SEEDLINGS by Aaron Paul Lazar

January 2009

World Paintings

by Aaron Paul Lazar
www.legardemysteries.com

Word paintings are like photographs. The creative wells from which they spring are similar in both writers and photographers.

For example, it takes a special talent to frame a great shot in nature. It’s this same appreciation for the “visual feast” that gives writers the extra perceptive eye they need to describe a scene that breathes life into a story. Of course, all of the senses are employed when constructing a literary scene. Sounds, aromas, and tactile sensations all contribute to setting the scene that creates a unique sense of place.

Every image that was ever impressed on my brain ends up in a story. Whether it’s the light dancing through stained-glass windows in a Parisian chapel, curly green-gray lichen covering a boulder at the edge of a pond in Maine, or hoarfrost dangling from a cherry tree branch in January, these images are tucked away in the recesses of my mind. In time, they bubble back, persistently itching, until they are poured onto the page.

If you long to write, if it eats away at you until you are spent after hours of writing, if you ache to join your characters in a daily romp in your parallel universe, this probably sounds familiar. These abundant, precious aspects of life are the sweet fodder for your next story. Soak it all up. And carefully weave them into your next piece.