‘It takes at least a thousand pages to write the crap out of your system’
My editor for Conspiracy Files has shingles. His replacement – the blessed Lara – has asked me cut the text. This time it is not for legal reasons, but for space. If the cuts I have to make are too drastic, I will post the full originals on this blog because I am actually reasonably pleased with some of my writing when it comes to the new material. This is not always the case when I appraise my own work.
There are very few bits of advice on writing that actually hold at the coalface. One of them I have found to be true is: ‘It takes at least a thousand pages to write the crap out of your system.’ I think in my case it might be more like 3,000 pages, but the principle is accurate. It takes a while to flush out literary toxins you absorb as a reader. It takes a lot of pages to find your own voice, to be inspired by your favourite authors instead of sounding like a poor copy of them. I might not ever be to sing sentences that bring worlds to life like Sinclair or Moore, but I hope I am beginning to hit the right notes and express the tune I hear in my head at times.
There are very few bits of advice on writing that actually hold at the coalface. One of them I have found to be true is: ‘It takes at least a thousand pages to write the crap out of your system.’ I think in my case it might be more like 3,000 pages, but the principle is accurate. It takes a while to flush out literary toxins you absorb as a reader. It takes a lot of pages to find your own voice, to be inspired by your favourite authors instead of sounding like a poor copy of them. I might not ever be to sing sentences that bring worlds to life like Sinclair or Moore, but I hope I am beginning to hit the right notes and express the tune I hear in my head at times.
Labels: Conspiracy Files, Writing
5 Comments:
"There are very few bits of advice on writing that actually hold at the coalface."
Never heard that expression before.
Looking forward to read whatever you put online. When will you know what you have to cut?
It is a wonderful ability you have there to be able to write the way you do! It is a gift you have and one I presume you love to use.
My limit is my blog I don't have the ability, vocabulary, education or the intellect to do more than that! As I honestly feel my blog shows all to often sadly.
So, that thousand pages you speak of could be considered a literary bowel movement. That’s a long time to sit on a metaphorical toilet. I would suggest lots of reading material to while away the time but you would risk replenishing the crap as fast as it could be expunged. Better to stare at the walls I guess. What would be the toilet paper analogue?
You have the dubious honour of being one of the few bloggers I have the attention span to stick with if you write a long post.. Does that count? I am fussy about how I spend my time reading, and don't often make it thought a long post.
The blessed Lara? That sounds great.
:-)
"It takes a lot of pages to find your own voice"
And soemtimes it takes a lifetime. But the effort is all worth it, no?
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