fast and 2 furious?
Meg Wolitzer has a piece today on the joys of writing quickly (and she's someone who does both, slow novels and fast ones):
For most of us, the wasted days, failed beginnings and slow gathering of words really are a big but undramatic part of what we do. Entire novels are often cobbled together through a series of fits and starts. Everyone knows the expression "writer's block," but the opposite state, hypergraphia -- in which the writing comes surprisingly easily -- is far more obscure. Some writers have experienced both the slow, piecemeal construction of a novel and the fast, manic, seemingly effortless one. I can say without hesitation that fast and manic is better -- not only for the writer but sometimes, in the end, for the reader as well.
The "fast" novel tends to take shape when a writer is young and in possession of stamina and an uninterrupted sequence of thoughts and big ideas. These books bristle with the writer's excitement.
For most of us, the wasted days, failed beginnings and slow gathering of words really are a big but undramatic part of what we do. Entire novels are often cobbled together through a series of fits and starts. Everyone knows the expression "writer's block," but the opposite state, hypergraphia -- in which the writing comes surprisingly easily -- is far more obscure. Some writers have experienced both the slow, piecemeal construction of a novel and the fast, manic, seemingly effortless one. I can say without hesitation that fast and manic is better -- not only for the writer but sometimes, in the end, for the reader as well.
The "fast" novel tends to take shape when a writer is young and in possession of stamina and an uninterrupted sequence of thoughts and big ideas. These books bristle with the writer's excitement.
posted by Gwenda at
11:32 AM
2 Comments:
Interesting article, Gwenda. Wish a fast and furious book would set its sights on me writing it in the near future. I would love that. I miss working on a novel. I started on in the summer, but I've felt a bit detached from it ever since I came here. I think I have to be on Ohio soil again, or at least American, to finish it. I'll have to wait for some other book to present itself, one that doesn't demand I be in the place it's set so much. But damn I would love to be caught up in writing a book after reading this. It makes me miss it. Now someone should find and link to an essay that will remind me of all the things I hate about writing a book too. Just to be fair.
Well, being absorbed in writing a book when Japan is still so new to you would be a little bit of a shame, right? I'm sure as it gets more familiar, something will present itself to you. There's definitely something to be said for mad rushes, but then, there's also something to be said about the hell of rewriting.
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