All language subtitles for Masterclass Salman Rushdie Teaches Storytelling and Writing - 11.Observing the World

[MUSIC PLAYING]

SALMAN RUSHDIE: I would say that
every writer that is any good,

is that they have sharp
observational powers.

And those can be developed.

If you set yourself
the task of noticing,

it's amazing how much
you will begin to notice.

You should have a sharp eye.

You should have a sharp eye.

You should be able
to look at the world.

And you should be
a good noticer.

You know, you should try to
notice things wherever you go.

What is happening on
this street, you know?

It may mean looking
away from the action.

You know, look at the
corners of the vision.

What's happening in
the corner of your eye,

not straight ahead?

When we normally just
walk down the street,

we can be lost in our thoughts.

We can be on the
phone to somebody.

We can be on the
phone to somebody.

We can be distracted.

But if you set yourself the task
of noticing when you walk down

the street, you'll
actually be surprised

by how much you do notice,
that all this is going on.

Oh, I never looked
at that before.

So that's one thing.

One thing is to try and train
your eye to look at the world

and to notice it.

The second thing is--
is to hear the world.

You know, it's to
develop your ear.

And for example,
how do people talk?

And for example,
how do people talk?

That's going to be
very useful to you

when you're writing dialogue.

If you actually--
and these days,

actually, it's got easier.

Because everybody's walking
down the street talking

to themselves, because they got
a phone in their ear, you know.

And they're talking
to themselves

as if nobody's listening.

It's very good to
try and sharpen

your hearing in
terms of listening

to-- listening to the world.

Listening to how people speak.

Listening to the natural world.

There's a wonderful
passage in Calvino

There's a wonderful
passage in Calvino

where one of his
characters, Mr. Palomar,

is just sitting in a
chair in his garden

listening to the birds.

And he begins to hear rhythms in
the way the birds are tweeting.

And he starts
trying to write down

the rhythms of the birds, and--

just by listening.

And it's a beautiful passage.

So when you get good
at this, or if you

So when you get good
at this, or if you

are naturally good at
it, your ear will hear--

you'll start hearing
things which are revealing

about people, you know.

And it's-- you know, if
you have a notebook--

I mean, always have
a notebook, you know.

Always have something
to write something.

I mean, I've used my--

if I think of something,
or I hear or see something,

I just make a note in my
phone, and I transfer it later.

There are things which you hear
which make you think things.

And if you don't write
them down at that moment,

you will never remember
them ever again.

you will never remember
them ever again.

You know, so you have to
form the habit of making

a record of your observations.

Everything you do every day
can help you sharpen your eye,

if you-- if you are
conscious of the fact

that you're trying
to really look.

You know, most of us
don't really look.

If we're in a place that's
familiar to ourselves--

to us, like, the
place where we live,

we're not really
looking at it, you know.

We can reach for the doorknob,
because we know where

the doorknob is, you know.

The place is familiar to us.

And therefore, we don't
really have to consider it.

But you have to try
to de-familiarize it.

You have to think, what
would this house be like,

You have to think, what
would this house be like,

what would this apartment
be like, if I came into it

and had never been here before.

What would I see then?

What would be the
first thing I see?

What would I think of the
person who lives in this place?

What sort of person is this?

What do the things
on the walls tell us

about the person who lives here?

Are there pictures?

Are there not pictures?

Are there bookshelves?

Are there not
bookshelves, you know?

I, myself, feel
very uneasy going

into a house in which
there are no bookshelves.

into a house in which
there are no bookshelves.

I think it tells me something
about the owner of the house

that I don't like, you
know, that they don't read.

So as-- as-- we're trying to
make the familiar unfamiliar.

Try and imagine
that if you didn't

know this place very well,
how would you react to it?

You know, and what would you
think about its occupants?

What would it show you
about its occupants?

Walking is very good, you know.

I mean, I've always loved
walking in cities, you know.

I-- just as a--

as an adventure, you know.

It's not that anything
really happens.

