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I find that when
you're alone in your room

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with just you and the piece of
paper or the computer screen,

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00:00:06,201 --> 00:00:10,071
your mind works in a way that
it doesn't work at other times.

4
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Because the act of
writing opens the mind,

5
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opens windows in
the head, which let

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00:00:14,241 --> 00:00:17,601
in all kinds of stuff that
isn't normally available to you.

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Out of that, you
can make your story.

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When I was starting out, I--

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I had a very bumpy start.

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You know, it really was
by no means plain sailing.

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I mean, I left university
at, you know, the age of 21,

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wanting to be a writer.

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And to be frank, I wrote a
lot of garbage, you know.

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I wrote one, two, three
novel length works

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I wrote one, two, three
novel length works

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that were never published.

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And-- and I'm now profoundly
grateful that they

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weren't published,
because they would

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have been deep embarrassments.

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And they would have affected
my literary reputation very

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adversely.

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But I was-- you know,
I was writing a lot.

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These are three quite extended--

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like, 300, 400 pages
in a couple of cases.

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You know, and they weren't good.

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You know, and they weren't good.

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And meanwhile, all around
me was this generation

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of young writers who were
finding their way very early,

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you know.

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Writers like Ian McEwen, and
Martin Amis, and Julian Barnes,

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and Kazuo Ishiguro, and so on.

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It seemed to me that they knew
what they were doing right

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from the beginning.

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And I was lost, in a way.

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And at a certain
point, I understood

36
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And at a certain
point, I understood

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that part of the
reason why I was lost

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is that I had grown
up in one culture,

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and I was living in another.

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And I didn't quite
understand my relationship

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with either, either
the culture that I

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had grown up in or the
one that I was living in.

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And that I really needed to work
that out for myself, you know.

44
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And in other words, to work
out who I was, you know.

45
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Because if you're not
clear about who you--

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Because if you're not
clear about who you--

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who you are, then--

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then you're not clear about
what-- about how to write.

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Because the writing should
come out of your deepest self.

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What you are saying,
essentially, in a book,

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is you are saying to the
world, you're saying,

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this is how I see it.

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I see it like this.

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This is-- this is
my take on things.

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And you want to feel that
whatever it is that you've done

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will resonate with people.

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So I mean, I would say the
essential judge can only

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So I mean, I would say the
essential judge can only

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be yourself.

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And it can be whether
you feel that you've

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been as honest and
truthful as you could be.

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One of the things
I think you really

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need to be if you're
going to be a writer

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is to have a real
determination to be a writer.

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Put it like this.

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I-- I left university in 1968.

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I-- I left university in 1968.

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Midnight's Children
was published in 1981.

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That's very close to 13
years of learning how

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to become a writer that was--

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and writing something
that people want to read.

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So for me, it took
me more than a decade

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of stumbling around
in the dark in order

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to finally find my way.

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I mean, if somebody
was to ask me now,

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would you be prepared to spend
13 years of your life trying

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would you be prepared to spend
13 years of your life trying

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to learn to do something
without any guarantee

79
00:04:04,821 --> 00:04:07,311
that you will be any
good at it at the end,

80
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you know, I would probably
find that to be not doable,

81
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you know.

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And yet, that younger
self of mine--

83
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actually, I'm
rather proud of him,

84
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that he had that
determination to hang in there

85
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and try and try, try again,
and keep going, you know, and--

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and eventually get there.

87
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and eventually get there.

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If you want it to come
easily, then you're

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probably in the
wrong line of work.

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You know, if you're willing
to accept the difficulty,

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and the rejection, and, you
know, the bruises to your ego,

92
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and the feelings of
doubt, and self-criticism,

93
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and feelings of a
loss of self-worth,

94
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all that stuff that happens when
your writing is not going well

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and when it's not recognized,
when you yourself feel you

96
00:05:00,021 --> 00:05:00,989
and when it's not recognized,
when you yourself feel you

97
00:05:00,989 --> 00:05:03,281
haven't done it, you haven't
really done anything worth

98
00:05:03,281 --> 00:05:05,081
doing yet--

99
00:05:05,081 --> 00:05:08,621
that's the hardest part
about starting as a writer.

