I’ve been writing since I was a kid. I mean, I
stopped for the toilet and eating and stuff but by and large I’ve always
written. My original ambition was to write a novel but because they were intimidatingly
long, I opted for short-form stuff like poems and jokes. “I say, I say, I say”
is so much easier to finish than, The
forest whispered with a menace our hero would come to dread in years to come… Yikes!
This year, fellow writers have recommended several
books on creative writing and they have all, in different ways impacted my work
massively (none of the books were on grammar or spellchecking before you even
think it – typos are my trademark. You should see my tweets). Equally, just getting
stuck in and writing on a more fulltime basis has also taught me so much. If
you’re a writer, or have been thinking of taking up your quill, this is for
you.
Just start
This is something I still find impossible to do
(well, nearly otherwise you’d be looking at a blank page). I get into a faffing
tailspin and feel like unless I’ve done every tiny, niggling job that needs
doing, I cannot, under any circumstances start writing.
This can sometimes, literally take days. So,
what I started doing is putting things in time, i.e. making writing an entry in
my diary. ‘Monday: Write a synopsis for Killer Caterpillars’*. Adding it to my
to-do list really helps. Even if I only do an hour’s work on it, at least it
now exists in the real world rather than just as a brilliant idea in my head. *this is going to be epic when it’s finished
Another barrier to starting, for me, was the notion
that, in my head my idea was perfect and the process of committing it to the
page would somehow fuck it up. Overtime though, I’ve learned to ignore this.
After all, better to have a slightly crapper version of my idea exist than a
near-perfect one that only lives in my bonce. If you’ve encountered this, my
advice is-
Just write something
Sometimes I get stuck, wanting to find the
perfect way to express a thought. This can bring the whole writing process to a
grinding halt. Suddenly, I find myself power-tweeting, facebooking and
instagramming my lunch - the writing but a distant memory. My new tactic
however, is to just write something, anything. Just get it down, however inarticulate
or clumsily it may read because I know at some point, I’ll come back and finesse.
This means there’s no longer any need for writer’s block because one can just
write any old crap and come back and edit it later. And when you do return with
fresh eyes, you’re much better equipped to see what needs changing because
you’ll be looking at each problem in isolation rather than the whole, unwieldy
mass.
Also, when you first start, some of the first
stuff you create will be rubbish. No doubt about it. It can’t all be Hemmingway
and Shakespeare. Write it anyway. Sometimes we have to bleed off some creative
noise before we get to the good stuff. Like, when we first begin, the chaff
comes out but if we push through that, we come to the wheat and of course once
you’re done, you can always go back and-
Edit
Always edit your work. Reread and reread and then when it’s the best
it can possibly be, reread it again! Then send it out to every publisher,
literary agent, production company and anyone who will read it, right? Wrong.
No, no, no – never, never, never. When you first complete something, you will
believe, as I always do, that it is the greatest piece of literature since an
ad exec wrote on a scrap of paper, Beanz, Meanz, Heinz. Stop. It may well be brilliant but you are too
close to it to tell. You don’t have the objectivity so, just to be on the safe
side, set your precious baby aside for as long as you can bear (a minimum of
two weeks). When you return to it, you will have what is known as ‘fresh eyes’,
industry speak for, the objectivity to see if something’s shit. Now you’ll be able to edit again and be way
more ruthless than you would when you first finished. You’ll reread it and say,
“I finished act one by turning the hero into a flying tiger? What was I
thinking?” Or hopefully, “Thank God I did that flying tiger thing. It totally
works!” The important thing is to-
Trust
Trust that you are able to create great work.
If you don’t believe in you, how can you expect others? (Word wanted me to put
a question mark there but it’s not a question). Your work is good. Trusting in
what you produce will give you the passion and drive to complete your projects.
Then, if you’re good at what you do, become great. If you’re already great,
become exceptional. Do this by continuing to-
Learn
I’ve learned so much this year from seminars,
books, other writers, online videos and of course, hands-on experience and the
more I’ve learned the more I can see there is so much more to learn. At the
moment, much of what I’ve picked up is not second nature so I’m still referring
back to the books I’ve read. I go back to Save
The Cat’s 15 story beats, or Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon’s book
about the business of screenwriting. I google to make sure I’m format my
materials correctly.
As Malcolm Gladwell says, 10,000 hours may be exactly
what’s required to reach the top of your game and have excellence be second
nature.
Staying open to learning means you’ll continue
to grow as an artist and a great way to get a sense of this is by going back to your early writing, you know,
that stuff you thought was the most incredible piece of literature in
existence. Hopefully, (and most likely), you’ll look at it and go, “Oh my God, it’s crap. I can’t believe
I showed that to ANYONE”. Great! It means
you’ve improved and you can see the flaws in your earlier efforts.
Discipline
This is really for people who want to make writing
their profession but still applied to a certain degree to hobbyists. I recently attended the class of a very
established acting coach and she spoke of working with a very young actor called
Brad Pitt. All her students are required to pair up to prepare scenes for her
classes and Pitt, she recalled, was a pain in the arse (my words) for his scene
study partner because he wanted to rehearse ALL THE TIME.
From what I can gather, this Pitt guy is
married now with a tonne of kids and doesn’t really act that much but her point
was, practice, hard work and application are the key to success. Talent is a
surprisingly small piece of the pie.
I’ve keep a list of the project I’m working on and
set deadlines for each part of their processes. Many of the deadlines are
arbitrary, based solely on my desire to get the damn thing finished but nonetheless,
it drives me to sit down every day and say to myself, OK, my deadline for the
first ten pages of Killer Caterpillars is Monday. RE-ordering my sock drawer
will have to wait. Just make sure you-
Finish
Even if you decide it’s a dead duck, complete
with it before moving on – whatever that may look like. What I mean is, consciously
stop working on it, don’t just abandon it. And most importantly -
Have fun
I love writing, on my own but especially with
others. A year ago, I sat down with a team of writers to work up some jokes for
a TV project. Just us, a white board and our brains. It was the most fun I’ve
had with a marker pen (that I can talk about) in a long while. We laughed all
afternoon and it really didn’t feel like work. Being creative is a human need
and not enough people give themselves permission to find their joy in creative
expression. This is why the arts should always be funded by the government by
the way, not because it keeps people employed or it’s nice but because it keeps
us civilised and elevates our thoughts beyond that of mere survival. This is
true both personally and societally. We need creativity and artistry around and
within us.
Which takes me back to my original point. If
you are looking for a creative outlet-
Just start
