All language subtitles for Masterclass Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing - 02.Getting Started as a Writer

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Well, I became
a writer partly I

think because I was
a very early reader.

And I was a very early
reader because I grew up

in the North Woods, and there
were no other forms out there.

So no radio, no television,
no theater, no cinema,

So no radio, no television,
no theater, no cinema,

no electricity, and no running
water, but there were books.

We weren't in a village.

We weren't in a town.

We were actually
out in the woods.

Except for the winters, we
would go back to a city.

So other children might
be afraid of being lost

amongst the trees, et cetera.

I was afraid of flush toilets.

What was going on there?

Why did things just vanish?

I was an early writer.

I was an early writer.

I wrote comics, and I
wrote little stories,

and I wrote my first
novel when I was seven.

It was about an ant.

It was not a great success,
but it was illustrated.

And then I lost
interest in writing.

I wanted to be a painter.

One of my first
entrepreneurial activities

was a puppetry business
in high school.

We ran birthday parties
for five-year-olds,

and the puppet shows were
always about those things

and the puppet shows were
always about those things

that are dear to the hearts
of five-year-olds, namely

cannibalism.

So they were the classics.

They were the
"Three Little Pigs."

They were "Little
Red Riding Hood,"

and they were
"Hansel and Gretel."

And I started riding
seriously again when I was 16.

Then I really wanted
to be a writer.

And I thought maybe I would
go to journalism school,

and I was discouraged
from that by being

told that if I was a female
working for a newspaper,

told that if I was a female
working for a newspaper,

I would be writing nothing but
the obituaries and the fashion

pages.

This was the '50s.

So then I thought I
would run away to Paris,

live in a garret, drink
absinthe, smoke cigarettes,

write masterpieces, die young.

But first, I would go to
English language and literature,

because I might conceivably
end up as a teacher

before jumping off the bridge.

before jumping off the bridge.

Then I ended up going
to graduate school

at Harvard, which was
proposed to me as being

better than being a waitress.

I would get more writing
done that way I was told

by those who were humoring me.

And I did have
one of my advisors

say that I should just forget
about this writing and graduate

school business and find a
good man and get married.

But I paid no attention to that.

So by this time, I
was already publishing

So by this time, I
was already publishing

in small literary
magazines, and I was already

writing the same kinds of
things that I have continued

to write, namely
poetry, fiction,

and nonfiction, and roughly
speaking, dramatic works.

So I continued
doing those things

in the world of little
magazines and small publishing,

and I published my first
book of poetry in 1966.

and I published my first
book of poetry in 1966.

I made the cover myself out of
letters and the little red dots

that you put on legal contracts.

That book of poetry won
the only literary prize

that was going in
Canada at that time.

And I got a letter from
one of the few publishing

companies that
then existed saying

they heard that I had a novel.

Well, I did have a novel.

It was my second novel.

My first had come to
nothing, but the second one I

My first had come to
nothing, but the second one I

had actually sent to
this very same publisher

two years before.

And they had accepted it.

So I wrote back to them saying
that that, actually, they

had my novel, and could
I please have it back?

The publishers said to
me, let's have a drink.

And he said, we'll
publish your book.

And I said, have you read it?

And he said, no, but I will.

Then he told me a whopping lie.

Then he told me a whopping lie.

He said that the reason
they'd lost track of my book

was that the female
editor in charge of it

had gotten pregnant.

And you know what that
does to their brains.

And she had put it in a
drawer and not told anybody.

But I have eyes everywhere.

I have my informants.

And I discovered that
what really had happened

was that it was on the
floor of his office

all of this time with
other people's manuscripts

piled on top of it.

But the upshot was that it
finally appeared in 1969, just

But the upshot was that it
finally appeared in 1969, just

in time for the
women's movement.

So it was one of
those books that

was considered, depending
on who is reviewing it,

either as an early women's
movement book or as a book

by quite a young writer
who would grow up later.

So that's how I became a writer.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I never start with an idea.

When people are
teaching books, books

that have already been finished,
then they can talk about ideas.

Because by that time, somebody
might know what the idea is

or what the ideas are.

The way we were taught
literature in high school

was probably backwards.

You were taught that there
was this container, the work

of art, and inside it, there
were these ideas like prizes

in a cracker jack box.

But that isn't usually
how writers write.

But that isn't usually
how writers write.

They start with characters.

They start with voices.

They start with scenes.

Sometimes my books have started
with objects, and out of that

comes a story.

Because what are
novels if not stories?

I start with
handwriting, because that

seems for me to allow
more of a flow from brain

to hand to page.

to hand to page.

So I'm transcribing and
typing at the same time

I'm continuing to
write, and that

allows me to remember
what I have just written.

And when I have about
maybe 50, 60 pages, then

I can start thinking
about structure.

As a rule, I work with a lot
of Post-It notes and notebooks,

and those afterthoughts
get stuck here and there

on the desk.

on the desk.

And then you incorporate
them into a draft.

But I'm more of
a downhill skier.

I try to go as fast as I can.

And then I have to backtrack a
lot and fill in and re-visions.

And when you re-vision
it, you say things

that you might not have seen
the first time through when

you were writing it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Nobody knows where
ideas come from.

Nobody knows where
ideas come from.

But let us say, if
you immerse yourself

in something, whether
it be music, painting,

or writing, or
thinking about science,

which I do quite a bit, if you
immerse yourself in something,

you are going to
get ideas about it.

But you have to do
the immersing first.

You're not just sitting
there waiting for lightning

to strike.

You're working in a metier.

And the more you work
in it, the more ideas

you will get about it.

you will get about it.

That's just how human creativity
works of whatever kind.

You don't always write
in a linear fashion.

Some people have to
start at the beginning

and go through in order
till they get to the end.

Some people like to
work at the page level,

at the sentence level,
and get that perfect

before they move on.

Others are much more prone
to revisioning once they

have a somewhat finished story.

have a somewhat finished story.

But there is no set
of surefire rules

that are going to
work for everyone.

So you can try
these suggestions.

If they don't work for
you, the wastepaper basket

is your friend.

You don't have to pay attention
to anybody else's set of rules.

You will discover
your own set of rules

by working with
your own material

and finding out what
best pleases you

and finding out what
best pleases you

when you're arranging that.

But the main thing
is that you're

trying to make your
book the best it

can be in its own terms.

And if these kinds of things are
helpful to you, that's great.

And if they're not,
disregard them.

If you really do want
to write, and you're

If you really do want
to write, and you're

struggling to get started,
you're afraid of something.

What is that fear?

Are you afraid that
people will laugh at you?

Are you afraid that
it won't be any good?

Are you afraid that your
mother will find out?

What is the fear?

And identify the fear.

Look that fear in the face.

And there are ways of dealing
with all of these fears.

And there are ways of dealing
with all of these fears.

People have used many
ways of dealing with them.

Some of them have
written under pseudonyms.

So if you're afraid your
mother will find out,

make up another name.

Write under that name.

If you're afraid that
people will laugh at you,

just remember you don't
have to show them anything

until you're ready.

It's only you and the page.

There is no crowd
of people standing

around making jeering noises.

around making jeering noises.

There may well be
a helpful person

that may be a
writer that you have

read who might be dead who you
think of as being your helper.

But that person is on your side.

So if you're struggling,
identify the fear and deal

with that fear and then
that door will open for you.

A lot of people think
about being writers,

A lot of people think
about being writers,

but when it comes to actually
writing something, they freeze.

So it's getting onto the page.

Unless you're writing
something on the page,

you're not writing.