Work Every Day
Phillip Pulman, in The Guardian:
What are your tips for aspiring novelists?
There are several things I think it’s important for an aspiring writer to know. When I was young I read all kinds of that sort of advice, and I thought it was all rubbish. Later on I found out for myself how important a few things are, and I’ll tell you three of them here.
One: work every day. Get into the habit of it. Work when you don’t feel like it, when you’ve just broken up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, when you’re feeling ill, when you’ve got homework to do. Put your work first. Habit is your greatest ally. Get into the habit of writing when you’re young and it’ll stay with you. Sixteen is a very good age to start.
Two: find out what way of working (place, time, writing instrument, desk light, and so on) suits you, and insist that you get it.
Three: don’t listen to anyone who tells you you should study what the public wants, and give it to them. They don’t know what they want, or they’d be writing it themselves. It’s not their job to tell you what to write. It’s your job to write something they could never have thought of, and then offer it to them. Good luck!
I think this guidance just works for anything. Do it every day. Keep doing it. Work out when you do it best. Don’t make something to “sell”.
It’s that last part that’s the hard part. Don’t start doing things that sell because somebody told you to. You’ll hate it. I have some experience with this; I ended up just making the worst stuff of my creative life when I was at university in Newcastle, because I did what I was told to.
Also relevant is this, by Ira Glass:
All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this.
Which is taken from this video interview:
Work every day. You’ll make some things you’re not proud of. Some days you won’t feel like it. Do it anyway. Keep doing it.
