David Thayer

I’m not trying to stir the ashes of the why blog question. There isn’t much daylight between that question and the why write question. Kate Atkinson in her latest novel ONE GOOD TURN has a lot of fun with Martin Canning, a character who is a successful crime writer. People ask Martin where he gets his ideas from. He has no clue, but feels so flummoxed by the question that he avoids human contact whenever possible so no one will ask. My own lack of formal training precludes me from wondering where ideas come from, mine, yours, the vast collective farm of TV shows in syndication. The only contribution I can make to the conversation is that ideas for books come from book packagers who are paid to think of these things. They have the necessary tools for the job: conference rooms, water coolers, deadlines, pressure from a boss. We need ideas, people. You’ve seen the movie.

Novelists are tight-lipped about storylines for this reason: there isn’t one. The truth is most writers have to pound away on the keyboard for weeks, months, or years before the subject at hand emerges. That’s why blogging has revolutionized the process. I think you have to disgorge three or four hundred words that have accumulated overnight before you can do anything coherent. Call it venting. Let’s say you went to bed last night thinking about Jason Giambi’s wrist, the impact of feminism on modern fiction, or the need for brake pads. You wake up with the residue of all these thoughts jumbled together. You wonder if Germaine Greer will be okay for the playoffs.

Having blogged you’re now ready for the discipline of scene and sequel. No one will ask where you get your ideas because you’ve disabled the comments section. Blogging is the greatest invention of all time.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 11th, 2006 at 7:43 am and is filed under Biting the Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.