One of the most popular questions I’m asked at literary festivals, is ‘How do you write?”

This is a very open question, and you can interpret it many different ways, but usually the meaning behind it is ‘How do you sit down to write and tell a story; where do you go, how do you do it?’ And the other popular meaning is ‘How do you construct a story? Where do you start, and do you know the ending before you write the beginning?’

For the first meaning, my answer would depend on the stage in my writing career. When I first began to take writing seriously, and dedicated myself to writing a novel, I was in a job where I was travelling constantly, so I wrote mostly on flights around Europe, or airport lounges and hotel rooms. I wrote using pencils, fountain pens and notebooks; I still do. Nowadays, I write the entire story by hand, and then use dictation software to enter it into my MacBook. In the past, I would type up the entire thing from my notes. When my job changed, and I spent more time at home, I set up a desk in my attic, and climbed the ladder every evening to write. But when writing was difficult, I often imagined that a secret was evading me that would make everything so much easier. The perfect pencil, the finest pen, or the smoothest paper. Perhaps a view out over the North Sea, or a more comfortable seat, or an old fin-de-siècle desk that would inspire me through all the words that it had seen over the years. Maybe I could find the perfect coffee shop, or a library with a comfortable, inspiring ambience, surrounded by books and their heady, sweet, musky scent. And with all these things, the words would flow effortlessly from my pen.

But these are false gods. The most important thing is the will to write; the desire, the obsession. With that, you can write anywhere, at any time. Wherever I go, at every hour of the day, I carry a notebook with me, stuffed into my back pocket, or by my bedside table. As soon as an idea occurs to me, I write it down, for there is nothing more certain in this world, than when you have a fabulous idea, and you know it is the best and finest idea you have ever had, and that you will never forget it; you will turn your head and it will disappear like snow in the Sahara.

And that’s how I start a story. It’s a question I’ve been asked many time, ‘How do you start writing?’ Well, I have my notebooks, so I look at my notes, then sit down and write the first thing that comes into my head. It doesn’t matter if it’s rubbish. It really does not matter. What does matter, is that I’ve written something down. You can’t edit an empty page. You can edit anything, as longs as the words exist. But if someone tells me that they just can’t do that, then I tell them to close their eyes and imagine a scene. Any scene. An empty house, a man in a phone box, an empty car parked by a road junction with the doors open. And then write down, ‘What just happened there?’

The answer is anything you like. It’s fiction; you can just make it up as you go along. My other example is to imagine a woman, in a room, looking out of the window. What does she see? Who is she looking at? But if the writer really finds that too difficult, I tell them to write a letter. Everyone can write a letter. It can be to anyone, real or imaginary. Perhaps to a deceased relative. Or a historical figure. Or the person that they are secretly in love with . . . Tell them something that happened, real or imaginary. Tell them how you feel, your fears or hopes. And then imagine you are the fictional character. Then they begin to write. And that’s the most important thing; writing down the words. That is writing.

And so it grows, word by word, and takes shape. And then the usual the dilemma appears. Do I want to write and discover the story as I go, without knowing what will happen or where it will take me, or do I want to plot the story to the end, and discover the killer or how to foil the enemy, and then write the story?

The answer, for me, although they seem mutually exclusive, is both.

This is the question that provokes more arguments amongst writers than any other; whether to write by the seat of your pants, or plot to the end. Personally, I plot. I discover the story, I write down every scene, every twist, and research and build my characters, until I know them like old friends (or old enemies). But when I am first writing out the storyline, when I’m scribbling down ideas, or names, or fragments of dialogue, then I have no idea how it’s going to end, or who the killer may be. I may write three different endings, and then choose one as I approach the denouement of the story. So, yes, I plot, but not in a way that restricts me telling the story. The story is everything. It doesn’t matter how polished your prose is, if you have a great story, you can be forgiven many sins. If you do not, then the reader may never read you again.

But every writer does it slightly differently. Some writers I know always plot in great detail, others have no idea how the story is going to end, even when they are only a few pages from revealing the culprit. That’s the way they like it, that’s the way they want to write; it drives them on.

