LEARNING TO WRITE FICTION:

I am reading a book on how to write fiction (and think about it) and I am really enjoying it! The good news is that I have already been doing a lot of the things that a writer in training should do to build fitness, such as writing regularly, keeping journals, going around with a notebook in hand to record thoughts and observations, reflecting on my dreams when I wake up, and reading, reading, reading... The bad news is that looking back at some of my own writing (which has drawn a lot of praise from people who read a lot and with whom I share reading taste), I find that it is riddled with some of the more common mistakes that beginning (or BAD) writers make!! This led me to thinking that either:

1. My writing is not all it is cracked out to be – and that therefore my assessors and I are no good

Or

2. Reading these kinds of books (on how to write well) is going to make me sooo critical of my writing, that I’m never going to be able to produce anything that I think is worth publishing!

If the latter is true, then woe is me!! :-/

Ah well, on the bright side, I have such a passion for writing, that very little can truly discourage me - that is surely a plus. Secondly, it turns out that one of the best ways to train as an aspiring writer is to read, and God knows I love to read; moreover,I have read A LOT! Thirdly, I am a quick learner; and what’s more, a reflective one This means that I can only get better if I apply myself! I am sure writers, no matter how gifted, still need to learn how to express themselves and this does not happen overnight. Fourthly, this self criticism can only drive me to better performance; I cannot imagine a bigger obstacle to learning than thinking one is already good enough!

So anyway, reflecting on what I have been reading, I am particularly intrigued by two processes: characterisation and plot. In the case of characterisation, I have always wondered how writers make up completely fictional yet wonderfully believable characters, and was always sceptical about that disclaimer that they include at the beginning of the book that the characters portrayed were completely fictitious and any resemblance to actual living or dead persons was not intentional. As it turns out, or according to this book anyway, it is perfectly possible for these kinds of characters to actually be 'born' within the writer's subconscious!! Obviously, just like babies, they will bear a resemblance to their parents and other relatives (read the people with whom the writer comes into contact), but just like children, they will have a personality all of their own nevertheless.

I found this so intriguing that all day today I have been trying to imagine the response of different characters to different stimuli: in the book they ask you to imagine the reaction of a passenger in a non-smoking compartment of a train to another person who walks in, sits down and lights up. I immediately pictured a non confrontational and self effacing woman, and compared her possible reaction to that of an irritated, overworked, underpaid civil servant for instance. Immediately the possibilities for creating characters opened up to me! Before that, I had worried that I had not interacted with enough people, did not know enough of human behaviour etc. But now that I think about it, maybe reading all those books on behavioural psychology was preparation for just such a time!! Not to mention all those books on religion, politics, the law, feminism, geography, and heaps and heaps of fiction of all genres (except horrors!!) In future these should help me flesh characters out and organise plot.

Speaking of plot, the book says that writers generally use one of two approaches: either they will plan it all out from the beginning, or they will write whatever comes as it comes to them - the end might even get written first, so that the writer writes backwards.. Either way, the one who starts out by laying it all out is likely to force himself into a box, otherwise he will wander away from the plan by all means. This for me was a source of great release - I tend to try and know the end from the beginning; failing that, I often cannot even begin to write a story!!

All in all, comforting thoughts.

(This is an opportune moment to stop I think, writers are advised not to write beyond the end of the story. As it is, the conflict that I started out with is resolved, and the reader (I hope) feels like they have closure. It is also important that the reader does not suspect the writer of cheating - you know like how in a book or a movie, conflict is resolved by highly unlikely people or circumstances - like aliens coming out of no where to rescue the captives; or someone suddenly rising from the dead a la South American soap opera)

A last note: I hope I am not going to fall into the habit of analysing everything I write to death!! That might a bit boring..