I remember trying to figure out the exact number of strategies for the book version of "Writing Tools." In many ways, the number 50 was arbitrary, and, for a while, we flirted with 52 -- a nice number associated with playing cards and the weeks of the year. The publisher at Little, Brown made the final decision, based on a sense that there was something special about 50.
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Poynter Online - Roy's Writing Tools - Tool #22
Two-Minute Tools
Roy Peter Clark talks about Writing Tool #22: Climb up and down the ladder of abstraction.
Produced by Meg Martin |
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So when I run into 50 now, I take notice.
Just a few weeks ago, for example, I strolled through the gift shop of the
Salvador Dalí Museum, which stands right across the street from The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. There on a book shelf I found a work by the great surrealist himself: "
50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship," a book originally published in 1948 and still available in an inexpensive Dover edition. A miraculous bargain.
Just as "Writing Tools" describes strategies of the writing craft, so "50 Secrets..." unveils Dali's insane/genius approach to the visual arts. What most impressed me -- and moved me -- was how the practical aspects of art (which brushes to use and why; the different shades of white) can explode into dangerous journeys of the imagination. These include Dalí's tips on how to harvest your dreams and how to see the world through a spider web.
One of my favorites is Secret No. 22, which describes how to draw a nude model by working with a grid:
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"50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship," by Salvador Dali
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Preferably you must choose a plump model [
You go, Sal!], the curves of whose flesh are as turgescent [
look it up!] as possible. The best poses for this are the recument ones. You need a provision of strings of black cotton which have been previously soaked in linseed oil to which venetian turpentine has been added, in a proportion of five to three. ... Once the model is lying down in the pose which you desire you begin cautiously to lay the strings on the model's body in the places where you wish a clearer indication of the forms. The curve which these strings adopt will naturally be the geodesic lines of the surface which you want made clear. You may then draw your nude...
Oh, and one more piece of advice from the master: When drawing from a nude model, you, the artist, should also be nude. In other words, you must feel what you are seeing.
There's writing advice hiding here, believe it or not:
Feel what you are seeing. We as writers should also seek to see our subjects in new or unfamiliar ways. We may not be able to cover our subjects with strings of black cotton, but we can view them from a unusual perspective, a surprising angle, a startling context that helps us see, opens them up, and leads to the perfection of our craft.
