A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

   This week we read "Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's To be Said"  by C.S. Lewis.  As a writer I found that this essay was indeed very edifying and wanted to explore the idea of the Author and the Man a little more.
    The concept of the Author in a writer seems rather natural.  I have talked to and read several essays and articles by other writers and know that C.S. Lewis is not alone in starting with an image.  This image often forces its way into our psyche and demands to be completed, as if it is a piece of a puzzle we are only seeing one tiny corner of. 
    As the days go by the picture may be ignored or pushed to the farthest corner of our minds so that we may continue with whatever tasks we must assume throughout the day.  However, it is very much like an addiction and whenever we are void of distractions it will push itself back to the forefront of our thoughts, getting more and more forceful the longer we try to leave it unaddressed. 
   Yet, there are many addictions to which we should not let ourselves be enveloped in as they will harm not only us, but the public in general.  So, how is a writer to know whether to continue in their efforts to may no mind to the image that pesters their mind?  The idea of the Man answers that question quite well.
   If the Author is also joined by the prudent eye of the Man then the picture that is beginning to become a story in whatever form it has chosen, may have some purpose.  By the end of the work the writer will not only have finally scratched the itch that the picture has imposed upon them, but they have created something edifying to any who stumble across it.
   This mixture is something that I believe most writers should strive for.  If they are to feed an addiction--and make on mistake, writing is certainly an addiction--then they must ensure that it will not harm those who read it but leave them better than they were when they first came to it.  Granted, not every work will be so life-changing that the impact will be clear.  Perhaps the development of a thought or a perspective that would not have otherwise been seen, will be the tiniest change in the reader, but, that miniscule change makes the process the writer went through quite worth the effort.