Words of wisdom, part 2

Further words of wisdom from the depths of Neil Gaiman’s blog. Especially during the Penman Shipwreck, these bits catch my eye, and so I offer them up for whomever wants them.

Hello Neil,

I find myself in a quandary of sorts and wonder if you have any advice or insights you may be able to offer a young-ish, aspiring writer of fiction for the screen. For at least two years now, my working practice has proceeded more or less as follows:

1. Get an idea.
2. Scrutinise the idea with unhealthy intensity for any traces of plagiarism, clich�, deus ex machina, etc.
3. Sit down to write the first draft
4. Write less than a page, delete the whole thing, convince myself the idea is worthless, and abandon it altogether.
5. Repeat.

Something about seeing the ideas in my head committed to paper makes me balk, no matter how I try to force myself to just finish something – anything. Does this sound familiar to you at all, perhaps from your earliest days as an artist? I wonder if it all boils down to something as obvious as the fear of being misunderstood. If so, what can I do to enable myself to Just Get On With It?

Thanks for anything you might be able to throw my way.

- David

Well, you have a couple of options. One of which — the easiest — is simply not to worry about writing and use the time to do something else instead: golf, for example, or macrame, or the breeding of prize gerbils. The other option is to write. What you’re doing currently is Not Writing. If you do want to write, then what you have to do is Not Do That Stuff You’re Talking About in 1-5 above, and write instead.

You might want to try handwriting, or even, if you can find a typewriter anywhere, typing. It’s harder to delete stuff if you’re making marks on paper as you go. And make a rule that you can’t go back and change things or fix things until you’ve finished whatever you’re on. You could try giving yourself a wordcount, too — a thousand or so words a day is probably good to start off with. Finish it, even if it’s crap (especially if it’s crap). Then go onto the next.

Ted Hughes once said words to the effect that the progress of any writer is marked by those moments when he manages to outwit his own inner police system. Bear that in mind. And good luck.

Chain of bookshelves

What could be more fun for the creepy bibliophile in all of us? Below are links to pictures of my bookshelves. We only have two, at the moment, which are devoted to books. There are two more, across the room, which do have books on them, but mostly it consists of comic books, dictionaries, peculiar reference books, and piles of papers in no particular order. And while that might sound interesting to look at too…the problem is, they aren’t in any sort of layout where you could see anything but piles and you would just get a sense of “Pete could use to organize once in awhile,” and telling me that wouldn’t do any good.

Furthermore…on these two shelves, my wife and I (mostly me…the vast majority of these books are ones I read. My wife reads less than I do these days, being busy and tired) put up the books that I knew I liked, or planned to read soon. I’ve read most of them. Most of them, I’ve read dozens of times over.

We have twelve, or more, big boxes full of books cataloged and stored away in a dark, dry room, because if we put up our entire book collection, we would need at least six more shelves just like these two, and I bet you we’d still wind up with leftovers. This is why I keep trying to find a way to build something into a library. (When I am rich and famous, and we build our own house, not only will I have a terrific study, but we shall have a beautiful library with mahogony shelves built into the walls, hard wood floors, reading lamps and plush chairs, and a hidden sound system tuned to a classical music station. And maybe a fireplace. And tall, thin frosted windows here and there.)

There are other books I really like, and the reason you don’t see them on the shelf is…they are off, they are on the table next to me (and by the couch, and by the bed, and by my desk) and are in various states of being read.

Without further ado, here’s the pictures. (They are big, the better to see them with.)

Left shelf

Right Shelf

Top of the shelves

There we go!

And…I pass this on to Ed. Ed! Take pictures of your books, in some form (even if it’s just opening up a box and photographing it. Or your shelves, if you have ‘em) and post them, so we can oggle at your books.