Wednesday 7 January 2009

What kind of a writer?

My editor reminded me that the purpose of this blog was supposed to be about my writing rather than the "inelegant rant". I like the idea of inelegance, but she is of course correct. So I figured that I'd start out by answering the question that Suzie (my ed) asked me - what kind of a writer are you?

I'm an "all kinds of" writer. Professionally, I write non-fiction - position and policy papers; strategic analysis, strategic planning documents, briefings. I love the challenge of taking a policy document, producing an interpretation, redefining, reinterpreting - coming up with a challenge or with a means of implementation. Producing the elegant responses; the insightful observation that the original scripters missed; the interpretation of bureaucracy into understandable soundbites that are easy to sell. These things challenge my writing and I love it.

I think anyone who writes does so because they love playing with language, no matter whether the subject under taken is fiction or non-fiction. I love words, putting them together in various forms of collaboration or conflict; taking them apart; forming new alliances; letting them take me to places I didn't know I could go.

Writing fictional pieces are perhaps more challenging in that here you move beyond what you know - although strategic planning has a similar requirement! - I think it was John Keats who observed that authors wrote of uncertainties and mysteries without the annoying need to bother with facts. And he's absolutely right, which is one of the reasons why writing can be so exciting. The writer gets to tell the story how s/he wants and not just fiction. I can't remember who said it but the adage is, or at least was before the Internet, true - history is written by those who win. I think too that stories told now can influence the future - think of artificial intelligence and Asimov's robot stories. Words are very powerful tools indeed.

When I write, I write first and foremost to please myself as a reader - after all if I don't like to read me why should anyone else? Perhaps this simply underlines the fact that writing is a very selfish and all absorbing activity. It is the one thing I find most difficult to share with my wife - not the final outcome, but the initial thoughts and ideas. It is difficult to explain how one can become so absorbed by an idea or a thought that the only thing you can do is write. Preferably in a room - or a cafe, which seems to work pretty well too! - away from the rest of the world, undisturbed. It's hard to sit in the same place as someone else who has an expectation that you will engage with them and at the same time write down the thoughts in your head - your companion always seems to interrupt your thoughts at exactly the wrong moment. Or perhaps it's just a talent peculiar to my wife!

Suzie also asked why I wrote. That question was easy. Because I have to. If I didn't write I would be unable to live with the pressure of "stuff" inside my head. I would never admit to hearing voices because it wouldn't actually be true, but I "hear" my characters as they develop across my brain; and the only option I have is to write on paper what's in my head. There's another reason why I write, and that's because I love writing. I love the creative process of story telling - it's what we as human beings do. Life, society, work - these are all narratives. The world's a stage and all the people but players upon it - Shakespeare (paraphrased of course!).

There's a story teller in all of us - just remember that next time someone asks how you are, how your holiday went, or what you did at the weekend; your response will be the story you tell - fictional or otherwise.