Correlating Professions

The relationship between interior design and fiction writing may strike you as incongruent, but closer scrutiny reveals multiple similarities.

I’ve been working on a project: transform a drab 80’s apartment into a usable, more modern space.

I begin each design task by immersing myself totally in all aspects of each project. I start with the client/clients. Who are they? What do they want? I explore their desires and expectations. I encourage them to assert their personality and vision. We use the interview process to discover the spark, a theme so to speak, the overall cohesive view. We embark on a journey together. I become the facilitator of my client’s hopes and dreams for the space. I become the overseer. A steward. And I take my job very seriously.

When I start a story (whether short fiction or a novel) I must follow similar steps. My characters must reveal their desires and expectations. I’ve got to perform a delicate balancing act, or they won’t change and evolve. In my opinion, characters that don’t change or evolve make lousy protagonists. I’ve got to build a world for them to navigate in. I’ve got to come up with a workable, believable, relevant theme. It’s paramount to see the thing through to the end—work through the problems, the mistakes, the frustration and conflicts—no matter what. I cannot quit. I become obsessed. I eat, drink, and sleep in their world, until I’m satisfied that I have delivered a good story.

I do the same with a design task. I eat, drink, and sleep with the project until I’m satisfied that my client’s desires and expectations have been met. I make other’s priorities my own. It’s a selfless act, in a way. I’m not choosing materials and floor plans and furniture to fit my taste and lifestyle, I’m channeling someone else’s.

As an author I have to bend to my character’s will, but I have to exercise control over them as well. I must maintain a delicate balance between being led and leading.

In the end, the outcome reflects my ability to bring into focus that which might of remained obscure. The outcome is the product of my imagination. And I often feel that there is something godlike in the mix, if I can be so bold to suggest.

***Please note: the photo pictured is meant to denote a modern living room and is not a photo of my project. I will be posting before and after shots when the apartment is finished and decorated.


All Rights Reserved. © 2009 by Elizabeth Bradley.