Original subtitles

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You become a writer by writing.

There is no other way.

So do it.

Do it more.

Do it again.

Do it better.

Fail.

Fail better.

I think it's a good idea, especially when

you're-- you're younger, you keep your hand in by writing

you're-- you're younger, you keep your hand in by writing

something every day.

So I recommend it.

But it's another of those recommendations

that I myself have been unable to follow.

I think it's a-- it's a question of being

able to improvise your time.

You come across these descriptions

of how people in the golden age, all of them

were men, managed their time.

So they got up in the morning.

They had this lovely breakfast prepared by somebody else.

They had this lovely breakfast prepared by somebody else.

And then, they went into their oak bookshelved study

and sat at a large mahogany desk and they did some writing.

And then, someone would come in with a silver tea service

and they would have some tea or something.

And then, do a bit more writing.

And then, they would have a lovely lunch,

prepared by somebody else.

And that would be cleared away.

And then, they would go back and do a bit more writing.

And then, they would have a lovely stroll

around the gardens, maintained by their gardener.

around the gardens, maintained by their gardener.

And then they would have some choice friends

in for the evening to another lovely dinner prepared

by somebody else.

So that's not my life.

And it's probably not the life of many people that you know.

So for that reason, you have to be prepared to be interrupted.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

A lot of things that-- that-- that interest me

involve problem solving.

I still paint myself into a corner

and then try to figure out how to get out of it.

So a lot of it is a bit like that.

But it's also, I think, just--

just the process, which has always made me quite happy

and involved me quite deeply.

I know that it's fashionable in some circles

I know that it's fashionable in some circles

to talk about how much you suffer as a writer.

And you do suffer in-- in some ways,

particularly if you're delving deep into material

that you find painful or that is objectively painful.

But I probably wouldn't do it if it was--

if the suffering was greater than the reward.

If you're encountering a blockage--

I won't say a block, but a blockage--

I won't say a block, but a blockage--

there are two things you can do.

One of them is go for a walk.

This is a well-known, ancient remedy.

And the next one is go to sleep.

So tell yourself the problem.

Go to sleep.

When you wake up, you may well have the solution.

And another good thing is ironing.

Ironing-wise, it's a repetitive manual activity.

It's quite conducive to thoughts coming

It's quite conducive to thoughts coming

in from the-- the sides, which is what you

need when you've hit a block.

Discipline, sticking to it, fortitude, grit,

get back on the horse that threw you, all those types of things.

They are all very well to say, but if the person's problem

is that they don't have those qualities.

How do you foster them?

How do you-- how do you defeat the devils themself, doubt,

that are usually the--

the things that are stopping people?

the things that are stopping people?

It's always better to actually do something.

You sit down at the keyboard, pick up the pen,

rather than to brood about the fact that you're not doing it.

Do it.

However, crummy you may think the result may be,

at least you're moving.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I did write a book about writing,

I did write a book about writing,

not how to write and not my writing,

but just what is writing.

How does it differ from, say, opera singing or ballet dancing

or even painting as an art form?

And I started out with motivation.

And I went to ancient writers, more recent writers,

writers I knew.

And the question was, why do you write?

And the question was, why do you write?

But the answers were so many and varied.

So they ranged all the way from to just--

justify the ways of God to man, to--

to show up those horrible people who

made fun of me in high school, to get back at my enemies,

or to improve the lot of mankind,

or to make a lot of money, or to--

to create a little boudoir, so that the reader can go into it

to create a little boudoir, so that the reader can go into it

and have fun.

So a huge range of-- of motives.

We weren't really going to get anywhere that way.

So I switched the question.

And the question I then asked was, what

is it like going into a book?

And every answer had something to do with darkness.

And even the answers from people like Virginia Woolf,

who were-- who were dead, said, it's

who were-- who were dead, said, it's

like going into a dark room and holding up

a lamp, which illuminates the things that were there already.

And one person said it's like going through a tunnel that's

dark, but at the very end of it, you can see some light.

And so all of the answers had to do

with going into something that was dark, you couldn't see,

you didn't know what was there, and then bringing

some form of illumination.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I think if you're writing, it's important to write something,

to keep your hand in, or just to continue

the process of writing.

And a lot of it may be stuff you don't use or throw out,

but the mere fact that you are--

that your mind is engaged with it

and that you're working on something.

Now, some of it is--

is like spinning your wheels, which you

is like spinning your wheels, which you

can do in either snow or mud.

And you don't always know that that's

what it is, until you step back and look at this and say,

where is this going?

You know, what is the story?

What is the story the person is telling?

Any form of human creativity is a process

of doing it and getting better at it.

If you look at the juvenilia of a lot of famous writers,

it's usually pretty bad.

it's usually pretty bad.

It shows, quotes, "promise."

But they don't get good at it, until they've

done it for a while.

Once in awhile, you get a screaming genius,

who's good at it early on, but those tend to be math geniuses.

Writing people-- and it's a lucky thing about--

about writing, they don't usually peak in their 20s.

It's usually quite a lot later on.

It's usually quite a lot later on.

Why is that?

Because writing is about people and stories about people.

And you know more about people and their stories

as you get older.

You just learn more.

You hear more stories.

You see more and you experience more.

So a writer who is, say, 65 can remember

what it was like to be 25.

But a writer who is 25 is gonna really have

But a writer who is 25 is gonna really have

to work pretty hard to even get any idea of what

it's like to be 65.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

OK.

Practicalities.

Keyboarding can give you an awful pain in the neck.

And it can also be quite bad for your eyes.

So take some breaks.

Walk around.

Take some-- take some posture lessons before it's too late

and you get all scrunched over, like me.

and you get all scrunched over, like me.

Yeah.

So it can-- it can be--

it's not the healthiest way to spend the day,

crouched over the keyboard, quite frankly.

Take a walk.

You also may find that ideas come to you when you're walking

that don't come when you're-- when you're straining

and struggling.

And so be kind to yourself.

Take some time off.

Have a break.

Do some stretching.

Do some stretching.

This is good advice.

You'll thank me later.