Can You Write A Meaningful Story Without Using Words

You probably have heard of the phrase; a picture is worth a thousand words. It is important to think of this idiom when learning how to write a meaningful story without using words.

Images can be a powerful way to tell your story. At times, some stories can only be told effectively through pictures.

Visual storytelling allows the audience to interact with the medium, and it can sometimes be more memorable and engaging than only using text.  

What is Visual Storytelling?

Visual storytelling communicates a concept through graphics, images, pictures, or videos. As mentioned, there are times when a story can only be told through this type of wordless medium.

What does this mean for authors?

It does not mean that you must give up novels completely.

Books of any length are not going anywhere. Still, it is never a bad idea to challenge your writing. It is also essential to learn how similar mediums (like visual storytelling) can apply to different types of books and genres.

Here are a few different books you can try that will use visual storytelling elements:

Textless Graphic Novels and Comic Books  

Graphic novels and comic books are increasingly becoming more and more popular.

While most people might picture speech bubbles with narrative text, there are many graphic novels and comic books that contain no words at all.

For instance, Leaf by Daishu Ma tells the story of a young man’s journey, told through his discovery and interaction with a glowing yellow leaf.

Creating the graphite work and using blue and yellow accents reflects the audience’s curiosity through the protagonist. By forgoing the words, the author also forces you to find meaning in the leaf, akin to how the boy tries to understand his place in the world.

Photography

Recently, I have been getting into photography.

As a marketing professional, I have dabbled in photography on occassion, but only through manipulating it for graphics or other visual marketing materials.

Someone else usually took the picture.

However, I bought myself a camera at a thrift store and was hooked on a whim.

I enjoyed it, but I feel like I am pretty good at it. Plus, since my photography is nature-based, it gets me out and about and introduces me back to a love of hiking.

Here’s a fun picture I took of one of my books:

Photographs can also be a great medium to tell a story.

For instance, I have begun posting my photos on Instagram in a way that communicates something overall rather than post by post. There are also plenty of books that contain only photographs. They can be coffee table reads or share something more profound about the human condition.

Since photographs speak of the time and place in which they were written, they are perfect for historical writers or those that want to dabble into nonfiction territory.

Graphic Design

Contrary to popular belief, graphic design does not have to be text-based.

An excellent example of this is emojis. You have probably seen an example of an emoji-based story, such as follows:

As you can see, if they rob a bank, they will probably be caught and then taken to jail - a simple enough story.

It is fun, a little silly, and still gets the point across without words.

The same can be said of other forms of wordless graphic design. You can use illustrations, infographics, iconography, or a combination to tell a story without using a single word.

Why Visual Storytelling is A Great Way to Communicate

The best part of these types of visual mediums?

You do not have to know the language!

Pictures are typically universally understood. Although some language differences exist in images, especially icons, it still helps communicate a concept despite a slight language barrier.

Since beauty is also in the eye of the beholder, your audience may not be as critical of your visual pieces as they might be of a novel or another text-based work.

There are countless ways to tell a story with no words.

In addition, you do not necessarily have to be a great artist or photographer to tell your story. Not only is all art subjective, but it can be immensely fulfilling to find a graphic designer, photographer, or artist to help you communicate your work.

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