A Thousand Words (Creative)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But a single word can draw a picture. In creative writing, we use bigger more complicated words to draw open-ended pictures. One word can then draw a picture worth a thousand words. So which is more, a picture or a word that draws a picture?

We use words to describe, tell stories and even think. Imagine yourself in an art studio examining a painting. A thousand words can come to mind; what it looks like, what it makes you feel, and your interpretation of its meaning. The same thing can happen given a single word that means something to you.
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Take the word Kenopsia. It may not mean anything to you now, but it describes the atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now desolate.

​Now that you have the description, you have a picture of it’s meaning in your mind. Some will think of a market square at the center of town busy with citizens buying and selling, window shopping and fine dining, then at night the eerie quietness to contrast. 

Another may think of a similar square then with something more tragic and terrible where the town’s people have been vacated or extinct. Or you may think of a closed mall or amusement park, a full house or the streets of New York. 

These images still don’t show the emotion one has towards the scene but if the reader knows the word, the author is giving it to let the reader draw their own picture connected to their emotions along with all that has gone on in the story thus far. That is why writers don’t want to be too descriptive but use poetic language to draw a more vivid picture for the reader, that will inevitable be different in every reader’s mind. 

This is why books are generally better than movies, they use words to describe and the reader does the image making. This creates a more personal connection, the writer highjacks your mind to use your imagination to write their story instead of an artist creating the image and you having to do the interpretation.