The Biggest Secret of Writing

I'm going to reveal a big secret, perhaps the biggest of all. It's as sharp and tingly as a slap in the face, it's simply this:

Writing is not writing.

"Eh?" You gasp, "Zahid's lost it this time. He's joined the Circus of the Lunatics".

Let me explain.

Writing is not about taking a pen in your hand and writing.
Writing is not about sitting in front of a PC and typing.
Writing is not about sitting with a Dictaphone and speaking out your thoughts.

Writing is the process by which you fling your imagination into the real world.
In fact, some of my friends would argue that it isn't even that - it's just your imagination codified. And some of my friends would argue that it isn't even the imagination - it's simply channeling what you see, hear, feel, think and touch.

A few days ago I was delivering a creative writing workshop to some young women. I told them to absorb what was around them. I asked to them to look and to keep looking. I asked them to seek patterns and ask questions and to never stop.

When you realise that writing is not simply the physical act of writing, but the fusion of imagination, observation and downright curiosity it's amazing what happens to you. When struggling to describe a scene, sit back and let yourself sink into the scene in your head and describe it. Voila, it writes itself.

Writing is simply daydreaming onto paper.

ZHZ. 

The W Spot

I am a firm believer that Writer's Block doesn't exist. Or rather, I choose to believe it doesn't. However, that's only partially true: it's true for me, but it might not be for you. Like many things, it's all about your state of mind.

If I could guarantee that with the click of your fingers you could hit that zone inside yourself, that prefect place where writing is born, unleashed all by itself you'd bite my right arm off.

And like the best things in life, you can have it absolutely for free.

"But what about me?" You cry. "I'm different. I can't do that! My mind goes blank".

Rubbish. You kick yourself in the shins and you say it smarts, of course it does. You slap yourself in the face - of course, it stings. You convince yourself you've got no imagination - of course, you won't have any! It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"I've tried all that positive thinking," you insist, "it doesn't work!"

Who's talking about positive thinking? I'm not. I'm talking about a mindset not mind delusion. I'm not advocating talking yourself into believing something that isn't true. Give yourself a chance to succeed.

Here's what I advise:

1. Take some time out with yourself where you won't be disturbed for an hour.
2. Close your eyes and imagine a time when the writing flowed, all by itself, zen, effortless
3. Cherish that memory and look and hear and feel that moment
4. Now, heighten that memory: can you remember what was in the background? Was there music, was it the light, was it warm, was it cold?
5. Now open your eyes.
6. Take a pen or use your keyboard, whichever you feel is right for you and write down the memory of that moment
7. Now close your eyes again and remember that moment again: feel it, see it, hear it
8. Once you've identified the triggers, recreate them, the environment, the ritual or whatever it was that put you in the zone...

Does it sound too easy? Perhaps it is as easy as that. Know thyself. It isn't about copying what J K Rowling does or what Steven King does: it's about understanding what makes you tick. So go and tick tock, tick tock.

ZHZ. 

Tolstoy vs Dostoyevsky

They say that the novel is dead. I don't think that's true. However, I think it is acutely accurate that the novels which writers like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky wrote won't be written again. Charles Dickens, Marcel Proust, strong and distinctive voices of the past, will forever resound in our ears and their tales will flicker into life on our television screens. But those works will not be repeated.

I am a passionate reader. Sometimes it hurts that I am unable to read more, because of the fleeting minutiae of life that interferes, hinders me from imbibing the offerings from the past, be it fiction or non-fiction.

There is something about these two great Russian writers that I find puzzling, intriguing, rapturously rewarding and it echoes in the realities of writers today. Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky were contemporaries. And they form what I call the Tolstoy-Dostoyevsky Spectrum.

On the one hand Tolstoy came from a privileged background, he preferred stories that erred towards genteel fantasy and he didn't plan a thing: characters appeared and shaped themselves on the page. Dostoyevsky, ill, penniless, preferred stories that were planned, plotted, pruned before he even lifted the pen to write his first draft and he wrote in a fashion so dark...he was almost luxuriating in degeneration, blood, hate, war.

They were contemporaries and yet not only does their subject matter differ, but their styles too and their lives were so different that they could have lived on different planets. And these two men are amongst the greatest Russian writers - nay, the world.

So if you are sitting there, your eyes flickering from side to side as you read these words I want you to be clear that if you know that there is such a thing as the Tolstoy-Dostoyevsky Spectrum then you'll find that you can write anything in any way that you want. After all, they did.

ZHZ. 

Pen or Keyboard?

Before the advent of the typewriter and way before the PC, writers wrote with pens and pencils and everything was simple. Now you there is a plethora of software and geeky devices to help catalyse the writing process. So much easier you'd think and yet oddly so much harder. So which is it to be: pen or keyboard?

Let me tell you what I've gleaned from fellow writers. I've heard virtually every variation beneath the heavens:

• Some write and rewrite longhand and and then pass their musings to a typist
• Some write their first draft longhand and then get it typed up - and then take over
• Some writer their first draft by hand, type it up themselves and continue rewriting
• Some jot down their initial musings longhand and once a plan is fixed they jump to the keyboard
• Some start straight onto the keyboard, rather like someone using a typewriter
• Some start on the keyboard and then print and edit by hand

There. So many variations and sometimes a writer varies dramatically from pen to keyboard. Does it matter? Actually, something matters, but I don't think it's whether you're using a pen or a keyboard.

At different times in the writing process a writer has to think and behave differently. The initial musings might need to be mulled over carefully. Once the first draft is in progress it's important to keep flowing, to keep going. Whichever process keeps you in that state is the best for you, whatever that might be.

I know people, who with their eyes focussed on some fantasy can plot novels the size of Lord of the Rings. As soon as they put a pen in their hands, poof, it's gone, all gone. The muse has fled and there's nothing that you can do.

Now this is the really important thing. A pen, a keyboard, whatever you might use, is simply a device to record what's happening. It's simply the device that takes your thoughts and transfers them to the page. It's irrelevant what you use, just keep flowing. Let it gush. Sometimes, thoughts may not come and you might use another instrument to release the imagination like chocolate or a walk in the park.

So in answer to the question: keep your pens handy and keep the keyboard close by. When the muse takes you use what will keep you flowing whatever what that might be.

ZHZ.