If you turn the imagination loose like a
hunting dog, it will often return with the
bird in its mouth.
William Maxwell in ‘The Front and Back Parts of the House’,
New Yorker, 31 September 1991
Writing for me is an act of the will. Though I want to write I have to make myself sit down and write. It is very slow work and, to me, hard work but, at the same time it is both enriching and illumin ating. Perhaps I can explain something about writing and being a writer.
I never called myself ‘writer’ until I was called ‘writer’ from outside.
I have always wanted to write. When other girls and boys at school were taking photographs with their box cameras I preferred to write a few words to describe a person, a building or a view, even though my aunt had given me a camera.
I remember when I was about five being given a new clean exercise book. I began at once to ‘write’ in it, not just on one page, but scribbles on every clean page. My pencil was taken away, my sleeve was pushed up and I received a quick sharp slap on the wrist. I don’t think I was ever able to explain to anyone how the smooth white pages had invited me to fill them.
Reading has always been a great pleasure for me. At Christmas and on Birthdays the presents I received were books. My sister and I had a dolls’ house each. These were on the floor next to each other. The little dolls in the houses were characters for a story that went on from one day to the next for years. We spoke the dialogue aloud and often continued the story on trams or in the train. If we were not able to sit next to each other we shouted the actions and the conversations of our characters to each other, sometimes the length of a crowded tram. I do not remember if anyone else in the tram objected.
I think the games with the dolls’ house people encouraged our imaginations and at the same time made us aware socially. Our characters resembled people we knew and others we simply saw passing in the street or in shops. We created dramatic incidents which were often suggested by items in the newspapers or on the radio. But we heightened every thing, a burglar had two wooden legs, for example. The fiction writer heightens an everyday experience when creating a dramatic incident in the novel or the short story.
Writing can be regarded as a gift to be cherished as other gifts are; things like an ability in mathematics, excellence in swimming or in other sports, being able to draw horses and dogs or being clever at dressmaking or cooking, the list is endless. Sometimes the wish to write does not show itself at first. I found that I loved words and I enjoyed the long and complicated sentences my English mistress gave me for punctuation exercises. I enjoyed translating from French and German and finding the best words in English for a good translation.
From the age of twelve I have kept diaries and journals. I always advise people who want to write to keep a journal. The important thing to remember is that it is best to write what you want to write and not to try to record things simply because you feel you ought to record them.
Imagination cannot be taught but it can be encouraged. Observation can be taught and the ability to make the quick note can be developed. It is a good idea to carry a small notebook and pencil for the quick note, which can then be written at greater length in the journal. The journal becomes a working place for the writer. Writing consists of a great deal of rewriting and in each rewriting more detail emerges. It is true to say that writing unlocks more writing. A book will not write itself. Time has to be made for writing. It is useless to say, ‘I’m going to write a novel when I’ve got time.’
A folder with loose pages makes a good journal because the pages can be moved. It is a good idea to devote some pages to describing books that have been read, stage plays, films, radio and television programmes. Writing about these and having opinions (which must be supported with reasons) are a help towards writing fiction, essays and poetry well.
Other pages can be filled with ideas for stories, little descriptions of characters and samples of their dialogue, and descriptions of their clothes and possessions and of landscapes and settings. Often one of these small descriptions will lead into a story or a novel. It is never necessary to start a story with the title and the first sentences, these may come later. The journal becomes a storehouse of experience, observations and opinions. Opinions can often be given to characters.
All kinds of people offer the writer ‘a good title’ but they do not say what should be under the title!
Another nice thing which the writer can do is to have a good quality notebook with smooth pages into which especially liked poems or passages of prose can be copied by hand. Writing by hand does convey to the writer something of the magic between hand and brain and the beauty in our own language. It is advisable to include the names of the authors and the dates when the pieces were selected. This will, in years to come, prevent a mistake being made about the original authorship. It is a good idea too to write a few lines describing why the particular poem or passage of prose was chosen. I think it is interesting to look back to earlier years to see what choices were made at a certain time and why.
It is unrealistic to expect to leave school and to earn a living as a film star or as a writer. Writing, to start with, should accompany the training or the job. It is important to be with other people, books are not really written in isolation – in a freezing attic or on a desert island. Ideas, little fragments of conversation, human behaviour, other people’s thoughts and opinions, even disliking a job – all these things can provide material for a story.
I find the work of writing rewarding and valuable because it helps me in my attempts to understand myself and other people. Creative writing, as it is called for want of a better phrase, is a good way in which to approach reading: literature, poetry, biographies, auto biographies, various books of non-fiction and especially newspapers. The student who understands a little more about himself or herself will have more understanding of other people and this, in family life and in the workplace, is very useful. To have more understanding is to have more resilience to adversity.
Literary works should never be described as dated and then dismissed. Through the ages writers all over the world, as well as offering entertainment, have provided thought-provoking reflections on human life and circumstances. Contemporary writing provides a mirror for us and for others to come. We need the young people who want to write to come forward now to continue the reflections.