Sculpting out a story

I recently heard a popular author say something about how a writer works at their story, chipping away at it until the essence of the story begins to appear. It sounded so much to me like sculpting that I had to go to the Internet to check and see if I was right.

Sculpture Techniques. A sculptor can achieve his desired results by either subtractive techniques (i.e. chipping or carving material away, as with stone or wood) or additive techniques (i.e. adding material, as with clay or wax). -- Saatchi Art

Yes, indeed. Writing is very much like sculpting.

It was such a good comparison, I decided to blog about it. In fact, as I dug in to research the term SCULPTURE I found that the very art form has undergone a lot of changes in the last century. New tools, new techniques - all the facets of sculpture and sculpting has become a much broader subject.

Just like WRITING and books.

Has anything in the world of art, either visual or otherwise, had more changes than writing? We went from pen/pencil and paper to digital. That alone is a mighty switch. Years gone by, subject matter of books has been opened as well. No longer is the subject of intimate relationship sent to someone's home in a brown paper wrapping. (See the Fifty Shades series of books standing face-out on shelves).

And sculptures can be designed in many mediums. There are stone, wood, and metals just for starters.

Books too, have their formats. We no longer are held at paper. Now there are digital files, and audiobooks, and even now, some writers are playing with video as a format to provide story to consumers.

Even when I sit down to work on my latest story, watching the elements unfold as I develop the characters, setting, and use dialogue to my advantage, I can see how it is like a magnificient altarpiece dug out of lindenwood. I hope you too will see my art in what I do.

______________________________

Get Kim Smith's latest offering, Disk of Death at Amazon.