..'the shadow always follows..Yes, choose a place where you won't do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine.' EM Forster A Room with a View
January is all about daytime, sorting out the writing space, breathe the essence of hyacinths and day dream our ideas into being..
The dance of shadow and light is brisk in January, culminating, if you are of a Scottish persuasion, with a proper manic knees up for Burns Night on January 25th. Those off the sauce may like to cling to this pretend cocktail..it’s a good one. This is my favourite time of year for writing. The clear skies and cold brightness that I associate with this month are invigorating and the lack of social life and money, post Christmas, means there are few diversions from cracking on.
The fear is often the thing that stops people starting, and my message to you, from my own experience is that DOING IT is so much easier than thinking about doing it. Just write anything. A shopping list of things you think your character might need. Here is an entertaining and useful article by author Flynn Berry on taking characters shopping in a supermarket. For my own part, I spend most of my time, when I am in supermarkets, wondering what my characters would buy, whether they would use self checkout, or fail at it, whether they would throw food into the trolley or organise it, whether they would scan the items as they go round, use a shopping list, shop lift anything, and so on. It’s a kind of intimacy we can only have in real life when we are genuinely curious about a new partner or taking notice of a family member, but in fiction we can have it with all our characters.
Another great opening exercise comes to me from my former colleague Andrew Cowan, with whom I taught Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia for many years. Cowan created a list of searching and disarming questions to ask your characters as you get to know them. Among the questions are gems, such as:
‘what was the last lie you told?’
‘who was the last person you were naked in front of?
‘what is the last thing you stole?’
If nothing else, ever since I first came across the list, I have never found sitting next to a stranger boring - there are ALWAYS questions you can ask….
Jo Jo Moyes has written a really good substack about the itch for writing that is buried close to the skin in every writer’s flesh, see it as a thorn or splinter that will not remain dormant for long. See it as a kind of meditation for those who have no patience to meditate. see it as you like, but just do it.
So here you are in January, pencil-sharp and ready with desire, intention and now material to get you going. WHAT NEXT? The next thing is where to sit down and write. Below and in the article here is a glorious look at some writers’ rooms.
And here is a great article on Charlotte Peacock’s very fine blog, concerning the famous writing habits of Virginia Woolf. Here Peacock digs into much that is of granular interest, including the cost of being a writer, Woolf style, and the state of chaos that many writers exist in.
The detritus of writers and other slobbish figures in the Bloomsbury Group was referred to by Lytton Strachey as ‘filth packets’ and readers with a frayed sense of chaos may recognise elements of an antique version of themselves, in this paragraph: ‘Old nibs, bits of string, used matches, rusty paper clips, crumpled envelopes and broken cigarette holders’. How true, and how resonant to some. Now it might be a vape, a lone ear pod, a broken face mask and a loyalty card for example.
I can relate to this sentiment written by Woolf in her December 1939 diary, ‘The litter in this room is so appalling that it takes me 5 minutes to find my pen.’
I leave you with a book to delve into. Harriet Baker writes excellently concerning moments in the lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamund Lehman who all found themselves for a while, for better or worse reasons, pursuing country habits, writing endless lists and lingering to stare at the days as they shaped themselves. Rural Hours is a good place for the interested reader and potential writer to start the New Year’s reading. And maybe follow Virginia Woolf with a standing desk. You never know, it could be a fine place to linger oneself. Certainly putting one together is an excellent work avoidance tactic.
Final note: there are a couple of late spaces if anyone would like to join my Monday night zoom group for support and guidance on the adventure of writing. Contact here for details.
Bye until next time xxx
