Posted on November 26, 2007 - by MG
Advice to writers
I’m impressed by how many writers’ blogs are filled with valuable advice to other writers. It amazes me how self-aware some writers are; they apply their talent with the precision of a surgeon’s blade.
I’m not like that. I have no idea if what I’m writing is going to work until my agent and editor tell me. And when something works I have no idea why. I do structure a plot very carefully, according to certain principles. But when it comes to writing…meh, I just do it.
Hemingway said that a writer has to have a terrific bullshit detector. I agree. When I read back what I’ve written, it’s the single biggest skill I need. And that, I believe, comes from a huge amount of reading.
Stephen King says this too: writers must read a lot. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, however, qualifies this with what I would regard as the single bit of advice I would ever offer to another writer (and it isn’t even mine!).
Read only what bears re-reading.
Life is short and the writer’s training should begin early. I do believe, as does Philip Pullman, that to a large extent writing can’t be taught, and I believe it’s because the sense of story is somewhat innate. I see this with my own daughter, aged five. Her teacher tells me that she has more than once drawn a ‘book’ and then stood in front of the class to narrate the entire story, beginning, middle and end, to the astonishment of the other pupils and staff. No-one showed her how to do this. I used to do it to, apparently; dropped off aged four at the University where my grandfather worked I would entertain students with stories of Peter Pan.
Story sense needs to be honed and refined; this, you can study but your starting level probably needs to be pretty high.
But writing…you learn what is good writing from reading it, processing it, hearing the sound of a well-crafted phrase, metaphor or dialogue in your head. That’s why re-reading great works of literature is so useful.
I actually don’t read very widely. With many demands on my time I hardly read for entertainment. Everything should be educational, instructive. So, to be honest, I set a high bar. I don’t finish a book if it isn’t really great by page 50. What is good, I re-read.
And I’m constantly hungry for new talent to replace authors whose works I have read all the way through.
Will the next Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Haruki Murakami, Jorge Luis Borges or Italo Calvino please step forward?
Problem is, these days probably only the first two of those would get published…
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Website of MG Harris, author of the children's book series "The Joshua Files".Information for school visits and events.
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November 26, 2007
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This struck a chord, Maria. From an early age until my teens I was picked for reading in class, had my poems read out, asked to read in church. I hated the whole thing and did what any self-respecting spory-type would do – stuck it all in a box and put in a cupboard marked ‘forget it!’ I actually didn’t start to write until late, so I may have missd a lot. I’ve never read a ‘how to write manual’ in my life, and don’t intend to. This doesn’t mean, however, that people shouldn’t read them, or shouldn’t take advice – a lot of people need it, at a higher or lower level, depending on their abilities or needs.
I may suffer because I will never read McKee, but I will be me, with my own take on what I like and wish to write. But Mckee will help a different writer, so I can’t interfere with that: it belongs to the other writer. My rubbish bin used to be full of books I’d bought but couldn’t finish – I’m a hard person to please, as a few at Litopia could tell you! And I’m my own worst critic.
My blog, I’m afraid, is too introspective to be informative. It’s meant as a chronicle of my time while writing my latest book, and perhaps my attempts to find an agent. Failure, I suspect, will see my blog come to an end. Any information there will be lost to the world, scrambled by the internet’s own black hole!
Mind you, if I did get published, they better put my book at the other side of Waterstone’s – how can I possibly compete with that cover!!
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November 26, 2007
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Hi MG,
“(Do you do that? I used to get into trouble for it. Torchlight under the bedclothes etc…)” I do that too much. At the moment i’m re-reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, and last night i was up to 4ish. I started the first on sunday, just about ready for the subtle knife now! Bring on Will!
Anyway, Interesting post. I haven’t really seen many authors blogs or anything like that so i coldn’t really comment, but the few i do no, i haven’t seen give advice.
Lukas…
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November 26, 2007
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One of the fellow parents at my daughter’s school is a quite well known novelist. He went to screenwriting school so we discussed McKee – who he hasn’t read either and never will, for similar reasons to you, es. You have to work with what works for you. It’s helpful but not de rigeur…
Oooh, “The Subtle Knife” is my favourite one! I love the idea of cutting your way along the road until you get to the right part of Headington… And I love Will, he’s ace!
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November 26, 2007
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Well, Lukas, you could do far, far worse than visit solvey’s maggot farm or rich’s wondering mind over at blogger. But you’re going to have many more, other, choices in front of you over the years. Given your obvious ability and enthusiasm, I’m sure that with a little help and advice from Maria, too, you will go far in the writing world. The only true advice I can give you is to keep reading and keep writing. It’s the least you can do, but it’s also the best you can do.
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November 26, 2007
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Me, I’m more of the ‘read as much as you can till your eyes fall out’ persuasion when it comes to the reading you do to ‘improve’ yourself as a writer. I’m discriminating when it comes to what I’ll read for pleasure: until I was 10 I’d never once put down a book without finishing it, no matter how much I loathed it (curse you, Joan Aiken, for ruining my perfect score!), but life’s too short and Tony Parsons exists, so now I’ll abandon something I really feel is not worth my attention.
But I think there is as much value in reading what you don’t like as what you do, in terms of using reading as a sort of educative tool (by far my preference compared to McKee et al, not that I can’t see value in what they offer: just not my preferred way to learn). When I did a PGCE we had to construct a portfolio of kidlit reviews: bliss! But we had to read outside our personal tastes, across genres and age ranges, to avoid limiting our potential recommendations for the kids to our own likes. For one thing, it made me realise how a kid feels when they’re forced to read something they really, seriously find tedious as all hell – but I also figured out stylistic and narrative elements that instantly raised my hackles, and that to me is as valuable as reading a beautiful piece of prose and knowing I aspire to achieve something like, one of these days.
In other words, Darren Shan may make me want to throw up, but I’m glad I’ve read him. Well, nearly.