But just-- walking
in cities, in order

to see the life of the city as
it moves around me, you know.

Who's there?

Who's there?

Where have they come from?

What's their story?

In the great metropolises,
whether it's Bombay or London

or New York, you have the
same experience that you--

as you walk in the
city, you see people

from everywhere in the world.

The metropolis is like that.

It's the magnet.

You know, and people
come from everywhere.

As you walk in the city, just
look at people and think,

what's their life?

What do I know
about their lives?

Do I know-- do I know
anything about their lives?

Maybe I should try and know
something about their lives.

Maybe I should try and know
something about their lives.

What is their
picture of the world?

What's the picture of the world
they're walking around in,

you know?

And-- and that'll
sharpen your own vision.

And we take-- we take the
world we live in for granted.

We think we know its shape.

I remember when
I was very young,

and I was trying to get a
job in an advertising agency.

They sent me, like,
an exam, like a test.

They sent me, like,
an exam, like a test.

And one of the questions
I had to answer

was, imagine that you meet a
Martian who speaks English,

but who doesn't
know what bread is.

And explained to him
in 100 words or less

how to make a piece of toast.

Very hard question
to answer, actually.

Because there are
so many assumptions

we make about bread and
toast and electricity

and so on, that if you
come from another planet,

you don't know what bread
or electricity or toast is.

So it becomes hard
to tell-- you have

So it becomes hard
to tell-- you have

to tell them a story about it.

But that's what I'm saying.

Try to make yourself the alien
walking through the world,

to see it as if you've never
seen it, to see it as somebody

not you would see it.

The question of sound--

sound is very valuable,
because, you know,

sound is very valuable,
because, you know,

a soundscape, again, is a thing
that we all live in as much

as we live in a
landscape or a cityscape.

You know, we-- whether we
are fully conscious of it

or not, there's a kind of
repertoire of sounds that

is around us, whether that's
traffic or birdsong or somebody

busking in the subway or
a dog yelling in the park,

busking in the subway or
a dog yelling in the park,

barking in the park.

We move through a kind
of soundscape every day.

And-- and that is very
specific to the kind of place

that we're in.

And in a novel, as
in life, a sound

can be a warning of
something, you know.

Thunder is a warning of a storm.

Thunder is a warning of a storm.

It can add emotion, and it
can add drama to a scene,

if used properly.

I mean, it's kind
of become a cliche

that when there's
going to be trouble

between two people in the
relationship they get caught

in a storm, you know.

So you should try and
avoid those cliches.

In a way, it would
be better for people

to be in the most beautiful,
idyllic, peaceful, bird

chirping setting, and then
to have the great fight

chirping setting, and then
to have the great fight

of their lives and break up.

The contrast would be
more pleasing than just

to have thunder and lightning
around them, which is banal.

But yeah, if you start
really thinking about it,

you can use sound in
a story as an effect.

There are writers who are
wonderfully good at dialogue.

You know, and characters
leap into life

because of the
various idiosyncrasies

of how they speak.

That's a skill which can be
learned by listening, you know.

No two people
speak the same way.

And if you start listening, not
just to the words they use--

the pitch of their
voice, you know.

Do they have a high
voice or a low voice?

Does their voice rise in
pitch when they get excited?

Does their voice fall in
pitch when they get angry?

How does their voice
work in their body?

You know, and how does it
express what they feel?

So even before you get to
the words they're saying,

So even before you get to
the words they're saying,

you know, just the
sound of their voice

can tell you
something about them.

You know, and-- and then, of
course, there is the question--

we were talking about
how people actually speak

and what is their
way of speaking.

And the more you listen
to that, the more

you will become capable
of replicating it.

Because I say, no two people
speak in the same way.

Even if you are from
the same family,

Even if you are from
the same family,

you know, your sister won't
speak the same way as you do.

And you have to listen
to how she speaks.

What does she like to say?

What does she talk about?

And what are the
words she uses, which

may not be the same as
the words you would use?

So it's just a way of
changing your focus, you know.

Focus on these things instead.

And they will help you.