100
00:05:08,621 --> 00:05:12,401
And you need to have
in you that real

101
00:05:12,401 --> 00:05:17,841
need to do it, which will
drive you past those obstacles.

102
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And if you don't have that
real need to do, then really,

103
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truthfully, do something else.

104
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You know, because this is hard.

105
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And you want-- you need to be
the kind of person for whom it

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matters so much that you're
willing to hang in there

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matters so much that you're
willing to hang in there

108
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and stick with it
until you get there.

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One of the things that all
writers talk about is--

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is writer's block moments when--

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where nothing
seems to be coming,

112
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you know, when there's
an empty space where

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your next book should be.

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When you finish a book,
many writers, including me,

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When you finish a book,
many writers, including me,

116
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have that feeling
that, oh my god,

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I'll never think of another one.

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You know, that this
is all there is.

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I'm finished.

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And that's-- that's natural.

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You know, because your
head is full of a book.

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And then it empties out.

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And for a while, it feels like
there's just an empty space

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with nothing in it.

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And you can feel that that--

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that nothing will ever
come back, nothing will--

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that nothing will ever
come back, nothing will--

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nothing will fill up that void.

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And sometimes there have
been quite substantial gaps,

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00:06:35,821 --> 00:06:38,791
you know, like, as long
as a year sometimes,

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when-- when I haven't known
what the next project is.

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And you could call
that writer's block.

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But what I call it is actually
a very creative phase.

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Because what it
allows you to do is

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to think in a completely
free form way.

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And so every day, you
sit down at your desk.

137
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And you think, what's
in my head today?

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00:07:00,021 --> 00:07:02,731
And you think, what's
in my head today?

139
00:07:02,731 --> 00:07:04,081
And you just let--

140
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let something come out.

141
00:07:05,191 --> 00:07:06,901
Just let it come
out, whatever it is,

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you know, in whatever
form, however fragmentary.

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You know, you just
allow your imagination

144
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a kind of open season,
without censorship.

145
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Just let it come out.

146
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And-- and very often,
the next day you

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look at what you wrote before.

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And it's all garbage.

149
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You know, and you
go on with that.

150
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You go on writing garbage.

151
00:07:30,021 --> 00:07:30,901
You go on writing garbage.

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You know, and what I've found
is that through that very open

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minded period of--
of allowing your mind

154
00:07:38,371 --> 00:07:44,361
to go wherever it wants, without
restraint, what eventually

155
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begins to happen is
that something sticks.

156
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You wake up the--
in the morning,

157
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and you're still thinking
about the thing you

158
00:07:51,251 --> 00:07:53,911
were thinking about yesterday.

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And then the next day, you're
still thinking about it.

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And then I ask myself, why am
I still thinking about that?

161
00:08:00,021 --> 00:08:01,961
And then I ask myself, why am
I still thinking about that?

162
00:08:01,961 --> 00:08:04,871
What is it about that that is
the thing that I don't just

163
00:08:04,871 --> 00:08:07,171
immediately throw away?

164
00:08:07,171 --> 00:08:11,511
And out of that little
germ that has shown up,

165
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very often the next book comes.

166
00:08:14,901 --> 00:08:19,091
The thing that-- that your
imagination throws up,

167
00:08:19,091 --> 00:08:20,231
that sticks.

168
00:08:20,231 --> 00:08:24,481
I find that when you're
alone in your room

169
00:08:24,481 --> 00:08:26,227
with just you and the--

170
00:08:26,227 --> 00:08:29,101
and the piece of paper,
or the computer screen,

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00:08:29,101 --> 00:08:30,021
whatever it is, your
mind works in a way

172
00:08:30,021 --> 00:08:33,810
whatever it is, your
mind works in a way

173
00:08:33,810 --> 00:08:35,881
that it doesn't
work at other times.

