Writing is an act of pure discipline. No one demands I transfer thoughts (hopefully significant) to paper or computer screen. No one leans over my shoulder or paces around the table encouraging me or yelling at me to get it done.
Due to the
metamorphosis of thought into written language, the solitary process of writing
requires an enormous amount of discipline.
We’re taking the already difficult attempt at communication, and then striving
to construct a complex piece of literature.
As writers, our task lies in this evolution of communication. Some people might say, “I write for
myself.” While this is a great starting
point (and the only one I know of), the completed work should ideally be
accessible to some sort of target audience.
I’ve strayed
from discussing my point about discipline, but I think my purpose behind
writing should be revealed in order to provide a reason for developing fierce,
and I mean fierce, discipline. I
recently finished Stephen King’s memoir about his life as a writer (thanks, Meg
Mary, for lending me the book). King states
that to be a true writer, you must take that shit serious - you can’t tinker
with it here and think about it there.
In his early years, every day after work he closed the door of the
laundry room in his doublewide and wrote for four hours. Door shut, alone in a room, balancing a
typewriter on his lap, he worked while his wife (who has always supported him
and is a published author in her own right) watched the children - he existed
in a sphere of solitude and self-discipline (I don’t intend to sound sexist,
for the women writers the husband can sit his ass in the other room watching
the children and leave you to your work as well).
During my
first semester fiction workshop with Professor Furman, we read a book about
Emerson on writing, and an Emerson quote stuck with me: "The way to write is to throw your body
at the mark when your arrows are spent."
To me, Emerson is stating that writing is an all or nothing endeavor, so
to be a serious writer you can’t half-ass it.
I can be
extremely undisciplined by nature, so striving for rigorous self-control can be
a brick wall sometimes, but once I get that first sentence down, the brick wall
begins to fade, thoughts connect, and I make sure to ride that momentum to at
least 500 words. Which to me is not near
enough (and I don’t write 500 words a day, but when I can, I sure as hell do). I think King remarked that he writes 2,000
words a day.
I’m not
saying we all have to be as prolific as Stephen King, but what we do is not
what “normal” people do, therefore, we must be abnormal in our work ethic. In order to become writers, I believe we must
go beyond other peoples’ capabilities in terms of perseverance and work
ethic.
A few notable authors’ writing habits:
Maya Angelou - 10–12 pages of material a day, which she
edits down to three or four pages in the evening.
Graham Greene - counted each word, and would stop for the
day at 500, even if he were in the middle of a sentence.
James
Joyce – “In the pantheon of great writers of the last century,
Joyce looms large. And while more prolific writers set themselves a word or
page limit, Joyce prided himself in taking his time with each sentence. A
famous story has a friend asking Joyce in the street if he’d had a good day
writing. Yes, Joyce replied happily. How much had he written? Three sentences,
Joyce told him” (writetodone.com).
(Personally, I’d suggest writing more, we can’t all be James f-ing
Joyce, nor should we be.)
Jack London - between 1,000 and 1,500 words each day.
Joyce Carol Oates – “I try to begin
work as early as possible, 8:30 a.m., perhaps, and I try to work until past
noon or 1 p.m. I try again to write in the evening. Much of my writing is
‘remembering’—I imagine scenes, entire chapters while running or walking—I am
very dependent upon this meditative quiet time.”
Currently, Ben Hill Parham is an
MFA - Fiction student and GTA of English composition in the FAU creative
writing program. He grew up in LaGrange, GA drinking beer around big
fires.
No comments:
Post a Comment