Writing As Art and Craft
Writing is an art because successful writers write work that's new, fresh, and exciting! An artist is a creator - at times provocative, and always developing new ways of expression. It's important that we use the creative side of our brain to express ourselves in writing in ways that are new and different - to generate the most attention possible. So in this sense the writer is an artist.Art: The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty.
Craft: Skill or ability in something, especially in handiwork. To make by hand, following established practices.
Writing is a craft because successful writers follow generally established practices. We must spell words correctly. We must use appropriate pronunciation. We must write from left to right (unless we're in Japan, of course - and then we write from right to left!). I think you probably get the idea - the writer as a craftsperson must follow some general guidelines - meeting some general expectations of the readership - to have written work accepted.
That's why writing is both an art and a craft. The successful writer balances his or her artistic, creative nature with the repetitive skill of a craftsperson to accomplish something that is both new, fresh, and exciting... and follows general guidelines for logical expression, coordination, and detail.
As we work on balancing the artistic and the creative, we must also think about how our work will be implemented. The medium where our writing will end up has a tremendous influence on how we should artistically and creatively craft that work.
Print media
The print media tend to be very audience specific. The audience tends to be interested in facts, figures, and details. Recent trends: The use of quotes has become much more important to readers. Also, stories tend to focus much more on individual people and their experiences. If there's a chance for you to appropriately "personalize" your work in this way, do so. [Example: Notice how the typical newspaper's sports section has changed in the past ten years or so. Sports stories used to be just stories about ball games. Today, more often than not, the stories focus on particular 'star' players. This is an editorial shift that came about because audiences tend to be increasingly interested in the personalization of issues.] Overall, stories that appear in the print media are written for details and easy readability.
Broadcast media
Traditionally, the broadcast media (TV and radio) have tended to be very audience specific. In other words, their content has focused on the needs and concerns of particular groups of people in the audience. The focus is on the big picture, explaining concepts in general terms. The copy tends to be written in a highly conversational style, as represented by the oft-repeated adage: "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." TV is picture-driven. Radio is personality-driven (people's voices). Write in a conversational style and from the perspective of having your copy be picture-driven or personality-driven.
Online media
When writing for online media (Internet/ e-mail), give as much attention to structure and technological organization as you do to written copy. Big picture ideas are placed up front, with details linked or buried a level below (with easy accessibility). Written copy must merge the attention to detail of traditional print with the conversational style of broadcast, because people reading online have very short attention span and perceive online content as needing to be more "active" than traditional print content. Be aware that online media content should be only about half the length of "on paper" content because people don't have the desire to read huge volumes of material on the screen. Remember accessibility issues - be sensitive to the needs of different users with different levels of ability.
When a writer sits down to work, he or she must ask:
In summary, we want to keep written copy as short, simple and direct as we can.
We want to write in an artistic way, but not in a way that's going to be seen as weird.
We want to write as a craftsperson, but not in a way that's going to be repetitive and boring.
If you don't need to write something - don't write it.
If you can write something in a more easy to understand way, do it.
If what you write may be misunderstood, re-do it.
If what you write is technically incorrect, re-do it.
Don't write anything you aren't sure of.
Proofread everything before you send it.
Proofread everything before you send it.
Proofread everything before you send it.
March 10, 2003