174
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Because the act of
writing opens the mind,

175
00:08:38,070 --> 00:08:41,070
opens windows in the
head, you know, which let

176
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and all kinds of stuff that
isn't normally available

177
00:08:43,871 --> 00:08:44,371
to you.

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00:08:44,371 --> 00:08:47,711
You know, and out of that,
you can make your story.

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So I don't call it
writer's block anymore.

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00:08:50,601 --> 00:08:52,791
I think of it as a--

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as a period in which your
mind, your imagination,

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is given free rein.

183
00:08:57,951 --> 00:09:00,021
And out of that, eventually,
if you have the confidence

184
00:09:00,021 --> 00:09:01,011
And out of that, eventually,
if you have the confidence

185
00:09:01,011 --> 00:09:04,671
to hang in there and keep
going, the next thing will come.

186
00:09:10,961 --> 00:09:12,701
I'm always looking
for something I

187
00:09:12,701 --> 00:09:14,141
haven't done before, you know.

188
00:09:14,141 --> 00:09:17,501
And I think that's not a bad
way to think about your work,

189
00:09:17,501 --> 00:09:18,761
you know, that if--

190
00:09:18,761 --> 00:09:21,191
if you do something,
and it works out,

191
00:09:21,191 --> 00:09:23,501
and people like
it, et cetera, it

192
00:09:23,501 --> 00:09:25,961
doesn't mean you should
spend the rest of your life

193
00:09:25,961 --> 00:09:28,151
doing that thing over
and over again, you know.

194
00:09:30,741 --> 00:09:33,061
Try to-- each time you write
something, try to move on.

195
00:09:33,061 --> 00:09:34,521
Try to take a step
in a direction

196
00:09:34,521 --> 00:09:36,001
you haven't been before.

197
00:09:36,001 --> 00:09:38,181
And-- and, for me,
that's a question

198
00:09:38,181 --> 00:09:41,721
that I ask myself every
time I begin a project.

199
00:09:41,721 --> 00:09:44,071
What can I do that I--

200
00:09:44,071 --> 00:09:48,711
that isn't just
repeating what I've done.

201
00:09:48,711 --> 00:09:52,251
In most of my books,
central characters

202
00:09:52,251 --> 00:09:57,031
have been of
Indian-Pakistani origin.

203
00:09:57,031 --> 00:09:59,871
You know, at least the--
the main characters tend--

204
00:09:59,871 --> 00:10:00,021
they have been.

205
00:10:00,021 --> 00:10:00,651
they have been.

206
00:10:00,651 --> 00:10:02,121
I wanted to challenge
myself to see

207
00:10:02,121 --> 00:10:06,051
if I could have a central
figure, a narrator figure, who

208
00:10:06,051 --> 00:10:08,871
didn't have that
background, you know, and--

209
00:10:08,871 --> 00:10:12,301
and to see if I could
make that convincing.

210
00:10:12,301 --> 00:10:16,151
In my novel The
Golden House, I had

211
00:10:16,151 --> 00:10:20,141
a narrator who I made
deliberately very unlike me.

212
00:10:20,141 --> 00:10:23,541
First of all, he's much,
much younger than me.

213
00:10:23,541 --> 00:10:26,831
He's-- he's a--
he's a young man.

214
00:10:26,831 --> 00:10:30,021
And secondly, he is a born and
bred New Yorker, as opposed

215
00:10:30,021 --> 00:10:35,431
And secondly, he is a born and
bred New Yorker, as opposed

216
00:10:35,431 --> 00:10:38,371
to somebody like
me who arrived here

217
00:10:38,371 --> 00:10:40,991
after a long period
of life elsewhere.

218
00:10:40,991 --> 00:10:48,091
So he's not like me in either
race, or age, or belonging.

