1 00:00:06,319 --> 00:00:08,880 I wouldn't be writing the way I write 2 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,920 now if I hadn't read Lewis Carol. And I 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:13,679 wouldn't be writing the way I write now 4 00:00:13,679 --> 00:00:17,199 if I hadn't read James Joyce. 5 00:00:17,199 --> 00:00:19,600 I read Czechov when I was probably 18 or 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:21,760 19. And Czechov made a strong impression 7 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,720 on me. I also read Emily Bronte 8 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,119 Weathering Heights when I was about 15 9 00:00:27,119 --> 00:00:29,599 and that made a strong impression. All 10 00:00:29,599 --> 00:00:32,000 writers have mentors 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,239 who begin when they're children and 12 00:00:34,239 --> 00:00:36,800 they're aware of writing. They're aware 13 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,280 of books that they love. 14 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,480 Like is it the the Phantom Toll booth? 15 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:44,879 Some children love that. So they say the 16 00:00:44,879 --> 00:00:47,360 Phantom Toll booth along with Alice and 17 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:51,360 Wonderland where the wild things are and 18 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,879 for older children JK Rowling's u the 19 00:00:54,879 --> 00:00:58,079 Harry Potter novels they they all exist 20 00:00:58,079 --> 00:01:01,840 in sort of like a a stratosphere 21 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,920 that allows the young person to read 22 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:08,240 work that is established and very well 23 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,400 done. So when the writer starts to 24 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,040 write, he or she's drawing upon some of 25 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:17,320 these these mentors. 26 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,119 I would say almost dogmatically that you 27 00:01:25,119 --> 00:01:27,360 can't be a writer unless you're reading 28 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,960 all the time and reading with purpose. 29 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:33,439 Not just reading to waste time or 30 00:01:33,439 --> 00:01:36,640 reading something on the internet, but 31 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,759 reading crafted work. If you just sit 32 00:01:39,759 --> 00:01:41,600 down and read a little novel by Gene 33 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,000 Ree, which is like wide sarcastle sea, 34 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,439 it's like maybe 120 pages, 35 00:01:47,439 --> 00:01:51,680 that nolla, that short novel is so good 36 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,600 that when you start writing the next 37 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,240 day, you're going to be writing better. 38 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,560 You're not going to be imitating her, 39 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,159 but you'll be writing better than you 40 00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:02,799 would be if you hadn't read her. And so 41 00:02:02,799 --> 00:02:05,680 reading is the springboard to writing. 42 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:07,520 What you read and how with what 43 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:09,759 intensity you read is going to determine 44 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:13,040 probably what you write because you all 45 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,160 all human beings are imitative primates. 46 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:18,319 We belong to the big primate family like 47 00:02:18,319 --> 00:02:22,000 apes and and chimpanzees and and monkeys 48 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,080 of all kinds. You know, monkey see, 49 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,560 monkey do. We are very imitative 50 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,440 species. So when you're a little older, 51 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,000 you may want to read classic writing. 52 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,480 You may want to read Faulner, Hemingway, 53 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,120 James Joyce, Kafka, Thomas Man, Virginia 54 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,599 Wolf. You Henry James. You may want to 55 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:42,560 aim very high because the more you read 56 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,200 and the more you're absorbing when you 57 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:47,120 start to write, you're going to write on 58 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,280 a higher level than you would be if you 59 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,319 if you didn't read these people. And so 60 00:02:52,319 --> 00:02:54,480 it's like the old saying, if you want to 61 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,319 learn how to play tennis, you play 62 00:02:56,319 --> 00:02:58,080 tennis with somebody who's better than 63 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,319 you. You don't play tennis with somebody 64 00:03:00,319 --> 00:03:01,920 who's not as good as you because you're 65 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:04,400 never ever going to learn anything. So 66 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,519 reading Ulisses by James Joyce, take a 67 00:03:07,519 --> 00:03:10,400 whole summer, just spend time reading 68 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,360 it, and you'll first of all, it's a 69 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,920 great work of art and it's enthralling. 70 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,080 It's difficult, but it is truly 71 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,200 fascinating. And you'll find that as the 72 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,159 weeks go by, your vocabulary will start 73 00:03:24,159 --> 00:03:27,680 to improve. Your sense of language will 74 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,560 elevate. And when you write, you may 75 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,360 sound nothing like James Joyce. Nothing. 76 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,200 But yet, you sound much better than you 77 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:36,799 would have if you hadn't read James 78 00:03:36,799 --> 00:03:39,799 Joyce. 