flashquake Editor's Corner

MUSINGS ABOUT ART AND CRAFT
by Roger D. Paris

Craft and art are sometimes mistaken as synonyms. In reality they are not. Craft is a set of conventions and processes which, when followed, produces competent work in a medium. Art is something more. Art brings a spirit of inquiry to craft, stretching the processes and questioning the conventions in ways that move the medium to new ground. I learned this while earning a Masters degree in photography but it also has application in the writer's craft.

Before the rules of craft can be broken, the craftsperson must have a thorough understanding of those rules. A writer must be able to identify the parts of speech and understand the function and purpose of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. She/he must be able to assemble these elements into sentences, paragraphs and complete stories that communicate with the reader. Additionally, the writer should understand point-of-view, narrative voice, the elements of a story, plot, dialogue and setting, as well as a whole list of literary devices, including but not limited to satire, irony and analogy.

As the photographer must seek out extraordinary examples of photography to identify the current boundaries of the medium, the writer must read to recognize the traditions of the writing craft. It is important to study the various conventions that define genres and types of writing and to perceive how master writers assemble the various elements to achieve publishable work. This is the pocket version of big lessons that may take a lifetime to learn through practice.

Virtually every subject that a photographer points a camera at has been photographed before. Similarly, it is often said that there are no new stories. Some sources say that there are as few as three plot lines man against man, man against nature and man against himself. But, there is an infinite number of ways to combine the elements of story to produce something new and fresh every time.

When I was in the photography program we had two major taboos. We were instructed that we could never turn in portraits of pets or photographs of sunsets. Pet portraits and sunsets are visual cliches. Every Sunday snap shooter has photographed the family pet and taken pictures of a pretty sunset. Cliches are nothing more than overused subjects. After three years in on-line writing workshops and two years as an editor at flashquake, I would say that stories about abuse and poems about either new or unrequited love are the writing equivalent of sunsets and pet portraits.

This is not to say that pet portraits and sunsets do not have their place. Both make popular calendars, appealing advertisements and handsome additions to the family picture album. Pets as subordinate subjects can be a welcome feature of a picture about something else, and the unique light of a sunset may enhance a photograph when the central subject is not the sunset.

Similarly, stories of abuse can be important contributions to personal journals and publications aimed at abuse survivors. And, they can provide an element of subplot that enhances a story or aids in the development of a character within a story. Statistically, the majority of the population has suffered physical, sexual or verbal abuse at some point within a lifetime. The reader will bring that experience to the story when the subject is subordinated to a larger theme. Love poems enhance diaries and love letters (both aimed at a limited audience), or can add dimension to a plot or explain a character behavior when used as a kind of shorthand within a piece with a larger theme.

I can practice craft in both photography and writing working with taboo subjects. I've taken pictures of the family pets and shot sunsets to mark a particular time that I want to hold in my memory. But I've never included a photo of a pet or sunset in a gallery show. I've written love poems and contemplated on the written page the impact of the abuses I've suffered in my life. But I've never submitted any of this to a literary magazine. I like to think that the pets, the sunsets, the love I've won and lost and the abuses I've suffered are important to who I am. I even like to think these things inform my art. And, I decided a long time ago that I would rather be an artist than a craftsman.

Copyright 2003 by Roger Paris

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