219
00:10:48,091 --> 00:10:53,711
You know, and in that novel
where many of the major

220
00:10:53,711 --> 00:10:57,631
characters are, in fact,
immigrants like myself,

221
00:10:57,631 --> 00:10:59,971
I wanted there to be--
deliberately wanted there to be

222
00:10:59,971 --> 00:11:00,021
a narrator who was not like
that, you know, who was a--

223
00:11:00,021 --> 00:11:03,511
a narrator who was not like
that, you know, who was a--

224
00:11:03,511 --> 00:11:07,061
if you like, who was a local
and looking at the world

225
00:11:07,061 --> 00:11:09,721
and looking at the other
characters through the eyes

226
00:11:09,721 --> 00:11:10,321
of--

227
00:11:10,321 --> 00:11:13,171
of a young man who was--

228
00:11:13,171 --> 00:11:15,116
who had no history
in other countries.

229
00:11:15,116 --> 00:11:17,851
You know, who was
born and bred in--

230
00:11:17,851 --> 00:11:20,341
in America, and specifically,
in New York City.

231
00:11:20,341 --> 00:11:23,541
That was quite a challenge.

232
00:11:23,541 --> 00:11:28,051
First of all, to write
about somebody who was maybe

233
00:11:28,051 --> 00:11:30,021
40, 45 years younger than me--

234
00:11:30,021 --> 00:11:31,861
40, 45 years younger than me--

235
00:11:31,861 --> 00:11:33,901
you don't want him to
sound like an old man.

236
00:11:33,901 --> 00:11:35,221
You know, you want--

237
00:11:35,221 --> 00:11:38,671
you want him to
sound of his time.

238
00:11:38,671 --> 00:11:42,151
And that creates issues of--

239
00:11:42,151 --> 00:11:45,811
of slang, of usage, and
even just of knowledge.

240
00:11:45,811 --> 00:11:49,761
I mean, what are the things
that somebody who's 25

241
00:11:49,761 --> 00:11:51,261
knows and thinks about?

242
00:11:51,261 --> 00:11:54,051
You know, which may
not be the same things

243
00:11:54,051 --> 00:11:56,241
that somebody my age
knows and thinks about.

244
00:11:56,241 --> 00:12:00,021
To create credibly somebody--
and to speak through the voice

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00:12:00,021 --> 00:12:00,831
To create credibly somebody--
and to speak through the voice

246
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of somebody who's much, much
younger than you, you know,

247
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is--

248
00:12:04,331 --> 00:12:05,671
I mean, that was a challenge.

249
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It gave me a certain
kind of freedom

250
00:12:08,951 --> 00:12:14,521
to write through the voice
of this ambitious young man.

251
00:12:14,521 --> 00:12:21,151
I felt that it made the book
have a quality of youthfulness,

252
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which I liked.

253
00:12:21,961 --> 00:12:24,061
I liked the kind
of energy that you

254
00:12:24,061 --> 00:12:27,211
can-- that you can
give to somebody who's

255
00:12:27,211 --> 00:12:29,821
trying to make their way
in the world, and is--

256
00:12:29,821 --> 00:12:30,021
has very ambitious
dreams for himself.

257
00:12:30,021 --> 00:12:32,941
has very ambitious
dreams for himself.

258
00:12:32,941 --> 00:12:34,321
I mean, he's a young filmmaker.

259
00:12:34,321 --> 00:12:39,006
And-- and he envisages himself,
you know, as a great filmmaker.

260
00:12:39,006 --> 00:12:40,381
But he hadn't made
any films yet.

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00:12:40,381 --> 00:12:43,411
So that person on the
threshold of life,

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00:12:43,411 --> 00:12:46,531
you know, somebody
trying to begin

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00:12:46,531 --> 00:12:49,351
and having all kinds
of dreams about what he

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00:12:49,351 --> 00:12:51,601
might be able to do, that was--

265
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it was a kind of liberation
to me to be able to--

266
00:12:54,721 --> 00:13:00,021
in a way, to return to something
like my own much younger self

267
00:13:00,021 --> 00:13:00,091
in a way, to return to something
like my own much younger self

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before I'd published anything
with all kinds of dreams.

