Barbara Neville's Blog - Posts Tagged "creativity"
Painting a Landscape
I started out as a painter. Creating life on canvas. I think of my writing software’s page (Scrivener) as a blank canvas.
First, I color the canvas.
The color being the basic genre of my novel.
Then, I draw the black outline of the figures that populate my book.
And the last step is taking the black and background color outline & coloring it in.
Even when I paint, I don’t finish one area at a time.
Because each area is dependent on the other, they all have to match, to work together, If I darken one spot, I may have to lighten another to create contrast.
Contrast is the meat and potatoes of a book.
Without contrast we have a snooze fest. You’ve picked up snooze fest books, we all have. For me, as I’ve aged, I’ve found myself with less and less patience for these books.
Now, many decades into reading, I’m a ‘grab me on the first page or die’ person. I don’t like to wait for the story to start. And, more important to me, much more important, are the characters. I have to relate to them. They must be real, funny, three dimensional and interesting. I love bright colors.
First, I color the canvas.
The color being the basic genre of my novel.
Then, I draw the black outline of the figures that populate my book.
And the last step is taking the black and background color outline & coloring it in.
Even when I paint, I don’t finish one area at a time.
Because each area is dependent on the other, they all have to match, to work together, If I darken one spot, I may have to lighten another to create contrast.
Contrast is the meat and potatoes of a book.
Without contrast we have a snooze fest. You’ve picked up snooze fest books, we all have. For me, as I’ve aged, I’ve found myself with less and less patience for these books.
Now, many decades into reading, I’m a ‘grab me on the first page or die’ person. I don’t like to wait for the story to start. And, more important to me, much more important, are the characters. I have to relate to them. They must be real, funny, three dimensional and interesting. I love bright colors.