79 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:45,760 There are two kinds of readings that are 80 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,159 really helpful to young writers. One of 81 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:51,519 them is spontaneous and improvised where 82 00:03:51,519 --> 00:03:53,840 you simply find a book maybe in a 83 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,560 library or in a bookstore and you can 84 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:58,560 even be drawn by the cover and just 85 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:00,879 start reading it and be plunged into a 86 00:04:00,879 --> 00:04:03,360 world you didn't anticipate. You might 87 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,920 really love that book. It might change 88 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:07,599 your life or it might not be too 89 00:04:07,599 --> 00:04:09,920 important. Then the other kind of 90 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,280 reading is systematic. You decide very 91 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,920 you decide very clearly that you're 92 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,639 going to read all of the young Hemingway 93 00:04:18,639 --> 00:04:21,120 short stories because it's mostly his 94 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,040 short stories I think that are helpful 95 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,479 to writers rather than the novels. 96 00:04:26,479 --> 00:04:28,880 Hemingway's novels are are good novels 97 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:30,560 but it's the short stories that he was 98 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,080 really a master at. So you just say to 99 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,639 yourself, I'm going to read 25 short 100 00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:39,280 stories by Ernest Hemingway and I'm 101 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:41,680 going to read them more than once and 102 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,400 and learn from them. So that that kind 103 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,120 of reading is what you may get in a 104 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,759 university course or community college 105 00:04:49,759 --> 00:04:52,080 or your own, you know, maybe it could be 106 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,560 a course online or whatever. It's 107 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:56,400 systematic. But the other kind of 108 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,240 reading is just spontaneous. And I've 109 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,120 had so many extraordinary experiences 110 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,880 with just um improvised reading. In 111 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:06,479 fact, one day I was just looking at a 112 00:05:06,479 --> 00:05:08,479 book maybe in a library. I'm not even 113 00:05:08,479 --> 00:05:12,720 sure that it was a book I that I picked 114 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,639 up. I It was basically on a library 115 00:05:14,639 --> 00:05:16,800 table. I think I was looking at a 116 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:18,720 history of America, maybe popular 117 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:20,880 culture. And I turned a page and there 118 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,479 was a picture of a girl about 16 and she 119 00:05:24,479 --> 00:05:27,759 had brown hair and a very pretty face 120 00:05:27,759 --> 00:05:29,919 though not glamorous. And I wondered 121 00:05:29,919 --> 00:05:31,440 like who's that? She looks like my 122 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:33,440 mother or she looked like girls I went 123 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:35,280 to school with. So I thought it was 124 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:37,840 Norma Jean Baker the woman who would 125 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:40,240 become Marilyn Monroe. 126 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,120 And I was just astonished at this 127 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,840 snapshot of this girl because she looked 128 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:47,440 nothing like Marilyn Monroe. She didn't 129 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,320 have that blonde hair and she wasn't 130 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,800 radiantly beautiful. She was just 131 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:55,039 pretty. And so I thought, well, maybe 132 00:05:55,039 --> 00:05:57,919 I'll read about her. So it was just 133 00:05:57,919 --> 00:06:01,120 totally an accident. So eventually I 134 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,560 wrote a 1400page novel really based on 135 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,479 just the accident of seeing that 136 00:06:06,479 --> 00:06:09,440 snapshot, which is amazing because I I 137 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:10,880 might not have gone into the library 138 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:12,400 that day. I might have done something 139 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,880 else. I might have decided I didn't want 140 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:16,639 to look at that book. So it was really 141 00:06:16,639 --> 00:06:19,120 an accident. So I think along with the 142 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,240 systematic and purposeful reading you 143 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,039 have to have a lot of accidents. 144 00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:31,520 Obviously the reading is the first 145 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,600 experience and if impressionistically it 146 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:35,919 made a really strong impression on you, 147 00:06:35,919 --> 00:06:37,840 you want to reread it. So then you 148 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:39,680 notice the second time through how it's 149 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:43,039 based, how it's structured. A writer is 150 00:06:43,039 --> 00:06:45,039 seeing how it's put together. So I 151 00:06:45,039 --> 00:06:47,360 always notice like what's the title? 