On illustrating blog posts about writing

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words or so they tell me. It certainly seems to be true of blog posts. They seem incompleate without at least one image to illustrate what you are saying.

When it comes to writing about writing, though, there is a bit of a problem. At least I find there is. There are only so many pictures of typewriters, books, notepads, pens, and cups of tea that a person can use before they all start to look exactly alike.

For topics where a diagram is of no use, where else can you turn for a good blog image? I’m not talking about stock images – we all know a few places to find those. What I mean is, what other visual images can be used to illustrate writing as a hobby or profession? How do we even go about finding some fresh visual language to get away from the cliches?

What is the answer?

Normally, this would be the part of a post where – having set up the question – I start towards some sort of answer. I do not have one.

I am genuinely stumped at the moment. Surely as a creative industry that works with words as a medium we can come up with more than just pen, paper, typewriter, laptop, cup of tea, and old books. As builders of worlds, surely we can do better?

I want to believe we can do better. How? Well, that is a whole other question.

The common lexicon for writing

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These are the common elements that we tend to reach for when looking for illustrations to go with writing. Not a lot of variety is there?

The one thing they have in common is a focus on the mechanics of writing.

I have been guilty of limiting my visual understanding of writing to just the tools used to mark words. Perhaps there is a better way?

An uncommon lexicon for writing

Writing is far more than ink and page. Writing is storytelling, imagination, and the exploration of ideas. It is a journey, a process, a way of looking at the world. Writing is imagination.

Why do we often hesitate to show that side of ourselves? I’m not sure. Perhaps we fear others will not be able to make the creative leap with us? We are writers – I am sure we can find a way to take others on that journey with us.

What might our imagery of writing become if we embrace not just the tools we write with but the messages we communicate?

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The common and uncommon together

Just because things are common that does not make them less valuable. Just as things that are new are not necessarily better. Sometimes what we need is the fusion of ideas old and new.

The common lexicon works because it communicates in a common language. We know that when we see pens and typewriters, we are talking about writing. However, we can expand both our own range and that of our readers but not limiting ourselves to the common.

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We need both sides together if we are to express to the world that writing is more than dusty pages or lonely introverts hammering at a keyboard.

Where will you take us?

I started writing this post to ask a question – what other images can we writers apply to the craft of writing? Somewhere during the process of exploring the question I found the seeds of an answer.

We writers can and should be far more expressive about how we represent writing. I think, perhaps, that starts by looking beyond the visual tropes we are used to. In doing so, we can create fresh ways to look at old ideas.

How will you creatively represent writing in visual media? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.