"So you want to be a writer"

Allegra Goodman of Kaaterskill Falls, The Family Markowitz, and Intuition fame twists the old "I wanna be a writer" chestnut in yesterday's Boston Globe in "So you want to be a writer? Here's how." To which chestnut to I refer? The way I know the story is this:

A writer is at a party when she is approached by a brain surgeon.

Brain surgeon: I'm a brain surgeon. What do you do?
Writer: I'm a writer.
BS: Oh, I want to write a book next summer.
Writer: Great. I'm going to try brain surgery next summer.

Goodman uses different professions to make the point (her final retort to a physicist-writer-wannabe: she's got a great idea for unified field theory) and goes on to give those who are writing a book this summer some good advice:

1. Before writing about yourself, observe and write about others. One could argue that all writing is about oneself but I'm with her on this for new writers. Great training inherent in observing and writing clearly about others. She writes: "A writer attempts to understand others from the inside."
2. Write in a quiet place. This belief on my part prompted a famous family line when our little girls would come in to talk while I was writing. Me: "Would you like to leave by yourself or do I need to escort you out?" Daughter #1: "Scort me out."
3. Read, read, and read some more. Many writers I know, myself sometimes included, use Chekhov for the jump-start but it goes further than that, as Goodman says. "...dissect books in your mind. What, exactly, makes David Sedaris funny? How does George Orwell fill us with dread?"
4. Reserve the same kind of time for writing as your most serious work. "Trust me, you can't write a novel in stolen minutes outside your daughter's tap class," Goodman writes. I agree. While you might be able to improve craft in snippets, you need sustained time, hour after hour, to write a coherent piece. In my experience, I can write in shorter stretches once I've got a piece going, especially when it comes to rewriting, but I need that first stretch to lay out enough foundation to keep moving.

Comments

[Sue Haigh]

I too like to write in quiet places - in my case deep underground in a cave-house in the heart of France.

But many writers succesful writers have chosen the buzz of life around them before putting pen to screen. Sartre and de Beauvoir, amongst many others, were devoted Parisian café writers, constantly inspired by the passing stream of cultural and political life and the talk of their colleagues.

[jessica lipnack]

If you ever need a cavesitter, Sue, please let me know. Me, I've written everywhere--buses, trains, planes, and while standing on my head. Wherever you can tap that vein of concentration, I guess.

[Steve Teicher]

I got lots of topics to write about, but I may lose too many of them to old age decay before i get started.

Maybe I should try a cave.

Hopefully I will find one without a bear or gator.

[Sue Haigh]

If any of you guys are ever in my my part of the world, call in - cave houses are the houses of the past and the future - constant temperature, no air cond or heating required, hurricane proof, no roof repairs. And QUIET!

[Anne]

It does take time, no matter what, unless you are willing to go out into the world with something undercooked. I, for one, prefer short stretches of time over long ones. One hour per day is ideal, and I prefer to do it outside the home in a crowded train or cafe. I tried writing full time in a quiet place (not a cave, maybe that was my problem) and I couldn't adjust--most of my problem-solving happens while I am doing something else and thinking about the novel. Or reading something else. Of course this means it takes many years for me to finish a novel. So be it.