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Writing is word and image working together. Writing is individual words and words in relationship to words. Each word matters, counts, belongs. Image heightens the meaning and enhances the effect of words. When word joins image, and image joins word, writing has more dimension and depth. I am using the word image here in two ways--one, to mean images that words create, and, two, to mean images that are visually-constructed. Creating image with words and constructing visual images can benefit writers. First, images created with words appeal to the senses and suggest detail, symbols and pictures. Images depicted in words give us more than concepts and feelings. They allow for the sensate and provide for the sensual. Working together, word and image evoke and articulate experience. Second, word and visual image can also work together--by allowing a visual object to work with the words on the page. Writers can benefit from understanding and working with core images. Creating and exploring images can help us to understand the symbols, experiences, feelings and issues that are beyond words in our work. Also, visual images can be like talismans--serving as guides or helpers as we write. They can allow us to seek and explore personal connections. They can also reassure and encourage us to write more deeply. |
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