THE HOLY GRAIL OF WRITING by Victoria Cornwall

I was driving my car the other day, whilst keeping a lookout for deranged drivers and wild animals with a suicidal desire to become my next road kill victim. I am not being melodramatic here. After decades of driving on country roads, I have come to the conclusion that animals line the grass verges to wait for my car to come along. Anyway, during my journey the lyrical, haunting tune of Send in the Clowns came on the radio. A melancholy atmosphere descended as I absorbed the sad, beautiful lyrics sung by Judy Collins. I was about to start blubbering into my steering wheel, when I was saved by the DJs next choice, The Eurhythmics collaboration with Aretha Franklin, Sisters are doin' it for themselves. Suddenly the world seemed brighter and I felt empowered. I finished my journey with a big smile on my face and a slight bounce to my driving. Within a short space of time I had swung from normal, to deep sadness, to feeling extremely happy ... and it got me thinking. 

Music is the end result of someone's creativity, just as a painting, a poem, a book or a beautifully crafted statue or figurine. There is an endless list of how a person's creativity can manifest, but I suspect that all creative people strive to do the same thing ... to evoke a feeling, an emotion, a reaction from those that see it, feel it, use it or read it.  

Painter, illustrator and sculpture, Richard Artschwager, once said, "There isn't any art until some creature sees and consumes it. And has a reaction." Perhaps that is what drives us all. I know many writers will say that they would write even if no one ever saw what they had produced, however, I suspect the majority of writers have a desire to share their craft with like-minded people who will hopefully enjoy it.

A successful novel will evoke a reaction in a reader. Some novels will take a reader through the whole range of emotions. The transitions between these emotions and reactions may be sudden or deceptively subtle, gradual or a non-stop fast ride where the reader hangs on by their fingernails. Hopefully there will also be the odd moments of reflection or relaxation to make the next stage of the story all the more stimulating. A reaction a writer does not want to evoke is boredom or frustration with the plot or the characters within the story.

I believe that the holy grail of writing is to evoke the emotion that the writer intends to evoke, at the precise moment they planned it to happen, at just the right momentum a reader wants or needs. When a writer hits those markers, they have been successful in their quest. However, in my opinion, it is not the reader who has the greatest reaction in the end … it is the creator ... for they have achieved what they set out to do, and that is a euphoric, heady experience that cannot be matched.

By

VICTORIA CORNWALL

Author of The Thief's Daughter

Do you agree that evoking emotions/feelings/reactions in a reader is The Holy Grail of writing? 

Can you recall a particular book which evoked a strong reaction in you?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

LOVING A COLOURFUL LIFE... by Rae Cowie

Crimson, buttercup, emerald, slate, cocoa bean… I’ve always been drawn to colour, in what I wear, how I decorate and especially when writing. I love the richness and joy colour brings, both visually and through words on the page. I’ve been known, when travelling, to collect paint colour charts. An unusual souvenir but they’re great reference aids when my creative mojo goes walkabout. I flick through their pages savouring exotic names that roll off the tongue - prairie peach, climbing vine, cheetah spots, young banana - soon those ideas are coursing  again.

And so I look forward to what has become an annual treat when I meet my friend, K in one of our favourite places to visit - the seaside town of Broughty Ferry, near Dundee. As well as enjoying K’s company, a hearty lunch followed by ice cream and a stroll along the beach, one of the things I most look forward to is browsing the Eduardo Alessandro Studio, which showcases Scottish contemporary art. So what has all this to do with writing?

Artwork by Jack Morrocco

Well K is a keen amateur painter who knows her stuff, introducing me to the street café scenes of Jack Morrocco, the clean lines of fine artist and children’s illustrator, Dan Crisp along with the quirky designs of Gail Stirling Robertson. When browsing alone I tend to be quite simple in taste, drawn to exhibits brightest in colour, instinctively knowing what I like and what leaves me cold - but perhaps not understanding why. And it’s the ‘why’ K helps explain as we appreciate paintings together, providing a brief lesson in art.

First, the artist must select the palette to be used for colour scheme and harmony, choosing opposites on the colour wheel, which are pleasing to the eye. It’s also important to re-use colours to unify a painting, for example, when using a certain shade of blue in the sky to use it again in the foreground. On examining canvases carefully I found this was so – noticing the soft blush of nectarine in a snow scene or vivid mauve in the swell of the sea. And it struck me the same is true for writers when considering character development. Conflict – essential to fiction writing – works best when the protagonist and their opponent are opposite in nature. When characters are too alike then writing lacks, well – a bit of colour.

Artwork by Gail Stirling Robertson

My art lesson continues. The second decision a landscape artist must make is where to place the horizon, either above or below the mid point, avoiding dead centre, which most find too harsh. And so it is with fiction writing when selecting point of view – deciding whose story should be told, which character’s voice will grab the reader best, pulling them in. Of course in writing we have the luxury of being able to tell the story from a number of viewpoints, but they must all draw the reader towards the same final scene.

Finally, K explains the skills required when using different medium in art. My friend is a water colourist, one of the most difficult forms of painting, requiring a light touch and patience, as work must dry before the artist can continue. Unlike say the bold, layered strokes of an oil painter, who enjoys more freedom to experiment, adapting their designs. Again, this made me think of the plethora of skills required when writing– the imagery of poetry, restrictive length of a short story or novella, the need for pacing in a novel. Skills at least two members of our Novel Points of View blog team have shown in spades this week. Congratulations to Lesley Cookman on publication of ‘Murder Dancing’, the 16^th in the Libby Sarjeant crime series and to Gill Stewart, writing as Gillian Villiers, on publication of ‘As Time Goes By’, the 4^th novella in a collection set in the Scottish Highlands.

And so back to Broughty Ferry - and after a pleasant hour in the gallery with K, I understand more of what it must be like to stand in an artist's shoes. But then isn’t that one of the things that makes a great friend? - Someone to learn from, adding colour to life.