About the writer I've earned my living as a freelance writer for over 35 years which has meant directing most of my effort into the commercial world, writing videos, theatrical conference presentations, training programmes, articles and - well, almost anything. It's been an interesting time; I've written programmes for some of the world's top companies featuring some great actors and the money, though sporadic, wasn't bad - essential if it's your main job and you need to pay the rent! I've also written for TV - including a couple of programmes for the late-lamented Spike Milligan - and like all freelance writers, I suspect, I've done many other things to keep the wolf from the door. In no particular order I've been a recording engineer, a naval airman, (aircraft handler 3rd class - the lowest of the low) creative director of a London advertising agency and a South African video company, estate manager, writer-producer in ITV, taxi driver, Artistes and Repertoire Manager for a London record company, lived for a time in Spain where I wrote a book on Conference Organisation and taught English, went to听 Rome on a motorbike to sell a film project of mine, failed and returned nine months later, older and wiser but enormously enriched by the whole experience.听 People sometimes say 'Oh, haven't you had an interesting life' which always provokes the annoyed response 'No - I AM HAVING an interesting life' But now I'm supposed to be retired (hah! tell that to my bank manager!)听 I reckon it's time for yet another career. And having spent most of my writing life turning out words to order for other people I reckon it's time to try out some things of my own. It's not easy. I've got into the habit of writing to order and without the spur of a commission I succumb to severe attacks of displacement activity - fix the squeaky front door, mend the leaky tap, anything but write! Anyone got a cure for this? The creative process Ah, the Creative Process! I wish I knew how it happens. But having spent my childhood in pre-television days I did a lot of reading and learnt the trick of turning black marks on a printed page into mind pictures of amazing people, fascinating places and exciting events. After a while it became quite natural to work the other way around - have the mind pictures and turn them into words - which is what writing's all about. Perhaps the moral of the story is that writers shouldn't look at too much telly - it's a director's medium and - with a few honourable exceptions - you'll get what the director wants you to see, not what the writer hopes you'll imagine with his/her guidance. What kick starts the process? Anything really - someone you meet or overhear behaving oddly, a paragraph in a newspaper or magazine, an event or incident that happened to you, suitably embroidered to carry the story you want to tell. And I'm a great believer in the 'What If...? approach. Example: I recently read a biography of Karl Marx by Francis Wheen (great fun, highly recommended!) and discovered that in the late 19th century Marx stayed a while in Harrogate, taking the waters. When he came, the composer Edward Elgar was in his teens and his father was trying to persuade him to forget a musical career and become a solicitor. Elgar's father ran a music shop in Gloucester and eked out a meagre income as a piano tuner. What If....he'd come to Harrogate to tune someone's piano, brought his son with him - and Marx and the young Elgar had met in the Valley Gardens? Totally fictitious, of course, but the conversation between the old, embittered Marx and the young, idealistic composer-to-be is currently occupying most of my waking thoughts! I write on a computer, which I must admit worries me a bit. It's so easy to make changes, not a good idea if you want to reach that great moment when you write 'The End' and know that absolutely everything you've written before that is as good as you can make it. Show me the writer who can make that claim! This is where a deadline is useful. If someone (preferably with some money to dish out) says 'I want it by Monday' it concentrates the mind wonderfully because you just HAVE to finish the thing. That's not to say I'm against re-writing, it's just that the computer encourages constant niggling over a sentence or a paragraph, preventing you (me, anyway) from reaching The End so you can start to revise properly. Get it all down, warts and all, and fiddle with it afterwards. Samuel Johnson - the Writers' Patron Saint I reckon - gave some good advice to writers: 'Read over carefully what you have written; and when you come across something you consider to be particularly fine - strike it out!' In other words, it's harder to write a听 plain, simple, brief piece that really moves the reader than to write a florid 100,000 word novel. It's why the short story is the hardest thing to bring off successfully. Strange that lots of writers think because it's short it's easier to write.听 I think it helps writing if you love music. Aside from the obvious benefits of remembering tones and cadences in speech so you can recreate them on the page I think there are lessons to be learned from the way music is structured, where the climaxes are placed and what sounds are used to create them. This may be more useful in poetry - word music - but it has its uses in prose too, I think. And the only other thing is: trust your instinct. When you start a new piece you're on your own, so don't worry about creating a great work of art. Just write for yourself - and enjoy it! Robin O'Connor (who perhaps should listen to his own advice about writing shorter!) |
