Columns: Tag – Writing Class
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Writing Quips and Tips
Talking a Novel to Death
Someone asked me the other day whether I spoke to anyone about my writing. It started me thinking about writing and the process of talking about it.
First of all, I don’t think writers should talk too much about a work in progress. Telling your story over and over can be an avoidance tactic. Talking is the same as doing – you get the same sense of satisfaction.
And depending who you talk to, it can crush a sensitive idea. Most people can’t quite see how you intend to tackle it. Describing isn’t the same as writing. It takes a certain skill to be able to enter into the writer’s world and visualise it in its finished form.
Insensitive friends can pour scorn on an idea, which will cause you to view it, forever more, with hot and cold waves of humiliation. If it’s a first book, friends will refer to your “NOVEL” in arch tones. It can stop you believing in it.
Writing Quips and Tips
Life doesn’t always provide the perfect narrative
We once had a writing student whose narrative just didn’t seem to be working. We suggested she change it for dramatic purposes.
“But I can’t,” she said.
“But why not?” I asked, stressing that we weren’t being prescriptive about how it should be changed, merely that it could work better.
“Because that’s what happened in real life.”
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