Creative Writing The Purest Art

Does it ever bother anyone else that people talk about the "fine arts", meaning drama, "art" and music? Isn't writing an art too? I mean, I could pee on a canvas and call it art, and people probably wouldn't argue, but if I wrote a book entirely full of the word turnip, nobody would care.
Why isn't writing considered an art? It can be appreciated, like any art. It requires creativity of the artist (in this case the writer). It is a lot of work. It takes a lot of time to come up with an idea. Such is also true for the other arts.
Writing is an art, by God, and I say we take it back!

 

I'm pretty sure writing is recognized as an art. I have no backup information for that, but I think you can stop worrying. You're quite right, by the way. Writing takes creativity, imagination, as well as intelligence and the soul for it. Good writing, anyway. But, of course, good writing is all in the eye of the beholder, is it not?

 

I concur... or something... Anyways time for an amusing anecdote...

A friend of mine is an artist; she does drawing, watercolors and photography and the likes. Well she went about, taking pictures of a lake nearby where she lives, of trash around there and how people carve into trees (one having carved a huge swastika). She posted these on an art account of her and posted a link in a channel for some people to look at.

To make a long story short and keep my temper down, some stuck-up ***hole went and got an attitude, saying how that things like that aren't aren't, that it's just "some guy taking pictures of trash and calling it art", and that art is "insipiring and beautiful". That just pissed me off.

 

According to Webster's:

art n. 2. The creation of works that are, in form, content, and execution, aesthetically pleasing and meaningful 4. The works so created, esp. painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, dance, etc.

Now, I don't necessarily like abstract art, like someone putting a pipe in the rain and letting it rust and calling it "The Torment" or something. But it's pleasing to the artist and meaningful to them, and to whoever buys it to put in a museum or whatnot. That makes it art, at least in definition. So Zack, I think you have every right to be pissed off. Photography is an art, right? It's creating something pleasing or meaningful. Obviously it took thought for your friend to decide what to photograph and what point they wanted to make. It's meaningful to the artist and probably other people (save the moron you mentioned). It's technically art, and it still is even if that person hates it.

Back to the writing subject... I am a writing major, and I agree with Novus and the rest of you that it is indeed an art. It takes time and a great deal of thought, and it takes a lot of skill and imagination to make a truly good story. Sometimes it can even mix with other forms of art (like writers who also illustrate their novels). It's pretty hard to make some things interesting enough to make someone want to read about them for five pages, not to mention five hundred if you write a novel on it -- the skill to do this itself is an art.

Also, Webster's Dictionary considers literature to be a work of art. I think that says enough.

 

femme, did I ever mention that I love you?!?!? I loooooooove you. *stuffs femme in her pocket* ....woe to anyone who dares to steal my femme from me!!

 

I agree tht literature can be considered art, but not all writings are. Depends on wht u write. I don't like to think of it as art if its too commercial. Even some paintings can lack artistic values. There's once an artist(can't remember his name) who tried to proof a point by submitting an "artwork" which is actually a toiletpiece which he remove from a public toilet on the way to the art exhibition which he's taking part. He simply gave it an interesting name and ppl started commenting how creative he is. I hate it when ppl create rubbish in the name of art.

 

Gabrielle, I think I know who you're talking about. I forgot his name, but the reason why he used a toilet (actually it was a urinal which he bought at a store) wasn't because he was making art, but because he was testing the policies of the gallery where he submitted it. (It got rejected despite the gallery's word that they'd display any amateur artwork.) But like any innovative concept, it later caught on, and gave to way the concept of "ready-mades," which are simply everyday objects, with nothing done to them, yet presented in a gallery as art. Some real examples included a bicycle wheel and a stool.

As for writing, yeah it can be an art. But the reason why it's not categorized as art (say, in the art program of a university) is cuz first of all, writing is a technical means of communication. It's just that it CAN be art that us writers feel it's so artsy. So instead of learning to write at an art building, we learn to write in the English department. I guess it's just more convenient to group together technical writing with creative writing. (Since they're so few kinds of creative writing classes.)

I also think writing isn't included under "fine arts" cuz it's not visual. Traditionally, visual arts (drawing, painting, photography, ceramics, sculpture, etc.) were things that sort of bypassed mere words by being symbolic and visual. Instead of an artist expressing through words, he/she uses images and shapes which have to be interpreted (uses a different part of our brains). Performing arts covers music, dance, acting, etc., and have a lot of areas of study that it too has its own grouping. (Thus a performing arts program would have its own building on a college.) Where is writing? Sure we can do poetry, prose/stories, lyrics, but as a group it's not enough to make their own building. Also, I suppose writing isn't considered a fine art cuz society may have defined a border between "artists" and "writers." A "writer" could be someone who does any of the many different kinds of writing jobs out there, like journalism, editing, script-writing, greeting card writing, novel writing, maybe even website maintenance. Most of those are technical rather than aesthetically pleasing careers; some people would even call writing "a science." But when we hear "artist," we mostly think the opposite side of the spectrum--someone who isn't technical but creative, intuitive, maybe even a lil crazy.