I found an interesting article at The Guardian, via The New Yorker, yesterday — they (Guardian) asked a bunch of writers to send in their random tidbits of writing advice.
Margaret Atwood, Richard Ford, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Enright, Neil Gaiman, and others responded. It’s a fun list of lists to read over if you’re a writer, or if you’re curious about how writers talk about their work and process.
Some of my favorites:
“You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there’s no free lunch. Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you’re on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine.” (Margaret Atwood)
“A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.” (Helen Dunmore)
“Trust your reader. Not everything needs to be explained. If you really know something, and breathe life into it, they’ll know it too.” (Esther Freud)
“Honour the miraculousness of the ordinary.” (Andrew Motion)
…and finally…
“Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst.” (Joyce Carol Oates)
I get a kick out of reading interviews with writers, or lists like these. There’s never any consensus, and I don’t expect any. I enjoy all the different ways people say what they say.
What would my tips be, you ask? Well: train yourself to observe the world, read a lot, write a lot. The rest — when you write, what you choose to write, how often, who you show things to, writing program, no writing program, etc. etc. — is really just a matter of personal preference. Find what works for you, and do it.
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This is awesome, thanks for sharing the link! I had some of my own LOL favorites, e.g., “The first 12 years are the worst.”
And (from Margaret Atwood), “Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.”
My advice to myself (not just for writing but for anything requiring focus or flow) is: get offline. As Jonathan Franzen said, “It’s doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction.”
Last night on my favorite teen drama, One Tree Hill, one of the characters was angry, and she chopped vegetables until she cut herself in a tearful rage. This brings me to the question: Do you get advanced screenings of One Tree Hill OR… are you just psychic… OR…. on any given night can we find an angry crazy vegetable chopper. I think I’m going to start looking.
Robin — yes, the offline part is soooo important. I didn’t have internet access at home last year, and that was great. Now I have it and I was forced to disconnect my cable modem and hide it in my bedroom for most of the past month. What’s nice to see (for an internet addict like myself) is that after a few days, I stop caring about 99% of the stuff I was doing…reading random political/pop gossip sites, sports stuff, etc. But even beyond the time investment, and maybe more importantly in fiction land, I think it’s way too easy for cliches/jargon/whatever to slip into your writing vocabulary. Both in terms and plot structures.
I think Elmore Leonard sounds a little too strident for my taste. Overall, I think that’s one of the best (quick) collections of writers discussing process(es).
RE: chopping. Yes! I was hoping someone would go home and watch a chopping scene. I bet that on any given night you will find one, if not many, crazy vegetable choppers. Please report back with evidence. I was watching re-runs of ALF on Hulu (see: Internet Addiction, Chapter 19) last night but I didn’t notice any chopping. ALF ordered a pizza.
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