Notes
(Things underlined that other people say that help me stay sane when writing feels terrifying)
Strout always starts off with a scene. “I learned that years ago, when my daughter was small and I only had a couple of hours: OK, if I can get a scene down with a heartbeat to it, then it will connect with others eventually. So when I write a scene, I try to use whatever is most urgent in me at that moment and transpose it into a character, so that it will be a living thing that’s real.” The scenes are always sequential and she often gets stuck. “Oh, all the time. And I just keep writing different scenes, keep literally scratching them out and lots of them end up on the floor. And then I’ll realise oh, this works, and this works with it.”
Interview in the Guardian; love this notion of writing in scenes (scene-matically?)
So how are you feeling now?
When I first read this draft I did what I normally do, which was to tell my husband that my career was over, and he said what he always says, which is, ‘You’ve said this a million times before – it is going to be OK.’ And then I go ‘No, but this book really is terrible.’ So I went through that, but actually now because I’m towards the end, I did just skip back to some pages that I had marked up and changed. I read them and thought no, it’s fine, you’re OK at your job. Readers might like this.
What would you say to other writers who are looking at their first draft and feeling despair?
That despair is the most useful thing for you as a writer, and you should channel it into making it better. Every author I know thinks that their book is an utter pile of crap after the first draft. The Whatsapps that come in: ‘I’ve just read it back. It’s over. I’m going to have to pay back my advance.’ And actually I’d be worried about an author who read a first draft and went, ‘This is genius, I’m obviously the next James Joyce, I’m going to win prizes, Hollywood’s coming knocking.’ Nobody writes good first drafts. The despair is part of the process.
Also – well done, you’ve written a book, and no one can ever take that away from you. Celebrate your terrible, terrible finished first draft, because it is an amazing achievement.
From Hattie Crissell’s newsletter, In Writing, interview with Holly Bourne.
At what point do you know that you need to stop and move on to writing something else?
I mean, it’s tricky, because for me, I always want to quit two thirds of the way through! (Laughs) Always, always, always! I am convinced it is a total failure and I can’t get to the end. My husband has to remind me that I always feel this way. And it’s true! Having said that, once you’ve gotten two thirds of the way through, it would be really stupid to stop, because there’s something that got you there and you can get to the end.
I think for a lot of young writers, that lesson can be really difficult to learn.
Well, I think that if for days and weeks and months, you can’t see your way past page 20, then that’s probably telling you something. And personally, I know that in between novels, I usually have a practice novel or two before the real novel comes to me. For whatever reason that’s kind of what has to happen, so it’s okay if I just surrender. But after a hundred pages, I don’t think I could surrender… But I think most of the time you have to stick with it! And I do actually think that if you set your mind to it, you can stick with anything and make it work in some way or another.
From an interview with Lily King on The Talks
3. How do you fuel your writing process?
If I’m at the beginning of a project, I give myself permission to write a lot of terrible sentences without judging myself, just to get the first draft down. If I’m at a later stage, it’s important to stay organized: I’ll make a list of corrections and address them one at a time, from what feels easiest to the hardest. And if I ever feel stuck at any point, the answer is always, always to read. The solution I’m looking for is in a book that already exists, and done in a more elegant way than I could’ve ever imagined (which I can then just copy! It’s great!).
I love making lists of corrections to work through. From an interview with Jean Chen Ho at The Pen; I just loved her story collection, Fiona and Jane
There’s a moment when you have to cross the threshold between daily life and the world of your novel or story. I find if I read something it can carry me across into my own work – not just any old thing, but a few sentences from one of my talismanic books, my guides – Bowen, or Munro, say. Not to get lost in it, but to enter the sphere of its power, the power of its precision and vivid particularity. Often that works the magic that enables me to begin.
Finally, what advice would you like to share with aspiring authors?
Read, read, read. Don’t be afraid of copying the work you most admire. Sometimes a bold imitation is immensely liberating – through it you can find your way to your own words. Don’t shy away from what you’re afraid or ashamed to write. It’s often where you’re most uncomfortable that you’ll actually write best, with most accuracy and originality.
From an interview with Tessa Hadley for Curtis Brown Creative; ‘I find that if I read something it can carry me across into my own work – not just any old thing, but a few sentences from one of my talismanic books.’ I do this too, I love this idea of entering into a ‘sphere of precision and particularity’ in order to begin.