Sort of inspired by BBC 4′s new show about British novellists, which I suppose is more Listening to Writers but the principle is the same.
We all read the work of other writers (I assume) but I think reading about how they write can be rewarding too. Though not all of them want to talk; PG Wodehouse is one of my favourite writers but in is his Over Seventy, which is the closest he really comes to an autobiography, he dismisses the idea of talking about writing completely, claiming that the actual process is boring (as was much Over Seventy i’m sorry to say). Now, for the average person he may well be right, (I discovered early on that, while ‘I’m a writer’ is a pretty good chat up line, following it up with a description of what that entails is whatever the exact opposite of a chat up line is.) but for other writers it can be fascinating. Wodehouse’s last unfinished book ‘Sunset at Blandings’ comes with notes in the back showing how it might have panned out and talking about how he worked. From this I learnt that all wodehouse’s country houses (and there are many) are based on real places to ensure that their geography remains consistent throughout his books. How is that not interesting?
In a completely different type of writing I saw an interview with composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim explaining how he uses the metre of a song to time a joke. And that the famously awakward ‘love farce’ line in Send in the Clowns is deliberately awkward so that the actor is forced to enunciate the words, contributing to the needling nature of the song.
This very morning I caught the tail end of an interview with a novellist on BBC Breakfast (annoyingly too late to find out who the hell he was) who said he spent two years planning a book then 50 days, 6 hours a day, writing. It works for him.
I’m not saying that I read or listen to all these people and adopt everything (hell, they mostly disagree with each other) but it’s always interesting to hear whatever successful writers have to say; maybe you learn something, maybe it’s just another point of view. The advice Terry Pratchett gives young writers is to create a pair of characters then let them talk and interact until a plot comes out of it. That’s basically what I did with my last sitcom script.
And that’s a huge thrill, for me at any rate, when a writer you admire recomends something that you already do.
It’s a little early (or late) for new year’s resolutions, but my mid year one is to read more of what writers have to say about their work, about the process and the inspiration behind it. There may well be absolutely nothing to learn because, God knows, you can’t emulate inspiration, but that makes it no less interesting to read about.



