All language subtitles for Masterclass Salman Rushdie Teaches Storytelling and Writing - 02.Determine How to Tell Your Story

SALMAN RUSHDIE: I think
this is at the heart

of the whole of
literature, which

is the one thing that is the
great constant is human nature.

In whatever age, in
whatever country,

human beings are the same.

We have the same longings.

We have the same flaws.

We have the same ambitions.

And I think one
of the reasons why

we can read with pleasure
literature written hundreds

of years ago or
written in a country

of years ago or
written in a country

that we have no idea about is
because human nature is there.

If the story feels truthful
about human beings,

then it speaks to us.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

If you're going to
build a big car,

you should put a big
engine in it, you know.

And the big engine is what makes
the car a pleasure, you know.

And the big engine is what makes
the car a pleasure, you know.

A big car with an
inadequate engine

is a kind of disappointment.

So-- so the engine for
me has always been story.

And so I've always
tried to put that--

that kind of vroom-vroom
factor, you know,

what drives the book
at the center of it

whatever else it may
or may not be doing.

Without conflict,
it's hard to have--

it's hard to have drama.

it's hard to have drama.

I mean, one of the things--

famous lines by-- about
literature the French writer

Henry de Montherlant
said about happiness

that it's almost
impossible to write about.

He said-- he said,
happiness writes

in white ink on a white page.

You know, it doesn't show up.

If people are happy,
there's no story, you know.

He-- these people are
happy, we are told.

The end, you know, because
what else is there to say?

The hardest thing I think of
all is to write about happiness.

The hardest thing I think of
all is to write about happiness.

In order to get started
writing on a project,

there are I consider
six essential questions

that you need to answer.

The first question is,
whose story are you telling?

You need to be clear about
that because a novel is

a long piece of work.

There'll be characters
coming in and out, et cetera.

There'll be characters
coming in and out, et cetera.

You really need to know
what is through line.

It could be two people.

It doesn't have
to be one person.

But you need to be
quite clear about that.

And then the most obvious
question is, what's the story?

And again, that-- different
writers answer that question

differently, you know.

Some writers need to have
a very, very clear sense

of the storyline
from beginning to end

before they can start work.

Other writers are different.

Other writers are different.

They will have a general
sense of the story.

They'll know that the
character needs to go from here

and end up there.

When I started writing,
I really needed

to know a lot about the
character, what the story is.

I needed to have
that sketched out.

I needed to have notes and
architecture, plans, and so on.

And-- and now I find--

I mean, I still have some
sense of all those things.

But it's much more that I every
day try and discover the story.

But it's much more that I every
day try and discover the story.

If you compare it to music,
it's like the difference

between composing a
symphony and playing jazz.

With a symphony, everything is
written down in full notation,

you know.

And there it is.

The musicians have to
just interpret that.

With jazz, of course,
there's a general sense

of-- of the shape.

But there's an enormous amount
of room for improvisation

and play in the middle of that.

And the third question is,
why are you telling the story?

And the third question is,
why are you telling the story?

You can answer that
personally because it's

to do with something
in your life that--

that motivates you
to tell the story.

You can answer it
politically, you know,

that there's some
subject, you know,

external to your own life
that you want to get into.

So there's many
ways to answer it.

But you should know why
you're telling the story.

Otherwise-- otherwise,
why bother to tell it?

Then there's questions
of time and place.

Then there's questions
of time and place.

There's-- there's a when
question and a where question.

Obviously, the
most natural thing

in a way for somebody
starting out to write a book

is to set it in the
time with which they're

most familiar, which is to
say the present, you know.

Although, a lot of books,
particularly first novels,

including-- including mine,
take place in childhood,

but you need to be
clear about the time.

Because if that time is
to be vivid to the reader,

Because if that time is
to be vivid to the reader,

then you need to be able to
create that time on the page,

you know, that--

I mean, the slang
of 40 years ago,

30 years ago is not
the slang of today.

The things people see, you know,
the commercials on television,

the billboards in the
street, the daily look

and sound of the city, you
know, it's not the same.

And then where is just
the question of place.

And depending on what kind of
book it is, you know, that--

if it's a science
fiction story, that place

could be anywhere
in the universe.

could be anywhere
in the universe.

But that idea of location
for me has always

been absolutely
crucial as a writer.

But I find that I can't get
the wheels turning properly

until I know what the ground
is under the wheels, you know.

So-- so I have to make the
place decision very early.

And the sixth
question is actually--

it's the hardest question.

Sixth question is, how are
you going to tell the story?

And this is a matter
of form and language.

I mean, you can think of books
where there's almost no story.

I mean, you can think of books
where there's almost no story.

And there are some
very great novels.

You think of James
Joyce's "Ulysses."

All that happens is a man walks
around Dublin for a day running

into people here and there
while his wife is being

unfaithful to him back home.

There's no great event.

It's just that.

But because the language
is so extraordinary,

the telling of it
is so exceptional,

we think of it as one of the
greatest novels ever written.

we think of it as one of the
greatest novels ever written.

So the how question--

you can mess up a good idea by
getting the how question wrong,

you know.

And in my early career
before I published

anything worth reading really,
I made those mistakes, you know.

I had ideas, which, in
retrospect, looking back,

if I had written
them differently,

if I had written them
more straightforwardly,

they would have been
better because I

tried to fool around and
be fancy with it, you know.

tried to fool around and
be fancy with it, you know.

I messed it up.

But those six questions,
the six questions are--

if you have answers to that,
you know, whose story you're

telling, what's the story,
why are you telling it,

when is it set, where
does it take place,

and how are you
going to tell it,

if you know how to
answer those questions,

you know how to write it.

And you can start.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You could write yourself letters
about the book as if you were--

You could write yourself letters
about the book as if you were--

as if you were talking
to a friend, you know.

And your friend
is saying to you,

what are you writing about?

What you want to-- what do
you want to write about?

You know, because if we're
actually talking to people,

and we want them to-- to listen
to what we are telling them,

you know, we have to try and
be as interesting as we can.

Otherwise, they're
going to say, OK, well,

I've had enough of that.

So that's an interesting
way of seeing

if you've got the story
into some kind of shape.

Just imagine you
telling it to, somebody

Just imagine you
telling it to, somebody

yourself telling it
to somebody orally.

Choose a friend in
your mind, you know.

And talk to them about it.

And you could do that
on paper, you know.

And then see what
you think of it.

See if you think you've got
something that people will

be interested to listen to.