Writer to writer: From think to ink - Gail Carson Levine 2014
The spark
Being a writer
I’ve been asked on the blog, and also in schools and at conferences, to say what inspires me. I suspect that there’s another question locked up in this one, and that is: What tips can you give me so I can find inspiration and sustenance for my writing?
My first inspiration is my childhood reading. Reading ranked just below breathing in importance when I was little. Privacy was in short supply in our cramped apartment where I shared a bedroom with my older sister, who believed I had been created to plague her. Reading gave me privacy. The books I read then made me a writer for children now; I’m not even half tempted to write stories for adults.
Today is a great time to be a young reader, because so many marvelous books for kids have been written in the last fifty years. The ones I adored were classics: Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Bambi, Black Beauty, Peter Pan. I relished books about Robin Hood and King Arthur, tall tales, and, of course, fairy tales. If I liked a book, I read it over and over. Through my favorite books I absorbed plot, character, language, even grammar. The old books didn’t limit their vocabulary to what a child would know. What a gift!
So that’s one tip: Sample some of these books and see if they inspire you, too.
I try to give readers the kind of story I loved, and still love, which brings me to another tip: Write for yourself, the sort of stories you like to read. Don’t worry about other people’s taste.
And don’t worry about imitating. Writers can’t avoid it. On our pages we imitate life and books and movies and TV. Being a good imitator is valuable, even essential. Imitating isn’t the same as plagiarizing. We shouldn’t copy another writer’s exact words because there’s no achievement in it, since the other person has done all the work, and because plagiarism is unethical and illegal. Our writing and that of other authors is protected by copyright law. Once you write whatever you write, it’s protected whether or not you publish it. The words belong to you alone. Note that copyright covers words, not ideas. For example, you can write your own story about a girl who always obeys; the idea doesn’t belong to me.
I still go to fairy tales, like “Cinderella,” for ideas and inspiration. My recent novel A Tale of Two Castles was inspired by “Puss in Boots,” leaping off from the improbable role the cat plays in the fairy tale.
Think about where you get your ideas. Fairy tales, as I do? Movies? Novels? Comics or graphic novels? Use them!
In 1987, when I started to write seriously, with hopes of being published, I read many of the Newbery Award—winning books at the library. I found in them the same old-fashioned approach to storytelling that I knew from my childhood, which made me feel right at home and as if I could join in. Another inspiration. And another tip: Catch up on your Newbery books. Your library will have them.
I took writing courses, too, and met fellow writers. My favorite class was a workshop. Every week our teacher, Bunny Gabel, would read aloud three or four selections of student work that had been submitted to her the week before. After she read, the class would comment and then she would tell us her opinion. Many published writers took this course. The same writing issues (like the ones that come up on the blog and in this book) would appear in different guises week after week, so advice would be repeated. The effect was much like rereading books; I absorbed the comments from Bunny and the more experienced writers, and now their voices are in my mind when I write. I hear them ask me what my characters are thinking and feeling or whether I’ve written information that the reader doesn’t need to know. My teachers, Bunny and others, and my classmates are another inspiration.
You may not be able to take a writers’ workshop, but you may be taking English or Language Arts in school. Pay special attention to teachers’ comments on your work and also on the work of other students. If you don’t understand a criticism, ask questions. When you hear something that rings true, remember it. Write it down and keep it handy. Let it permeate your consciousness when you write again. Let it inspire you.
If you don’t do this already, discuss books with friends. Join a book club if you can. Analyzing books and sharing opinions will open you up to new ideas and also solidify what you believe.
Research can get me going, too. For example, I’ve been reading a book about the history of the Jews in Spain. I’m looking for seeds that will germinate into a story. Already I’ve learned how important poetry was to medieval Spanish Jews and that Jews often collected taxes for the kings, which made them hated. Both suggest ways my story might go.
And life generates ideas: overheard conversations; animal behavior; people watching; an argument you take part in; stories in the newspapers, on the radio, on the TV news; a comment by a teacher or a parent; a discovery made while completing a homework assignment.
My writing friends inspire me. Every month, two writers I’ve known for years come over for lunch. There’s no purpose. We don’t critique each other’s work. Sometimes we talk shop about publishing. Often our own writing comes up. Writing is rarely smooth sailing for any of us, which is a comfort and, in an odd way, an inspiration. We’re all in the same boat, and if they persevere, so can I.
Cultivate the friendship of other writers. Mostly we work alone, but our fellow strivers make us feel part of a team.
Although I enjoy being with my writing friends, I relish working alone. What keeps me writing may be the internalness of the process, the communion with myself. Like reading, writing is intensely private. We’re digging in the garden of our own minds, where the bulbs and seeds we’ve planted with our reading, our research, and our living are sprouting, sending up flowers and veggies that have been miraculously changed from their origins, with extra petals or surprising colors or flavors never tasted before.
Writing time! These are classic topics, the sort I read about as a child, the kind that never go out of style. You’ve seen them in books and movies and on TV. Write a story about one or more:
• A dog, cat, or any other pet who thinks in language and is separated from its owners.
• An orphan traveling to an unknown place.
• A child separated from her family by war.
• A stowaway on a ship.
• A family struggling with poverty.
• An outlaw set against an unjust society.
Have fun, and save what you write!