November 6, 2008
Dear NaNoWriMo author,
You've started a long journey. Congratulations on your resolution and
ambition! And the first thing you need to remember is that a long journey
can't be treated like a sprint. Take your time.
The second thing you need to remember is that if you want to finish this
journey you've begun, you have to keep going. One of the hardest things to
do with a novel is to stop writing it for a while, do something else,
fulfill this engagement or that commitment or whatever, and pick it up
exactly where you left it and carry on as if nothing had happened. You will
have changed; the story will have drifted off course, like a ship when the
engines stop and there's no anchor to keep it in place; when you get back
on board, you have to warm the engines up, start the great bulk of the ship
moving through the water again, work out your position, check the compass
bearing, steer carefully to bring it back on track ... all that energy
wasted on doing something that wouldn't have been necessary at all if you'd
just kept going!
But once you've established a daily rhythm of work, you'll find it
energising and sustaining in itself. Even when it's not going well. This is
a strange thing, but I've noticed it many times: a bad day's work is a lot
better than no day's work at all. At least if you've written 500 words, or
1000 words, or whatever you discover is your most comfortable daily rate of
production, the words are there to work on later. And when you do visit
them in a month's time, or whenever it is, you often find that they're not
so bad after all.
The question authors get asked more than any other is "Where do you get
your ideas from?" And we all find a way of answering which we hope isn't
arrogant or discouraging. What I usually say is "I don't know where they
come from, but I know where they come to: they come to my desk, and if I'm
not there, they go away again." That's just another way of emphasising the
importance of regular work.
You know which page of a novel is the most difficult to write? It's page
70. The first page is easy: it's exciting, it's new, a whole world lies in
front of you. The last page is easy: you've got there at last, you know
what's going to happen, all you have to do is find a resonant closing
sentence. But page 70 is where the misery strikes. All the initial
excitement has drained away; you've begun to see all the hideous problems
you've set yourself; you are horribly aware of the minute size of your own
talent compared to the colossal proportions of the task you've undertaken;
that's when you really want to give up. When I hit page 70 with my very
first novel, I thought: I'm never going to finish this. I'll never make it.
But then stubbornness set in, and I thought: well, if I reach page 100,
that'll be something. If I get there, I reckon I can make it to the end,
wherever that is. And 100 is only 30 pages away, and if I write 3 pages
every day, I can get there in ten days ... why don't I just try to do that?
So I did. It was a terrible novel, but I finished it.
The last thing I'd say to anyone who wants to write a novel is not actually
a piece of advice, but a question. It's this: are you a reader? Every
novelist I know - every novelist I've ever heard of - is, or was, a
passionate reader. I don't doubt that someone with determination and
energy, but who didn't read for pleasure, who only read for information,
could actually write a whole novel if they set their mind to it and
followed a few rules and guidelines; but would it be worth reading? Would
it give any pleasure beyond a mechanically calculated sort? I doubt it.
Novels that last and please readers are written because the novelist is
intoxicated by the delight and the endlessly renewable joy that comes from
engaging with imaginary characters - with story; and that engagement always
begins with reading; and if it catches you, it never lets go. Write a novel
if you want to win a competition, or impress your friends, or possibly make
some money - do so by all means. But if you're not a lover of stories, a
passionate and devoted reader, don't expect your novel to please many
readers.
On the other hand, if you do love reading, if you cannot imagine going on a
journey without a book in your pocket or your bag, if you fret and fidget
and become uncomfortable if you're kept away from your reading for too
long, if your worst nightmare is to be marooned on a desert island without
a book - then take heart: there are plenty of us like you. And if you tell
a story that really engages you, we are all potential readers.
Good luck!
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman is the award-winning author of the His Dark Materials
trilogy. You can learn more about him and his work at
http://www.philip-pullman.com/