152 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,280 What's the first paragraph, the first 153 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:52,080 sentences, is the first chapter very 154 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,960 short, is it long, is it divided into 155 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,600 sections? To to me, all those formal 156 00:06:57,600 --> 00:06:59,280 qualities of the work are very 157 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,759 interesting. But I wouldn't expect when 158 00:07:01,759 --> 00:07:03,360 my mother was reading my work, I 159 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:05,599 wouldn't expect my mother or my father 160 00:07:05,599 --> 00:07:08,400 to have any interest at all or to be 161 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,800 aware of any of that. Like my mother 162 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:12,800 wouldn't say to me, "Oh, Joyce, I love 163 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,759 this structure of your novel." And when 164 00:07:15,759 --> 00:07:18,319 I was on the Oprah show some years ago 165 00:07:18,319 --> 00:07:21,039 for my novel, we were the Mulanies. 166 00:07:21,039 --> 00:07:22,560 There were a number of women on the 167 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,240 Oprah show with me. And all of them 168 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,360 talked about my novel to me, but not one 169 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:30,800 of them talked about the formal 170 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:32,720 qualities. They only talked about the 171 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,680 characters. In other words, most readers 172 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,000 are reading for character and then 173 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,080 they're reading for a plot, but the 174 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,319 writer has to present that in the most 175 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:44,240 coherent way possible, in the most 176 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:46,720 effective way. So, it's like you're 177 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,720 making a film. People look at a movie, 178 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:50,800 they sit back in the seat, and they see 179 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,120 this movie and they really enjoy it and 180 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,599 they love it. They have not one 181 00:07:55,599 --> 00:07:57,599 millionth idea of all the work that goes 182 00:07:57,599 --> 00:07:59,759 into it. They don't know how the movie 183 00:07:59,759 --> 00:08:01,680 had pre-production, how there was 184 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,160 research, how years went by. They don't 185 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:05,919 know how many people worked on it, who 186 00:08:05,919 --> 00:08:08,400 the script writers were. They don't even 187 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,160 know who the directors. I mean, most 188 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,319 people have no interest in the formal 189 00:08:12,319 --> 00:08:15,120 qualities. But if you're in that world, 190 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:17,039 the formal qualities are really the only 191 00:08:17,039 --> 00:08:20,400 ones that matter. Like, how did how did 192 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,039 James Joyce put Ulyses together to me is 193 00:08:23,039 --> 00:08:25,520 very interesting. Whereas to a reader, 194 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,160 maybe not so much. So, if you're going 195 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,240 to be a writer, it's like if you're 196 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,080 going to be a cabinet builder, you have 197 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:34,080 to look at a cabinet and you have to go 198 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,640 to the cabinet maker and say, "How did 199 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,240 you make this wonderful cabinet?" 200 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,880 Because I can't see it with my eyes. I 201 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:45,080 have to somehow learn about it. 202 00:08:48,959 --> 00:08:52,000 The formal qualities of a work are most 203 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,279 obvious when one spends time maybe 204 00:08:55,279 --> 00:08:57,839 discussing them with other people. I 205 00:08:57,839 --> 00:09:00,800 think learning by yourself is not so 206 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,000 effective. Most of my learning 207 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,920 about Hemingway Faulner and James Joyce 208 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,480 I did alone. I didn't really have a 209 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,080 structure. 210 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:14,080 But I think if you could take a college 211 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,880 course, take a course in writing, a 212 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:19,519 writing workshop where with other people 213 00:09:19,519 --> 00:09:21,279 sitting around a table, you're actually 214 00:09:21,279 --> 00:09:25,279 thinking and talking about Hemingway, 215 00:09:25,279 --> 00:09:27,680 it could be Jodie Picot, who is a 216 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:29,839 wonderful contemporary writer, a popular 217 00:09:29,839 --> 00:09:32,160 best-selling writer. We have people like 218 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,200 in a book club. So you have people 219 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:37,680 sharing something that they read and 220 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:39,600 somebody says, "Well, I really like this 221 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:41,839 passage." somebody else said, you know, 222 00:09:41,839 --> 00:09:43,600 I don't like this character and then 223 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,000 discuss it or what don't you like about 224 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,240 that character or I really like the 225 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,240 ending of the novel or somebody else 226 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,399 says I didn't like the ending and to 227 00:09:52,399 --> 00:09:54,560 sort of discuss it in that formal way 228 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:56,959 rather than saying I liked it or didn't 229 00:09:56,959 --> 00:10:00,160 like it is too simple but like why what 230 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,320 did you like about it? Those are things 231 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,480 that you learn by you know reading it 232 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,040 more than once. But I I think the best 233 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,760 way to to enjoy literature is with other 234 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,160 people.