What Writers Say, Part 21: Francois Mauriac on Overthinking Technique

Nobel laureate Francois Mauriac expressed disdain for obsessing over what he called technique, claiming that the younger novelists of his time "think a good novel ought to follow certain rules imposed from outside. In fact, however, this preoccupation hampers them and embarrasses them in their creation."

Mauriac said he eschewed formulaic writing as a means to achieving a naivete essential to the sense of spontaneity he wished his audience to experience when reading his work. "A borrowed style is a bad style," he insisted.

This simple advice is not easy to heed when analyzing one's plot, characters, narrative, and dialogue. Mauriac would suggest that an author's preconceived notions kill good stories. His admonishment might be a good impetus for free-writing, the technique of writing for a set period without attention to structure, grammar, diction, and even content.

What Writers Say, Part 20: William Styron on Making a Writer's Environment

William Styron had a definite opinion on the type of environment he needed to produce: "I like company and entertainment, people around. The actual process of writing, though, demand complete, noiseless privacy, without even music; a baby howling two blocks away will drive me nuts."

Every successful writer has a conscious writing process and an ideal writing environment. Like Styron, Ernest Hemingway preferred a quiet place. August Wilson said he could write anywhere. Sam Shepard wrote longhand before typing. 

Whatever the desired environment and tools are, get them and get to work.

What Writers Say, Part 19: Blaise Cendrars on Why Writers Should Not Complain

Blaise Cendrars lays down a sound wake-up call to writers who complain about how tough a craft they have: "They should talk a little more about their privileges and how lucky they are to earn some return for the practice of their art."

Any writer who has seriously practiced over an extended period knows that the craft beats most other jobs. People who make excuses for not writing would probably make excuses for most other shortcomings in their life. 

I've mentioned in WORDS ON THE LINE before: There are no shortcuts. I'll add to this maxim one other: Write more, complain less. The results have to be better.

What Writers Say, Part 18: Blaise Cendrars on Writing for Oneself

When Blaise Cendrars spoke about the "fatal disappointment" of finishing a book, he was not being overly dramatic. He was referring to the blind ambition of publishing without enjoyment, explaining that he had come to creating poems in his head without writing or sharing them.  He said, "It's good so to daydream, to stammer around something which remains a secret for oneself."

Cendrars may seem egocentric or self-deluding on the surface, but writers can learn a great lesson from his thought. Writing for the sake of writing, taking pleasure in the task itself, savoring the creation of something new benefits writers enormously, transforming hours into seconds, inspiring them to wake up the next day, and urging them to get started immediately at the dawn of their new day.

What Writers Say, Part 17: Ernest Hemingway on Writing with the Iceberg in Mind

Concluding this Ernest Hemingway 7-part series within a 25-part series, I could not end on a better note. Hemingway once said, "I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg."

This simple yet profound needs no explanation. Writers just need to remember if they know it, their readers likely will too, so they need not explain it. Just show, don't tell; tell what happened, not why. Your readers are as smart as you.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

What Writers Say, Part 16: Ernest Hemingway on the Importance of Observation

"If a writer stops observing he is finished," Ernest Hemingway once told George Plimpton. "But he does not have to observe consciously nor think how it will be useful. Perhaps that would be true in the beginning. But later everything he sees goes into the great reserve of things he knows or has seen."

A writer's skill in engaging an audience is directly related to his power of observation. Without this critical know-how, writers will appear naive at best and manipulative at worst. The writer's job is to report what he experiences unblemished, showing readers the best and worst of human nature.

What Writers Say, Part 15: Ernest Hemingway on Reading His Work

Ernest Hemingway once said that he occasionally reads his own novels to cheer himself when he is having a hard time writing. 

Not a bad idea for all writers. When struggling with a difficult piece. pick up something you've already published or readers have praised. That quality standard could be the goal of your next literary work.