The last time I was tagged about a year ago. I was playing rugby. I got tagged again. This time it’s more painful than being flattened by a 6 footer brother who doesn’t care much about your bones. So fellow blogger Phish (whom I refer to as Frederick and the P.G. Wodehouseish guy in this blog) tagged me to write on the "strengths of a writer."
I think Phish covered most of everything from a reader’s perspective. So I’m going to tackle the ‘what makes a good writer?’ from another angle. (Read his gems on Murighonto).
- If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning. If I had a bell to ring, I’d ring it in the evening. If I had a song to sing, I’d sing all over this land. Now I have a pen and it’s sitting on the desk.
So what I’m saying is that you ain’t a writer unless u write. Most writers that I have met whether they be from the book world or film world tell me the same thing - you need discipline to write. Delusions of artistic muses are all very well but if you really want to write, you have to sit down everyday, every single day, and write. Doodle. Same line over and over again. Just the title. The idea. The line. The first line again. And again. And one day you will have completed your work. (you might read it and scrap it but completing it will be like having climbed up Mordor with friggin’ Frodo on your back whining and whinging and knowing that you’re finally rid of him.) (In my version Sam flings him over with the precious.) - Read like a butterfly. Write like a bee. I often enjoy the process of researching my subject to such an extent that I hardly end up writing. The story grows and grows with every little fact I unearth till it reaches unmanageable proportions and pops like Li’l Jinx’s balloon. Be clear about your story. What it wants to say and what it has to say. And leave the extra information for personal trivia kicks.
- Everything is grist to the mill. If you’re a writer you can’t afford to have private emotions. Be conscious of everything you go through and be unashamed about using it. No point in writing what you don’t know. If for no other reason then believe me someone will be able to say it better. You’re like the actor who looks at himself in the mirror when he cries. When I read George RR Martin’s epic series A Song of Ice and Fire I put paid to any ideas I might have had of attempting a series till I had lived a bit more. The magnitude of that work is compelling.
- Change the shape of your box. Push your ideas beyond the first thought. Often when my mind is taken over and I first write out the idea, I am loath to change its framework. I like chapter one to remain chapter one and characterizations to be faithful to the first thought. But don’t limit any aspect of your work. Sure there’s a story framework it must stick to but you can punch the box from inside. Take every idea to as many levels as you can – first thought, opposite perspective, plain crazy, logical, etc.
- All ideas have a life and character of their own. This is something I really and truly believe. If you let an idea play in your mind sooner or later it’ll tell you whether it wants to be a poem, a short story, an article, a film or a book. And when you see its face you’ll be stunned at how natural the fit is. Don’t force an idea into a regular space and don’t rush it. I remember being stuck with an idea of a masquerade personifying facets inside our self that I thought was play but it just wouldn’t come. And after months of niggling with it, one afternoon at work it fell into place in a poem about id, ego and superego that I call An Ode to Maya.
That’s it I think. I’m on a learning curve myself with this so any tips are welcome. I might have completely missed the point Phish was asking me to make. But there’s the nice world of possibilities associated with there – words mean a lot of different things.
Long live writing and writers!
picture courtesy: www.allposters.com
