Elmore Leonard

I've actually never read an Elmore Leonard book and I'm not sure that I ever will but he said something which is particularly important. It goes like this: 'If it sound like writing, I re-write it.' We all need to read through our work and take out the bits which sound like writing. It's hard to do that because we love those bits, they sound so clever and stylish and witty. But it is exactly those sentences which draw attention to themselves which have to go.

Putting a rotisserie together

'What's really annoying about instructions of this sort is that they imply that there's only one way to put this rotisserie together - their way. And that presumption wipes out all creativity. Actually there are hundreds of ways to put the rotisserie together and, when they make you follow just one way, without showing you the overall problem, the instructions become hard to follow in such a way as not to make mistakes. You lose feeling for the work. And not only that, it's very unlikely that they've told you the best way.' This quote comes from Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. I think that it's an important quote for writers. The key words are 'feeling for the work.' That's what every writer needs to have. We've all got our own way of writing and our own approach to our work. It's the process which is important not the product. Don't let anyone else tell you how to put your rotisserie together.

Adjusting the volume

I've been reading through draft 4 of my book. Overall I feel quite encouraged. It does fit together more or less. But it's all very loud, very obvious, very explicit. Early drafts of books have to be like that. You have to write it all very big at the beginning. You are in the process of finding out what the book is about so you have to shout the messages of the book out in order to test them out. You have to let the characters behave in extreme ways and say everything they want to say. Then slowly - draft by draft - you turn the volume down and down and down. You take more and more out. You make the book quieter and quieter. You discover the confidence to let the reader work it out for him / herself. You gradually remove yourself from your own book. I know that this is the process but still I find it painful to read what I'm writing at the moment because it is all so loud. I have to maintain faith in the fact that I will be able to make it quieter. That's a large part of what the writing process is about - turning the volume down.

Lost

I have got lost in my own book. I can't find the way forward because it has all become too confused. So I've had to stop writing draft 4 (which is what I'm currently doing) and print the book off from the beginning so that I can read it through. I know that books go through these very messy stages so I'm trying to keep my nerve. Hopefully it will all get clearer when I've read it through.

Plays and poetry

I have only ever written one play. I finished it earlier this year and sent it off to a competition. It came second and so now I'm thinking of sending it off to other places. I've just been doing some research as to where I can send it. I'm really not sure if it's any good or not. I would need to see if performed in order to know how to make it better. But I only want it performed by someone who knows that they are doing. It's a very bitter-sweet play but in my mind it's more bitter than sweet. I'd hate to see it played for laughs (which it could be). I also have to find something I can use for a reading which is scheduled for 15th May (in central Brussels). I usually like to write something new for a reading. It seems unfair on the audience not to make that effort. There's poetry I'm burning to write (having not written a poem in five years or more) but I don't think I'm going to get it done now for 15th May. But perhaps I should push myself to do it. It might help to take some time off from the novel. I don't know.