INSPIRATION Focus on the negative
The last of K. M. Lockwood's Inspiration pieces for this year ends on a downer - deliberately.
Let's start with a gloomy bit of poetry:
November - Poem by Thomas Hood
No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November!
Misty Path by Alessio Lin on Unsplash
|
In the northern hemisphere, this time of year can be pretty bleak. Our response to the absence of many things we regard as 'positive' can be revealing. How do we cope without much sunshine, much warmth, much outdoor prettiness? SAD is definitely a thing and a fair few writers and artists will do much to avoid it. It's not surprising that many cultures have festivals of light around the darkest time of the year. Fairy lights, oil lamps, fireworks - all see off the shadows.
But what if we accept and even welcome this time of long nights and short days?
We can use the imagery and bareness of winter in our work. It works well to amplify an emotion - if not too clichéd. The pathetic fallacy does have its place in the scheme of things - where would ghost stories be without chills? A journey through the darker months has much more hazard and adventure than a summery jaunt. Such seasonal physicality is a wonderful source of sensory detail, but also of sparseness. Think of the beauties of Japanese art using negative space (ma). I don't have the scholarship to explain it fully - but I think how eagerly it was seized upon by European artists in the late 19th century. Such an antidote to Victorian clutter - and the same goes for prose.
Irises by Ogata Korin, died 1716 - Nezu Gallery, Public Domain, |
- Anger and frustration in Not Now Bernard written and illustrated by David McKee
- Sorrow and loss in The Sad Book written by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Quentin Blake
- Fear and anxiety in The Monster Bed written by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Susan Varley.
Feathers © Debi Gliori from Night Shift |
As creative people, writers and illustrators have to accept a good deal of uncertainty. We may need to go with intuitive responses rather than pure logic. Our best selves might show what John Keats famously called Negative Capability. With that encouraging thought in mind, I'd encourage you to hibernate a little. Snuggle down, keep warm and leave some space for mysteries and doubts.
Hazel Dormouse by Zoë Helene Kindermann - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, |
Some suggestions for your work:
- What are the effects on them internally?
- What happens as a consequence of this?
- Does it make them more engaging or credible?
- Don't worry too much about likeability!
Allow your most beautiful imagery to stand out among plainness.
Header Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
**********************************************************************************
Once downstairs, she runs a tiny writer-friendly B&B or wanders off looking for sea-glass on the Sussex coast.
Website:www.kmlockwood.com
Twitter: @lockwoodwriter
Once downstairs, she runs a tiny writer-friendly B&B or wanders off looking for sea-glass on the Sussex coast.
Website:www.kmlockwood.com
Twitter: @lockwoodwriter
No comments:
We love comments and really appreciate the time it takes to leave one.
Interesting and pithy reactions to a post are brilliant but we also LOVE it when people just say they've read and enjoyed.
We've made it easy to comment by losing the 'are you human?' test, which means we get a lot of spam. Fortunately, Blogger recognises these, so most, if not all, anonymous comments are deleted without reading.