If a Picture Paints...

...a thousand words, would you write a thousand words (or, say, 100K words) the same way you'd paint a picture?

For me, it turns out I would.

I'm no skilled artist, but I have painted a few things--in watercolor, acrylics, even oils--and I tend to approach that art form in much the same way that I prefer to approach the writing of a novel: I first do a quick pencil sketch on the canvas (like a plot outline or, my fave, Blake Snyder's 15-point beat sheet). Then, in broad but fairly careful stro...