WRITING TIPS

Asearches, ccording to reported a recent in analysis the article of Googler ‘The dream job most New Zealanders long for’ on Stuff, many New Zealanders wish they coul dbea writer. Which surprises me, given that writers are uniformly deplorable individuals with limited social skills and narcissistic personalities.

I have often said everybody has a book in them. That doesn’t necessarily mean the book will be good, publishable, readable, or not lose you any money. But none of that matters, or should stop you writing.

I look at my young children and see how they love coming up with stories. Sure, few of their stories maintain any sense of narrative coherence, would pass the Bechdel test, or could beca shed in for movie rights. But there is something inherent about storytelling.I wish most people weren’t discouraged from doing so, as they grew up.

So here are some non-binding ,completely ignorable tips that have helped me. This is from someone who became a writer by accident. English is not my first language. In ever studied creative writing or English at university. Instead, Iw ent on ac haotic trip through North and We st Africa, wrot ea blog ,a n daf riend passed that blog to her ex-boyfriend who passed it on to my (now) publisher. And here w ea re.

There’s no one wa yo f becoming a writer ,a nd one of the great things about writing is that you’re never too old or young to sta rt ( asi de f rom babies, they’re probably not going to be very goo da t holding a pen).

It h elps to read a s mu ch as you can, if you can. I only got bette r on ce Ist arted trying to understand how other writers d o it . And it also mea nsIr ead a swi dely as I can ,a n df rom a sm any diverse writers as possible. Itrytor ead books tha tI don’t like or don’t think I’d like: I ca nl earn just a smu c h (i f not more) from pulling apart ab ookIh ated.

I’d recommend having a n ov erarching purpose. I write because Ig enuinely don’t think the literary establishment and literary hipste rs r ead South Asian writers in this country (with afe w Booker Prize winners as exceptions ,a n de ve nth en…). That, in turn, means our interior lives are marginalised. More generally, tha tm eans we ge tr ead with stereotypica l vi ews ,a nd some of the issues within South Asian communitie sr emain hidden. I’v ec ome to r ealise though, tha tth er ea re plenty of people who read our books in New Zealand, whic hj ars with that institutional gatekeeping. Iw ant to crowba rop en some space to ensur eS outh Asians can write about whateve rth e yw ant, how the yw ant.

Your purpos ed oesn’t need to be a ss elf-important a sth at .Y our purpose might be to ensure your granddad’s war dia ryisr ecorded for posterity or because you think a mash-up o fK ing Arthur and space zombie sisthe book the world needs. Having a purpose will keep you going whe nth e grind o ff orcing words onto a page, orr eading something again on your 30th edit, loses its romantic sheen. Because writing is a grind. It’s work. And the only wa yyoug et better at writing is b ypr actising. The more you write, th ebe tter you’ll get – or at least, feel mor ec omfortable putting words down. I’v ec ome to be judicious, rathe rth an willy-nilly, int erms of whoIg et feedback from. Ih av ea very close relationship with my publisher ,M urdoch Stephens ,a n ded itor ,R obyn Kenealy. And I liste nto99 .9% of their feedback, because I trust their views. The three of ush ave very simila rr eading tastes an da re intellectually aligned. Taking feedback from people who will ge twh at you’re trying to d ois extreme lyv aluable. Feedback from people who aren’t, isl ess so. Writing isn’t an artform made for community, unlike music or theatr e,b uti f you can fin dac ommunity, tha th elps immeasurably .Y ou coul df orm a writing group with like-minded people. If you love speculativ efic tion, romance or crim efic tion, ther ea re vibrant and supportiv ec ommunities in Aotearoa in those genres .O ri f you an daf rien da r eb oth starting out, you’ll be able to encourage each other along. You might a sw e ll m ak ee verything els ea round the writing fun, in case nothing really happens .O ri f something happens, the nth ey’ll be your community to fall bac k on , because on ceab ook is out in the wild, it’s out of your hands. Iw ant to ensure tha tI don’t pull the ladde rup behind me. Being competitive in art is an ugly trait. Writing is not th eO lympics.

Finally ,e ve ni f none of th eab ove isr emote lyr elevant, Ir emember someone telling m e ea rly on, neve rs a yyouw ant to bea writer, say you ar ea writer. It gives you something to live up to. And itm eans tha tnom atte rwh a tth e nh appens – everything, nothing –a ll you remain focused on is simply putting one wor d, a fter another ,a fter another.

Brannavan Gnanalingam is a lawyer and novelist, including the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlisted Sodden Downstream and Sprigs. His latest, Slow Down, You’re Here was released last year.