Think about it: He gave color to painters, form to sculptors, motion and sound to actors, smell to perfumers, and taste to chefs. But to writers he gave words, and with just the right ones we can give our readers every color, motion, sound, aroma, taste and touch the world has ever known – and the ability to experience all of them from the comfort of a cozy armchair.

This, in fact, is why people read novels. Not just to go on an adventure, which a good plot makes possible, but to live vicariously through the characters, experiencing all they experience along the way. Not just to dodge a bullet, but to know what it feels like as death whizzes by your ear and you realize that, yes, you are still miraculously, giddily, raucously alive. Not just to read of a couple’s first kiss but to understand why the taste of allspice on his lips makes her feel like she has come home and the funny little crook in her smile makes him vow to protect her with his life.

This is human experience and, as we read it, we are reminded – because we feel it – that we are ALIVE. We also are reminded that we are not alone. We each may see the world differently, but we all love, grieve, laugh, worry, hope, fear, plan, scheme, dream, long, lust and struggle the same.

Ironically, in our highly connected world, this human connection is increasingly difficult to find. We don’t meet; we teleconference. We don’t talk, we email and text. Our communities are no longer centered around neighborhoods, but Facebook and Twitter.

Yet the more we connect, the more isolated we become. Even movies, one of the most powerful art forms ever created, have become little more than theme-park rides full of sound and fury that signify nothing. Is it any wonder that small films as different as “Midnight in Paris” and “The King’s Speech” become runaway hits? Each is two hours of profound, precious, universal human experience, and we’re ravenous for it.

As writers, we are better equipped to satisfy this gnawing human hunger than any other artist. We have the entire toolkit at our disposal. But when the Universe gives you a gift this big, it expects a hefty return. If readers read to live vicariously, then telling them what happens will never be enough to satisfy their cravings, just as car chases and explosions will never be enough to make a movie a classic. The Universe yearns for writers to use all of the tools it has gifted us with. It expects us to help our readers smell, taste, and touch the experiences we imagine. If what readers really want is human experience and we don’t help them feel the pain and the elation, why should they invest their time and money in reading our books?

For most of us, writing great plots is relatively easy. Telling — “Joan was sad” — is easier still. But what does sad feel like, smell like, taste like? Showing in a way that captures the rich textures of the characters’ experience, now that’s tough, and no wonder. To create breathtaking reality on the page in ways that touch the soul, we must paint like Rembrandt, play like YoYo Ma, sculpt like Michelangelo, act like Meryl Streep, cook like Julia Child, weave fragrances like Coca Chanel, and direct like Frank Capra – all at once — and make it look easy.

Can you build a story with just a wrench and a screwdriver? Sure; just look at all the hollow Hollywood blockbusters, here today and forgotten five minutes after you leave the theater. Even Chinese food lasts longer. But to be true artists, writers have to use every hammer, saw, chisel, router and awl in the box. Sure, it’s difficult. If it were easy anyone could do it. But the Universe didn’t entrust the full toolbox to just anyone. It gave it to you. It made you a writer.

It’s an awesome challenge. But can you imagine how it feels to succeed? Of course you can, you’re a writer. Now write it down, and don’t call it done until others can feel it too — every exhilarating drop of it. Dare to use the whole toolbox. You’re the only one who can, and the world is hungry for what only you can share.

8 Responses to “Writers: The world’s most gifted artists”

1. Ella Quinn says:

   January 12, 2012 at 1:25 pm

   What a wonderful way to put it. Thank you.
2. Angelyn says:

   January 12, 2012 at 2:54 pm

   I feel all those things you mentioned when I write. I just wish I could channel them to the paper. Lovely post.
3. Vivian says:

   January 12, 2012 at 4:33 pm

   Wonderfully well said. I feel humbled and inspired.
4. Callie Hutton says:

   January 12, 2012 at 11:39 pm

   We do, in fact, have a responsibility to our readers to leave them a little bit better than we found them. To leave them richer, more experienced, happier, more pensive. What a gift for those of us who write.
5. Laurie says:

   January 13, 2012 at 9:37 pm

   Wow! So beautifully written that it inspires me to make my characters come alive on the page using all the senses. Thanks, McKenna, for a super post!

   Does anyone have any tips for making characters jump off the page this way? And I’d love to see examples from the works of authors who do this.
6. Tracy says:

   January 14, 2012 at 3:02 pm

   Fantastic post! So inspiring. Thanks!
7. McKenna Darby says:

   January 15, 2012 at 4:30 am

   Thanks Ella, Angelyn, Vivian, Callie, Laurie and Tracy! I’m glad you were inspired.

   It took me many years to recognize that making the feelings live on the page is the difference between a good story and a great book. I’m still struggling to master it (and to never take the easy way out and just tell), so this blog is as much a challenge to myself as to my fellow writers.

   Laurie, one work I read recently that did this brilliantly was Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” trilogy. No wonder everyone raves about it. Each one left me hungry for more because I cared so deeply about the characters and suffered with them through every trial.
8. Bonnie J. Doerr says:

   January 15, 2012 at 2:08 pm

   So incredibly well said that I can’t wait to read your novels, McKenna. Truthfully, it nearly frightened me away from the keyboard until I allowed the challenge and inspiration of your words to soak in. This is a post to return to time and again as I progress through a manuscript.