As a writer, I'm in an awkward position compared to other artists. Musicians make music which is bought and sold and performed. Visual artists paint and sketch. Actors make movies, act in plays. Dancers dance.

Art is both a technical and imaginative skill. There is the mechanical of art side with paint, perspective and basic "elements of art" (think: line, shape, color and texture) intersecting the imaginative side (think: what you are going to make, how you are going to make it and how you are to express what feelings or thoughts you want to communicate). Writing is an artform, though unlike the fine arts, we have grammar, vocabulary and plot structure as technical components. We arm ourselves with imagination to create narrative and form thoughts.

One significant advantage of writing is the ability to communicate complex thoughts. Even when what you want to say is abstract, there are still options. Poetry can be ambiguous while still being meaningful. Explore ideas allegory, explain concepts in extended metaphors.

Just think. Here is an example.

I like to cook and bake. Writing can be a bit like that; it is not far removed from my crazy food making shenanigans. When in the kitchen, I rarely follow recipes. Thus, dinner will /sometimes/ turn out how I expect, but often it doesn't. Not exactly what was anticipating, anyways, though that can be both good and not so good. Writing, whether it be story or essay or something else, is much the same. I do not always plan everything out and the results can be a bit surprising.

I once threw in butter, sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl, just hoping for the best. Lucky I was, because I ended up with some good chocolate frosting and decent formula for future creations. It does not always work out so great, however. I've burnt more than one pan of brownies and I have watched cheese refuse to melt properly. In the same way, I've written things that don't turn out the way I thought they would. Words and ideas on that page can be fickle, not unlike picky pastries like croissants and crepes. There is creativity in cooking and in writing. You have to pick your ingredients like characters, setting, perspective, themes, prose, plot and more. Throw them in a bowl. Stir and shape those words with your bare hands. Work, work hard and practice and you will end up with some writing of your own.

The actual "art" in writing is beyond mere technical "skill" and it is hard to pin down. It is being a passionate student of humanity and people. Psychology and people watching are necessary to know what we are really like. Writers must be involved. Human contact is at least as important as fact-checking and research. Those are vitally important. It's possible to have all the heart in the world and still write terribly with reckless failure. The part technical side of writing connects to the aesthetic part that allows one to think, to breathe, to share something you know about life and being human.