Today's writer is Michael Ondaatje, whose novels include The English Patient and poetry collections include The Cinnamon Peeler.
Words come easily for the author—the bulk of the work is arranging and rewriting sentences. "I don't understand this whole concept of writer's block," says Mr. Ondaatje, who says he is working on a novel at the moment but declines to elaborate. "If I get stuck, I work on another scene."Seems simple enough: If you're blocked, work on another scene.
Posts
5 comments:
Ohh I love Ondaatje. He has this amazing novella which is a strange hybrid of poetry and prose called "The Collected Works of Billy the Kid" that I cannot recommend highly enough. Very graphic but unbeleivably beautiful.
I think that's a good reason for taking time to come up with multiple stories.
I know sometimes when I get stuck I'll jump to another script and that one flows.
But a bigger help is a thorough sequence outline. Someone described using outlines as rewriting when you open FD or MM.
Ondaatje has the wrong idea about what writer's block really is.
It isn't about being temporarily stuck on a story poblem, or not being able to com up with the right phrase. That kind of situation is easily fixed by working on something else, takig a rest, going for a walk, quiting until tomorrow...
You have writer's block when you are absolutely paralyzed with fear and self-doubt. No (or very little) writing occurs. You are overwhelmed with self-critical, perfectonistic thoughts. Nothing is good enough. You avoid writing completely. Months or even years go by w/o finishing anything... That is true writer's block.
I've come across many pro writers who don't understand writer's block or "don't believe it exists". It probably means they have always been confident about their ablities, they've never had a crisis of confidence. They are the lucky ones.
Oooh, sorry for typos.
I second tanialidov. I'm not a big fan of his novels,but Ondaatje's 'Billy' is really something else.
Post a Comment