Collage style story compromises

The concepts in my essay No Art in Writing were implemented in a new story for a competition. This essay charts the evolution of those ideas against the competition constraints, the practicalities, and notes the significant creative decisions. It explores the creator’s dissatisfaction, reveals a startling outcome, and postulates the development for the piece and the concepts.

Objective

What better way to put the concepts from my essay No Art in Writing^[1] – blending narrative text with associative images – than by incorporating them into a story for a competition? There would be the benefit of an objective critic and the impetus for me of a deadline all of six weeks ahead.

No art in writing

From books on modern art comes the realisation that artists have pushed the boundaries of visual art into new, challenging yet accepted formats. In contrast, writing has been stagnant for centuries with the few innovations sidelined.

It is an enfeebling mistake for me to buy a book on modern art. This time the book was A Brush with the Real – Figurative Painting Today, published this year. In these featured works the images have recognisable components that for the most part are in some understood representational form.