Writer's Workshop with Karen Hulene Bartell

My local library hosted what I thought was supposed to be a writer's workshop on self publishing, but was actually just a writer's workshop.  It was fun and a lot of the information could easily be applied to art--as long as you scratch out the word "writing" and insert "painting" or "drawing" in its place.  I don't want to infringe on Karen's intellectual property by posting her entire workshop, so instead I'll share 5 things that I learned...

"There's no such thing as an aspiring writer artist.  You are a writer an artist. Period."--revised quote from Mathew Reilly

#1 Have strong entries and endings--you want to grab your readers by the noses on the way in and kick their asses on the way out! (wasn't phrased exactly like that, but you get the gist)

#2 Show, don't tell.

#3 Be aware of all the conventions of writing (ie: punctuation)  art (ie: perspective, proportions, color theory, design principles/elements)  You want people to be pulled in by your content and not driven away by your errors.  So, keep editing, put it away and then edit again.

#4 Always carry a small notebook sketchbook  with you and write draw/paint at least 2 entries a day, 12 a week.  Write about Draw everything you see and try to write  draw complete scenes as opposed to small one line entries.

#5 If you're stuck, select a noun (a person, place or thing), and write everything you can remember about that noun. List all the facts, then zero in on one fact and turn that into a short story.  The act of writing can help you find inspiration and get unstuck.  I think the art equivalent would be to pick a noun or an adjective and create as many thumbnails of it as you can...remember the creepy boyfriend from Ugly Betty who filled an entire art gallery with paintings of her.  Change mediums, artistic styles, view points, how you incorporate the subject matter; when you're done, pick a thumbnail and turn it into a fully colored drawing.

Last thought...

"If a story is in you, it has to come out"--William Faulkner