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The Art of the Written Word

By Donovan Graham

By Donovan GrahamPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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The Art of the Written Word
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

There are two things I absolutely love about the idea of art. The first being it embodies the principle of speaking profoundly and in volume. Art can say what men cannot in regular speech. The second thing I love about art is that it takes on many forms. Art is not confined to the canvas or the stone block; music, literature, dance are just a few examples of the omnipresence of art. I personally choose the written word as my medium, using Microsoft Word as my canvas, my mind as the palette, and my hands as the brush. The process in of itself is an adventure. Specifically, fleshing out and breathing life into a parallel reality---all composed in a word document!

My daily writing journey begins like this: I wake up mid-morning, normally in the middle of a workday. On my coat rack hangs my sweater. However, it is not just any sweater—it is my designated writing sweater. It helps my groggy mind switch my brain to a creative mode, a sort of self-conditioning. I then pack my computer and make my way to my car—a light blue compact wagon. I place my computer bag in the passenger seat, turn on the car (along with my 1980s alternative mixtape), and head to my favorite local coffee shop. Once I arrive, I do my part for the establishment and order a cup of black coffee. (Sometimes I change it up and order a cappuccino if I’m feeling saucy.) I then head upstairs to my favorite spot—next to the electrical outlet and facing the front window of the shop—and get down to business on my latest writing project. I immerse myself in the world of my characters. While building the world around the characters, I empathize with them. I live their adventure—or misadventure in my mind. All the while I assemble, tinker, and disassemble each moving part of the action as needed to achieve my own personal perfection.

The question then becomes what drives me to create; why do I breathe life into my written worlds? Firstly, writing for me eases stress from day-to-day life, as well as those that come at random. School, family, friends, as well as my own mental health gives me much to keep up with. Specifically, my struggles with bipolar I disorder, PTSD, and autism. Writing provides me an open pasture to let loose varying emotions brought on by daily stressors, as well as stress that lingers from the past, or draws on my anxieties for the future. When I write, these emotions run free as my ideas manifest into the narrative. The paper is my safe space, free of judgment, free of pressure, free of afflictions. Of course, emotions are not the only thing I can channel through my writings—any idea that I want to bring to life I can stretch to its absolute limit. I am free to creatively express these ideas to any extent I see fit—free to sculpt these parallel and alternate realities that live inside of my mind.

And I will continue to write if I have a breath and a story to tell. I have a surplus of ideas racing about in my mind that need writing. Space-age biker gangs getting into futuristic street fights; a rich socialite turned serial killer in a whirlwind night of crime, murder, and debauchery; World War III where Manhattan Island is carpet-bombed by the new Axis powers; these are just a few of my many ideas of fiction I have thought of and drawn up in my free time. The feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction from bringing these ideas to fruition is also something I will continue to strive for. It not only gives me a break from reality but offers me the chance to weave the fabric of another one, allowing my creative mind to soar. And quite simply, I refuse to give up writing because I enjoy going through the creative process. In my own opinion, life is too short to not tell long stories.

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About the Creator

Donovan Graham

If you are reading this, this is my biography. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I like kayaking, running, firearms, and the company of family and close friends.

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