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00:13:03,761 --> 00:13:09,661
So I was able to
connect him to--

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00:13:09,661 --> 00:13:12,601
to my memories of
my beginnings, you

271
00:13:12,601 --> 00:13:15,331
know, but in a completely
different context and setting.

272
00:13:22,691 --> 00:13:26,831
Well, before I was writing
my novel Shalimar the Clown,

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I was going through
a process like this.

274
00:13:30,021 --> 00:13:30,251
I was going through
a process like this.

275
00:13:30,251 --> 00:13:36,301
And I wrote down one
day a murder scene.

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00:13:36,301 --> 00:13:40,361
You know, I wrote
down an account of a--

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00:13:40,361 --> 00:13:44,471
a dead man on the
floor on the road.

278
00:13:44,471 --> 00:13:48,821
And standing over him,
a man with a knife.

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00:13:48,821 --> 00:13:50,651
And the only other
thing I knew is

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00:13:50,651 --> 00:13:53,911
that the-- in the
house behind them

281
00:13:53,911 --> 00:13:58,051
lived the daughter
of the dead man.

282
00:13:58,051 --> 00:14:00,021
And I didn't know who they were.

283
00:14:00,021 --> 00:14:00,421
And I didn't know who they were.

284
00:14:00,421 --> 00:14:02,521
I didn't know-- who
is the dead man?

285
00:14:02,521 --> 00:14:03,361
Who is the murderer?

286
00:14:03,361 --> 00:14:03,991
Who is the daughter?

287
00:14:03,991 --> 00:14:04,691
I had no idea.

288
00:14:04,691 --> 00:14:08,291
I just-- this image came
to me, and I wrote it down.

289
00:14:08,291 --> 00:14:09,281
And then it stuck.

290
00:14:09,281 --> 00:14:14,881
And I find myself
thinking, what is this?

291
00:14:14,881 --> 00:14:17,851
And explaining it
to myself, learning

292
00:14:17,851 --> 00:14:20,881
who they were, these creatures
that my imagination had thrown

293
00:14:20,881 --> 00:14:23,301
up, led me to that novel.

294
00:14:23,301 --> 00:14:25,461
Because the novel grows
out of that scene,

295
00:14:25,461 --> 00:14:28,101
once I could begin to
understand who the dead man was,

296
00:14:28,101 --> 00:14:30,021
and who the murderer was,
and who the daughter was.

297
00:14:30,021 --> 00:14:31,101
and who the murderer was,
and who the daughter was.

298
00:14:31,101 --> 00:14:34,161
And what I found is the
moment at which I solved

299
00:14:34,161 --> 00:14:36,651
the mystery was I
realized that there

300
00:14:36,651 --> 00:14:40,991
was one character who was not
in the scene whose presence

301
00:14:40,991 --> 00:14:42,671
explained what was happening.

302
00:14:42,671 --> 00:14:45,701
There was-- there was
a second woman who

303
00:14:45,701 --> 00:14:49,681
had been the lover
of the murdered man,

304
00:14:49,681 --> 00:14:52,831
the wife of the
murderer, and the mother

305
00:14:52,831 --> 00:14:54,961
of the girl in the house.

306
00:14:54,961 --> 00:14:58,681
So this-- the absent
woman was the thing

307
00:14:58,681 --> 00:15:00,021
that linked the
three figures that I

308
00:15:00,021 --> 00:15:00,421
that linked the
three figures that I

309
00:15:00,421 --> 00:15:02,641
had and explained the story.

310
00:15:02,641 --> 00:15:06,141
You know, it became
a revenge tragedy.

311
00:15:06,141 --> 00:15:08,411
And so I found myself
writing a revenge tragedy.

312
00:15:08,411 --> 00:15:11,381
But it literally came out
of this process, which

313
00:15:11,381 --> 00:15:13,571
you might have called
writer's block, you know,

314
00:15:13,571 --> 00:15:17,441
a process of stumbling
around in the dark

315
00:15:17,441 --> 00:15:19,851
and not really knowing
what was going to happen.

316
00:15:19,851 --> 00:15:22,531
And then in the
end, this happened.