Lynda Barry is a visionary. In her book What It Is, she employs repetition through visual play as her primary communication tool. Her aim in this book, which is to educate writers on writing, is nontraditional yet still quite effective.
Interspersed between the story of her youth, Barry mixes media, incorporates old news clippings, pastes selections from grade school penmanship books, and draws endlessly. The final product, in turn, is a colorful and (contextually) vibrant book of graphic stories, lessons (for both life and mind), and rhetorical questions concerning the craft of writing.
Barry tells her story from the inside out. She writes from her earliest experiences with memory, vision, writing, and extends her introspection into her adult life. The point she makes is that writing is a lifelong-learning process, and we as writers and artists must continue to refine our craft as we age.
But what happens to writers, or those who wish to write, as they age? Barry uses a traditional graphic-novel style comic on page 140 to illustrate just that.
In the comic, Barry plays herself and encounters a genie character who's escaped from a can of pork and beans. The genie tells Barry that she is in a can; contained in that comic panel is also the question "Would that image make sense to you?", being in a can that is. Would you rather be In the Can or Out of the Can? Barry's character spends the rest of the strip contemplating this question.
The second-to-last panel shows her thinking for 5, 10, 20 and 30 years. Then there's the last panel, which depicts an urn, and a voice bubble that says "Out of the Can!"
Barry's point in this particular comic strip proves that the longer a writer sits on their hands simply thinking, the less time they have to write. So write while you're out of the can.
Barry's point in this particular comic strip proves that the longer a writer sits on their hands simply thinking, the less time they have to write. So write while you're out of the can.
Perhaps this is why she has included an extensive workbook section in the back of What It Is, providing prompts and activities to help writers get their mental juices flowing.
Click the cover photo to listen to NPR Talk of the Nation radio show with Neil Conan, where the host invites Lynda Barry herself to discuss how "'What It Is' Plumbs the Depths of Creativity." The show aired on June 2, 2008, and is no longer available for download. Simply click the Listen to the Story tab and the NPR media player will load the program.
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ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the "Out of the Can" segment that you cited in your blog post. I know I'm guilty of doing this-- thinking too much and writing too little. I'm kind of jealous of Barry for being so consistent with her writing and art for so many years of her life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that link! It was neat to hear her words through her voice - I almost feel as if I've have the whole Lynda Barry experience - the visual, the audio, the text! I think it's interesting, hearing her speak, how much of the book came from her philosophies on life and writing.
ReplyDeleteSara, I love that image too. I spent so much of my youth contemplating what I'd write but never putting ink to paper. I worked in business publishing because it was easy and didn't require much imagination, sometimes finding the correct angle did but not like creative writing requires. I'm glad I finally decided to be Out of the Can. It's much busier but also more fulfilling.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments! The NPR program, as Colleen noted, was interesting to hear Barry speak about her own creative process. She was as interactive with the interview as her book is with its readers. Barry is truly inspirational and humble, providing insight for writers and artists of all ages.
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