Art Fight describes itself as "The annual art gifting game."
Last year, we participated in it. We only made one image and got nothing, but we didn't really expect to get much, especially when we just barely made that single image. That isn't really the point of my discussion, though.

For those unaware of what Art Fight is, participants are separated into two teams, and points are scored by creating art of a character owned by someone on the other team. There's nuance, friendly fire is a thing, etc, but that's the basic premise.

You are free to use almost any visual art form!

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Inktober is a month long art challenge where, for every day of October, there is a unique art prompt, and participants are encouraged to create a drawing for each day.

It isn't a competition, like Art Fight is, but it's a widespread event that many artists participate in, sharing their drawings each year and using it to improve their skills.

We have never participated in an Inktober. We were about to, writing a small story for each prompt. We realised shortly after that the prompts are mostly geared towards visual arts.

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My name is Taylor.

I am a writer.

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When you hear "art", what do you think of?

Do you think of drawings? Paintings? Visual arts?

Do you think of stories, poems, literature?

Do you think of music, do you think of theatre, do you think of movies, do you think of games?

Now, I want you to go to whatever social media you use most frequently, if you do use it.

Search or view the hashtag for "art", or whatever equivalent tagging system the site you're on uses.

What do you see?

Is it writing? Is it poems? Is it music, theatre, movies, games?

Or is it all visual art?

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Most dictionaries will correctly define "art" as the use of imagination to create something with meaning, or the creation of something intended to send a message, or to make a viewer feel a certain way. Maybe that's what you define it as, too.

But dictionaries aren't the single arbiters of meaning. If you make up a word, share the meaning with your friends and nobody else, you have made a word. A word that many people will not recognise or understand, but it is a word.

Language is a fluid, ever changing subject. We do not adapt to the language we use, the language we use adapts to the circumstances we are in. Language is a means to communicate amongst each other, and dictionaries did not exist before this need for communication.

Dictionaries are a glossary of the common meanings of words. They are a reference. They are not a source of truth.

And in our modern society, "art" typically refers to the visual kind. Pictures, drawings, paintings, use of colours and shapes.

Whether this disjointed meaning was brought about due to factors as early as museums and high-profile art typically being paintings from famous painters, or something as modern as Twitter having a character limit and boosting posts with an image to look at over anything with an external link in it is somewhat beyond the scope of this vent art.

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I consider myself to be a good writer. I consider myself fairly good at setting a scene. Writing characters can be a little tricky, and planning ahead is as difficult as ever for someone as neurodivergent as us, but in spite of it I am proud of the things I have written.

But when we try to draw, it feels impossible. The shapes constructing a figure do not click as much as how to weave adjectives through a paragraph. The structure of a setting description is much more attainable than even the perspective-striken lines of a tabletop.

We want to love writing. We want to love making things. Sharing it with people. We long to make people feel things.

Whether its a case of not having found the right place to share my art, or if it's a matter of not needing to get recognition for it, I don't know.

But it's hard not to feel like an impostor in what should be a community of many different breeds of artistry

My name is Taylor.
I am an artist.
...
I want to be an artist.
...
Am I an artist?

...

Maybe it's a case of not knowing where to look for events that are more suited to my native strain of art.

The artists can have Art Fight, I just need to find my own thing. A writer fight, maybe. Instead of inktober, a writetober.

That sounds stupid...

My name is Taylor.

I am a writer.

I wish that meant I was an artist.

My name is Taylor.

I am an artist.

I am an artist.

I am an artist.