09/05/2023
In an interview I was talking about writing and said this. I thought it might be of some help to those of you who are wrestling with your own projects:
Part of creating is letting go. I remember very vividly when writing 'The Land of Laughs' I reached the part in the story where the dog talks for the first time. I wrote the passage and stopped. I thought—the dog just spoke—that’s crazy. A moment later I relaxed and thought okay, let’s just see where it goes.
In an essential way it was the turning point of all writing I have done since then. My paradigm moment came about because I simply let go, accepted the impossible for fact in the story I was writing and kept moving.
The Germans have a nice phrase about trust in romance—“fall back and I’ll catch you.” The same could be applied to writing or any art, as far as I can see: If you believe you have it in you, create whatever it is you want and stop thinking about approaches or limitations or or or… Just make it. Clear your mind of hesitation and everything other than the vision you are trying to convey and get to work. Then continue. Frequently the more you think about it, the less well you do it.
For writers, start with a phrase or a character you like or who intrigues you. Begin to spin a spider’s web out from that center point. Don’t worry about where it's going. Very often when I begin a book or story, I only have a single line or image which I put down and then think who is this? What are they like? What is their life like?
“Haden was in trouble again” is the beginning of my novel 'Glass Soup' only because I liked that line. After writing it I thought—who’s this Haden? He’s a handsome as***le. Okay, what does he do? Where is he? Etcetera. Don’t think about the final design or anything beyond the beginning — just be a spider and start to spin the web only you can design.
art by Eliseo H. Zubiri
