Where do your ideas come from? is probably the most common question asked of writers, and one that many will struggle to answer. Not me. I know exactly where my stories originate: a metal box on my desk called the Word Tin. It contains all the words I need, stamped into small strips of metal, like dog-tags. To build a story, I simply delve into the box, pull out a handful of words and put them in the right order – easy.
The Word Tin: Where the words come from |
The late great (and edgy) Robert Cormier |
It takes time to write and revise a novel, and I find that if the characters and their story don’t mean anything to me, they won’t sustain my interest through the months of writing. If you care, it also brings with it a sense of responsibility, a desire to do justice to the characters and their story, which can be a great motivation – especially in those dark hours encountered with every novel, where the story won’t come and you find yourself reaching for the Word Tin!
Last week, Bryony talked about edgy fiction dealing with unsettling, uncomfortable ideas. Look at all the Edge story synopses and you’ll find a wide range of tales that have one thing in common: they all deal with realities that are hard to face, things we would rather not think about: knife crime, child abduction, prejudice and torture, abandonment, deception and coercion.
But these are the subjects that excite and unsettle me, that gnaw away at my subconscious, disturb my daydreams and keep me awake at night – the things that drive me to the typewriter.
15 Days without a Head by Dave Cousins, is out in January 2012, published by Oxford University Press.
I quite agree with this reason to write and would add that I write because I have something to say. I can't just generate a story because it might do well, or hit the market on the nose. I have to write about something I feel utterly passionate about. Its that passion which drives me to carry on when the long hard road of drafting a novel winds on and on.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. I think a concept is important, something that a reader can grab hold of, but it will only take a writer so far. What we need is that reason to hold a mirror up to ourselves, to delve into our own thoughts, emotions and reactions. Because this stuff is as painful for us as it is for the reader - and that's what makes it so vital.
ReplyDeleteI love your quote from Robert Cormier! What sent me to the typewriter was a flyer that went round the local schools warning that the driver of a big flashy car had tried to snatch children after school. It made me think. As a parent it made me scared. But what about the child who has been abducted? That was my starting point for The Long Weekend.
ReplyDeleteThe Word Tin is a great idea, Dave, and brilliant for creative writing workshops in schools! I may have to go in search of a tin...