𝔸𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕒𝕚𝕕, “𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕞 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕤.” 𝕀𝕟 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤, 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕦𝕒𝕝 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕥𝕪, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝕚𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕤 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕤𝕚𝕝𝕠𝕤. These contour lines occurred randomly on my face as I tried to take a picture with one of my favorite artist books, Andrew Wyeth: the Helga Pictures. It reminded me of drawing portraits in art school. How it's easier to see the whole as the sum of its parts. The Helga pictures are a cache of 240 works, including nudes, of a single model between 1970-1985, and it's breathtaking to see her age through his eyes. Wyeth is a master not only of detail but also loose gestural drawing. But when he puts down details, they're at the microscopic level. It made me think about the Aristotle quote above, not only in terms of people, how we sometimes look or judge a single part in ourselves or others without considering the whole, but also in terms of writing. A whole book is infinitely better than just the setting, the characters, the voice. As I dive into this new story, which is stretching me beyond my comfort zone as a writer, I'm struck once again by how much front end work goes into writing a book. I'm a plotter, and the process that works best for me is filling my head with everything I can about the individual parts that make up the whole story before I can begin to dig out the microscopic details. I separate all the knowledge I've pre-gathered and put those into a quick outline and start from there. I always need to have a few lines of narrative or dialogue come to me randomly when I'm not writing, as well. Only then am I ready to start stitching together, for better or worse, the sum of its parts. What process works for you? Are you a plotter or a pantser? #yaauthors #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorselfie #selfiewithbook #artislife #writingprocess #writingcommunity #instagood #bookdrafting #amwriting #booknerdigans #bibliophile #booknerd #bookishlove #bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookishlife #storytelling #authorlife #writingcraft #writerslife (at Everywhere, USA) https://www.instagram.com/p/CK1u2Vsgkkx/?igshid=x630sa72llbm
