I sold my first article at 14 to Wargamer’s Digest, and I’ve been selling odd bits of my writing ever since. In the last few years, I’ve written a couple of hundred articles each year, and the thrill of publication has been almost lost in more practical concerns (Any typos? Do any of the comments reveal that I’ve overlooked something? Where’s the cheque?). I’ve even learned to take wry humor in being called a moron or a paid flunky of a company or cause. But one experience I never had until a few weeks ago was seeing my words illustrated by someone else.
Well, that’s not quite true. Years ago, I did have a cover for Witches of the Mind, my book about Fritz Leiber, but that was an impressionistic cover about the variety of Fritz’s stories, rather than anything inspired by what I had written.
Now, helping with the back story of the Imperial Realms online game, I’ve seen four illustrations so far of my work by Avi Pinhas and Ken Henderson. In coming months, I expect to see more.
I have mixed reactions to these illustrations. Some I admire, while some plainly contradict what I wrote. But, in all cases, my main reaction has little to do with whether I like or dislike the rendering. Instead, I’m overwhelmed by how unsettling I find seeing someone else’s interpretation of my words.
As a writer of fiction (or, in this case, pseudo-fact), I am very visually oriented. When I finish writing, the words that remain seem the best reflection of the images in my mind that I can achieve in the circumstances.
What is humbling, frustrating, and exciting all at the same time is the realization that, as much as the words seem accurate to me, they’re self-evidently open to interpretations I hadn’t considered. And some of these interpretations are at least as valid as the ones I had in mind.
The fact that these differences in interpretation can exist has me questioning traditional notions of creativity, and the degree of control anyone can have over what they produce. If others can draw things out of my words that I didn’t intend but can’t reject as incorrect (at least not without insisting that only my vision is valid), then I have to wonder how much control I have over what I write.
Clearly, I have some; from the start, Ken Henderson’s depiction of the alien race called the Tsihor, for example, is very close to the image in my mind of a species that might form a biker gang with Cthulhu. Yet, equally clearly, the degree of control is limited, and party determined by what others bring to the work.
That suggests the auteur theories of art, in which the creator molds every aspect of the impression that others receive is not only misleading, but threatens to lure the creative into an impossible effort to control everything about the audience’s experience.
But does that mean that all that the creative should do is throw out vague impressions and hope that some of them resonate in the audience? To accept that alternative seems equally extreme.
I can’t help wondering, too, what the third generation reaction will be, when players react to the combination of pictures and words. Perhaps if some of them are inspired to their own artwork, I’ll find out. But I wonder how much of the third generation reaction will be from my work. And should I care, when I can’t control it anyway?
Another line of thought is that the translation of my words into pictures somehow validates them. Of course, this is partly an illusion, since all of us are doing work for hire, not necessarily work that we would choose on our own, but it’s a remarkably persistent one. Regardless of whether the images do or don’t correspond to the ones in my mind, I’d be lying if I pretended not to get a kick from seeing my words shaping other people’s creations.
So far, I’ve only had the smallest taste of this experience. However, it’s enough for me to imagine what directors and producers must feel when their finished production appears on film. It must be an exhilarating experience. I wonder, though: does their first experience of the process affect their subsequent work? Does it make them more or less careful? Affect their work in any other way? It would be interesting to find out.
Off the Wall 
Imagine what it’s like for me, seeing pictures that are interpretations of words which are interpretations of my ideas, and sometimes pictures that are interpretations of other pictures that are … (etc). 🙂
My answer is to reject the “traditional notion of creativity you cite above.” I have no delusions my ideas are originally mine, and from that I come to see myself as an organizer more than a creator. What’s important is to seed the particular ideas I want and shape the big picture the way I want. The small details are where the people working with me get their space to do their own thing, and “doing their own thing” inevitably means deviating from what I want in ways. There are some deviations that matter and which need to be trimmed back, and a whole lot more that don’t and which I find I need to ignore.
This is probably more true nowadays with media like games which are obviously interactive, but I think it’s always been true to some extent. I remember writers complaining about the “independent” art and summaries on their book covers, long before the digital age.
It’s funny you mention directors and producers (of movies, presumably) – I find myself studying how they work and deliberately trying to learn from them. It does seem to be a very similar experience.
The translation you’ve seen now is very mild. Wait till the game is launched and players start adding their own content. That is another experience again.
It sounds like a hall of mirrors, doesn’t it?
To tell the truth, I’m enjoying it more than not I always like challenges to conventional ideas — they’re usually far more interesting than the conventional ideas.
Bruce… as an illustrator trying to “capture” a writers vision I try and get as much of a sense of what the writer is visualizing as possible. The more input / direction a writer can give the better I feel about starting the process. Imagine a police artist trying to draw an image of a criminal without a description? Well, it’s the same process… the better, the more definitive the description the more complete and “accurate” my interpretation will be.
Of course I, as an illustrator, will always pull it together in my way but even then, I will try and push it – stylistically – to meet the “look” the writer is hoping for.
In the end it’s about capturing the essence of the written word in one image (if that’s what is called for) and presenting it in a way that engages and immerses the viewer as much as the writing does. I’m glad I got close on the Tsihor image.
Certainly as the creative process within a given project evolves this becomes more and more likely to happen as the relationships and stylistic approach matures.
I’m looking forward to that evolution.
Ken
Hi, Ken:
(Ken is one of the Imperial Realms illustrators)
I hope that nothing I said implies that I was displeased with the work you’ve done. That definitely wasn’t my intent.
And, I, too, look forward to the evolution.
Bruce… absolutely not. It’s a crazy process at the best of times and I was interested to hear your take on it.
No worries!
Ken