However, If I have a really strong idea for an ending, if it so good that I must write it, then I may consider manufacturing the story to drive towards that ending, but in my heart, I’m not sure that’s the right approach for me. I love the unknown of the story as I write the basic storyline. The endless possibilities of the way that the story can twist and turn, and the mayhem of imagination. Though even if I have plotted the storyline, and I know the ending, if I suddenly have a better idea than the original, I’ll go with it. If you find it more exciting than your original idea, then so will the reader.

But one thing is clear in my mind when I sit down to write. And that is to write the best book I possibly can. And will I use any of the above techniques, or a combination of them, to deliver the story? Whatever works best, works for me. It’s all about the story.

The other hugely popular question is ‘where do you get your ideas from?’ The answer is simple. I sit down and work it out; by writing. As I mentioned above, I write constantly in my notebook, I work out ideas from everything around me, things that I have heard, or seen, or read. Ideas never come fully formed; they have to be nurtured, teased out and allowed to grow. And I do that by writing them down. When I do that, the ink makes them grow, and little ideas form alongside. So, I write them down too, and then the process continues and the story expands, and so do the possibilities of where the story could lead myself and the reader.

From all these questions, I can tell that the writer is often searching for the secret to writing a book. But as Somerset Maugham once said:

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

I would only add that there is one secret I know of; the secret of simplicity. A book is literally one word after the other. I advise writers not to focus on the finished book, the final, daunting and often terrifying objective, but to look at what the next word should be, or the next sentence. Every word that is written, is a stepping stone to the next, which the writer lays at their feet and then takes a step, as if crossing a river, to an unseen and unknown far bank. Keep putting down the stones, and you will reach the other side. Never give up.

©2017 Mark Leggatt. All rights reserved.

I cannot write in solitude. I love writing in places that are filled with people – cafes, flights etc. I love sitting in a corner in a busy cafe and writing. I like to observe people around me even as I write. I feel there’s so much we can infuse in our plot and characters while we observe the people around us.

I write when I am feeling inspired – when I feel like I have something to say, something that’ll help me take my story forward. Sometimes I have woken up in the middle of the night and written a few chapters. There were a couple of chapters in White Noise that I was struggling to write. I wanted to set these chapters against the backdrop of rain but somehow I couldn’t start to pen them down. And then one night I got up post-midnight and it was raining outside. I sat on my desk and wrote the chapters. My desk faces the window so I could actually watch the rain as I wrote those chapters. I think those are some of my best words in the book if I may say so myself.

Furthermore, when I am working on my chapters I do not decide the length of each chapter. I just decide the theme and then I wait for a line of thought. Once I have that line of thought in place, I simply go with the flow. I like my writing to be organic. I never write when I don’t feel inspired. And once it feels like a particular chapter is over, I don’t write beyond that. The last lines of each chapter become the last lines not because I have written a certain number of words and the chapter needs to end there, but because it organically feels like the end.

Similarly, when I am beginning to think of a story, it’s imperative for me to know the ending. If I don’t have an ending in place I will not be able to start the writing process. Once I know how I am ending a story, the writing process becomes much simpler as I know where I am heading.

The ending becomes the foundation of the story. Once I know what my plot and my characters are aiming to achieve, writing their journey and fleshing every event out becomes that much easier.

The only thing that helps me to write is my passion for the craft. I need to tell stories. I absolutely need to let my imagination take over and then translate my thoughts into words. I don’t think of writing as a profession, I think of it as an art. It cannot be done mechanically. I cannot just assign a fixed number of hours to writing every day. There will be days I will not be able to write because I just won’t feel inspired enough but then there will also be days when I will write all day every day, because my imagination just won’t stop brewing one episode after another to take my story forward. Every time I start writing a new story it feels to me like I am embarking upon a new, exciting and adventurous journey. I often find myself vicariously living through my characters. I often become my characters. Writing is the only thing I believe I can do and the only thing I wish to do. I have too many stories brewing inside my mind and sometimes I feel like one lifetime may not be enough to tell them all.

©2017 Shruti Upadhaya. All rights reserved.

 

 

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