On Writing

Following on from a recent post and wondering how one attempts to give some authenticity to my boldly stated ambition to be a "writer", I have been considering for a while how the link between reading and writing can be put to practical use. Aside from the obvious interdependence between the two functions, it seems reasonable to assume that reading could significantly enhance one’s ability to write well. And here I don't mean books in the "how to" or "idiot's guide" genre no matter how useful they may be to a novice in any field, but rather books which are so brilliantly written that the reading of them ignites the flicker of creativity in the reader. I’m sure I’m not the first aspiring writer to fondly hope that if I imbibe sufficient of the creative fruits of others’ labours, somehow by a sort of strange osmosis, my own ability will be proportionately enhanced. Although sadly it’s not quite that simple, there is in fact a school of thought that claims the ability to write well is not a skill which is amenable to didactic transfer, but is rather instinctively and subconsciously absorbed from the constant reading of good books.

Perhaps this is true, at least to the extent that one gains the ability to quickly distinguish the dross from the real thing. As well, the more one reads, the more active a participant one becomes in the process, so that not only does one act as passive recipient of whatever the author has put before us but at the same time actively participates in assessing the technique with which the end product was created, in other words as someone I can’t remember once said “be everywhere present”.

In another sense, this is of course precisely the great joy and reward of reading, that you are enabled, despite the confines of your physical restraints, to be “everywhere present”. The ability of a good writer to take the reader on a journey out of his own world into another which he or she can perceive as real, just for the moment, is a pretty unique gift. When it works well we are happily taken along for the ride almost without realizing. If we reach the end of a book and the parting from that world and those characters who peopled it seems like a wrench as we put it away, we can say the writer did well. Strangely when it doesn’t work well, it’s often hard to determine just why, except that we know we aren’t getting taken anywhere and all that well meant effort, rather like a dud lover, is just not getting us to lift-off.

What makes the difference between the two is what the aspiring writer must learn. Tempted as I am to think it’s some sort of alchemy or the luck of being either brushed by genius or not, evidence exists to the contrary. No better evidence could be found really than first-hand advice from one who knows and that is there for the taking in Stephen King’s “On Writing”, a fascinating part memoir, part “how to” by one who is (whether you’re a science fiction aficionado or not) indisputably a master craftsman. His essential advice is quickly summed up in one paragraph … “if you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” So I think that answers my question really. Back to the page – both printed and blank!