Okay, so, apparently, there are also blogs around here. · 12:07pm Feb 6th, 2020
I reckon it's as good as any time I started one myself. Though, I have to admit, I've got not a single idea yet on what to write here. Looking around didn't help much, apparently, there isn't much of a tradition going in the place. Other people's blogs are usually very random. Or maybe that IS the tradition!
Well, regardless, that won't do. No, I should try deliberation. A discussion has to be meaningful, even if it is more of a monologue. If anyone is going to read the blog of mine, I am going to make sure that was worth their while.
I suppose I can start right now. Let us have a good thought to start off.
My reader, I've got a question. Concerning the prime purpose of this place: writing. How would you define the things we produce here? What they are? Our fanfics, I mean. Are they to be considered literature? Perhaps even art?
How do we even define art? Now, Merriam-Webster has a number of definitions. Art as a noun, amongst others, may be defined as: a skill, an occupation... and here is what we are looking for! "Conscious use of skills and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects."
By the dictionary what we do is indeed art. No matter how small or large your respective works are, you all are artists. That's one thing to be proud of if I have ever seen any.
But I must confess, being a philologist by education, I always find dictionaries somewhat lacking. They are very good at giving generalised definitions, but the language of words itself is very limited in what it can convey. Allow me to demonstrate: try describing with words what "green" looks like. Ain't going to work, will it?
Now, try describing a feeling with words. What does pain feel like? Is it pulsing? Maybe it's blunt? Or sharp? No matter what words we use, they don't describe it accurately, do they? But we can still turn to metaphors, for example: "It hurts like Hell!"
This is a lot clearer way to describe it, won't you agree? The image of Hell, even though none of us ever been there yet, is deeply engraved in almost every human's mind. Almost everyone knows that being in Hell is going to hurt, therefore they can imagine what kind of pain you are going through at the moment of speaking!
Metaphors are useful, but they are no more than workarounds for what our words cannot describe well enough.
Armed with this knowledge, let us return to art. Let's think about why do we bother with art in the first place. What does every artist have in common? Be it a sculptor, or a writer or a musician, an artist always has a desire to create. But why it has to be something as practically useless as a picture? Won't it be better to create a bridge, for example? Well, no, it wouldn't be.
Personally, I would never exchange a pen for an architect's pencil for one damning reason. There is an art in utility too, but the art is secondary there. It will limit what I can make. Material means limited.
Here, I believe, lies the real meaning of art. We use art to express all those things we cannot with words. I am confident you know exactly what I am talking about here. With words, you can tell a person what you feel; but what can you do with a poem or a song? You can make them feel what you feel.
That is what I believe art is: a language. Not of words, but of feelings. A lot more sophisticated form of communication, won't you agree?
I really have no answer all I can say is I consider all fanfictan an art be it good or bad
Absolutely.
The artist has a duty to seduce the ear and delight the spirit.