Nov 18 2008
Landscape Writing
I approved a really cool comment today, and I’m glad I did as this comment got me to thinking about my own writing abilities. Now, normally, I’d post a link to the comment, but I have to be honest and say that I’m not pleased with the fact that this person used an affiliate link to a “pay-me” site, but the words that this person left were pure gold.
Anyone who has ever done any fictional writing can tell you that one of the keys to making a good story better is by adding just the right details. The comment left on the site said something to the effect of creating a scene as though painting a picture, and called it “landscape writing”. I love it. The words hit me like a bullet. Of course, create your scenes as though planting a garden or putting in some new trees. But in this case, let the words create an aura that will keep your readers wanting more.
I remember that there used to be a guy on PBS that did some of the coolest paintings I’ve ever seen. I believe the man’s name was Bob Ross, and I was always mesmerized by the way he could just paint and entire landscape scene, start to finish, in half an hour. When I heard the term “landscape writing”, I immediately thought about this gentleman and the way his brush danced across the canvas. And that’s what the words should do in creative writing. They should seem flawless, magical, as though painted into the scene.
I’d love to take credit for this cool term, but sadly I can’t. However, I can use it in all my future writings, and hope I can do justice to the term “landscape writing”.
This is an important topic as a lot of web content is getting pretty bland and lacking expression. The link i gave is the site of the company I work for, we’re a web hosting company and we put out articles all the time as part of our marketing - but we also try and put out creative articles to inspire people of the kind of content they can put on their sites… Jesse wrote this one which is an example of what we call landscape writing:
http://www.m6.net/resources/a%20place%20to%20live.aspx
The net is all about content and it starts with writers and writing and there is too much bland blah blah writing. Ernest hemmingway always inspires me to construct some interesting content - even if it is for a subject like web hosting which for most can’t get any more bland or boring. But like Jesse and I talk about reguarly - if we can make hosting interesting and inspire people to it’s power - then we’ve improved our writing skills.
In that respect, Michael, I do apologize. Any time a person is working to improve their creative writing skills, I have to bow to them. And I also thank you for this totally awesome term, as I will be using it as often as possible.