Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity.
How refreshing! That was from The Paris Reviews, the finest set of interviews with writers in all the world. You can read more about The Paris Reviews from an article Orhan Pamuk wrote for The Guardian last year. (see)
I started to post a reminder about the Scifi Story Contest and went on a tangent. How is your story coming along? Are you laboring with your neck yoked to technique? Break free. That said, I admit I don't have any suggestions on how you may get to the end of your story. I'll quote Faulkner's again and leave you to your wits:
A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination--any two of which, at times any one of which--can supply the lack of the others. With me, a story usually begins with a single idea or memory or mental picture. The writing of the story is simply a matter of working up to that moment, to explain why it happened or what it caused to follow.
- Log in to post comments