Falling In Love: The Writer’s Life

Now, writing a novel has always been a dream of mine. In fact, it’s on my bucket list. I have a plan. And a very detailed character list. And a blow-by-blow plan of every twist and every element in the novel. There is nothing in the novel that isn’t in the plan, and I have begun, this summer to write the chapters. Y’know, the fundamental basis of the novel; the text. And I find it something that it is very hard to do part-time.

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I’m working at the moment, however when I’m not working, at three o’clock in the morning for instance, I find myself perusing the ten thousand words I’ve already written, scratching my head, and wondering how I can improve the novel, the characters, and the flow of the novel. It’s a job I’ve always dreamed of having. Writing, is the only job I can really imagine doing; and thus this very blog, which is almost a year old now, was born.

I can imagine myself, in five years or so, in a house which has an office stuffed full of books, a comfortable desk chair, and my laptop. I could contentedly work there, for ten hours or so a day, writing down all the stuff my rather expansive imagination comes up with. I would blog, at the same time, and perhaps write commissioned pieces, editorials, and do some editing work too. I could travel; laptops are rather portable, as are ideas. Travel produces ideas, and creates different perspectives. One of my biggest ambitions is to spend six months or so, travelling around South America, and writing about it. Combining two of my favourite pastimes, it would be one of the best years of my entire life.

But anyway, I’m working on the novel. It’s gonna be interesting, and has a historical aspect that I like, because I am intensely interested in both of the World Wars, and the impact it had on families and their dynamics. I hope it’ll be something I look back on in a few years, and call it my first good thing; my first successful venture into the world of publishing. I hope that comes true, and I can imagine spending all my free time writing, because that’s all I’ve ever really wanted to be, or do.

There are some problems, with the writer’s life though; the first is that you have no externally imposed structure, and so you have to be well-disciplined, and able to commit yourself to work, even when there are a variety of distractions around you. The second is writer’s block. I’ve had a few weeks recently, where there was nothing I could say. I couldn’t write anything worth a dime. But then I caught a cold, and spent a week at home, watching old episodes of Friends, and all of a sudden, I remembered why I wanted to be an author. And when my new laptop came, and I did the thing, you know, where you sort out all the old files on your computer,I found the drafts and plans I made for a novel, about a year ago. And with nothing else to do with my time, I decided to start writing it again.

And frankly, it’s been the best four days of the summer, so far. Despite the raging cold, and an ability to talk like Darth Vader.

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(1) http://cjwriter.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/fountain_pen.jpg?w=600

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Granta: The Magazine of New Writing

Granta  is one of those publications in the world that allows new, aspiring writers to publish their new work. Reading the magazine allows the reader to feel as though they too are the edge of literary development. Literature breaks ground every single day; the process never ends, and it remains to evolve over and over again.

Personally, I’ve had a subscription for two years, since I was sixteen years old. I adore the magazine, and I read it, and annotate it to pieces every time it flies through my letterbox. Recently I was re- acquainted with the charm of literature; it began to elude me for a little while, when I was studying for A levels that were at best robotic, and almost dehumanizing. The systematic study of a text essentially begins to remove a personal perception or interpretation; working towards a mark scheme only adds to the sense of futility of actually studying a text. It removes the mystical beauty of it and instead creates a monster completely lacking in soul.

A Collection of Magazines.

So I read through it, at the same time as I plough my way through Rivkin and Ryan and their collection of literature. I read, and I read and I hope that one day, I’ll be published in it. I’ll go straight to Ikea and buy the biggest and most beautiful photo frame and stick it up, right on the wall, where I can see it everyday.

As far as I can see, writing takes a huge amount of discipline; much more than anyone really gives them credit for, because without an office, and a cubicle, a person has to sit down and write of their own accord… push through the writer’s block, completely alone. That is possibly very unsatisfying; being completely alone in your quest to create something worth publishing, or something that people will want to read, however at the same time, there must be a degree of liberation in being entirely dependant on yourself; it is only you that makes it happen, and so when it does happen, and the words are flying off the keyboard, making pretty pictures, and pretty metaphors, then the success is entirely yours. It is literally yours alone, and you don’t have to share with anyone.

So being a part of the aspirational world of the written word can really only be a blessing, and something to be proud of. Anyone who wants to join can, but only those who really want everything in it get to stay for the long run.

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