Inspiration, concision

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Flowers

 

 Mostly when I write best I write quite fast, about a thing. Or I tell a story with a very A to Z narrative. Or I just describe things or places or experiences.

 I think the weaker stuff I do involves analysis of  a culture or history and indeed that is why I do very little of it. I am not much of a researcher as I'm too easily distracted.

And I don't care enough about facts anyway. I had, as a child, when relating an event to my parents the tendency to exaggerate incidents at school, and my parents would cross-examine me to discover that really I was melodramatising for sympathy or attention. Getting a reaction was more important than truth. It probably still is, which is why it is best that I focus on trivia or fiction.

My mode of writing is based largely on inspiration, a sudden electrical charge. Or a sense of fun. It's a commonplace that a lot of ideas come when the mind is relaxed and one is engaged in some other, usually undemanding, activity such as bathing, walking to a shop, or driving on a quiet road, and this is often the case for me. 

The ideas that come in those moments are rich or curious, and its always a good idea to note them down. 

I usually write in two stages. The first is exhalation  -brainstorming- when I write down with a minimum of equivocation  the things I want to say. Then usually I wait a few days to return to this with another mental set and greater objectivity for the second stage. This is a sifting and/or embellishment stage. Occasionally there are additional digressive thoughts which I add to the main narrative.

I find having an image to anchor the piece very useful and I like the possibility that the image sets up alternative narrative chains in the readers mind which they can contrast to mine.

I try to write short pieces. Concision is a virtue in art. 

 I'm suspicious of big works of art in all forms. It's rare that they have been properly edited and thus usually contain repetitions, verbosity and sloppy craftsmanship. 

Moreover, bigness in art implies and suggest megalomania on the part of their makers or patrons. Double albums almost always contain filler tracks. Proust needs editing. Let's  not talk about Wagner.

 The cathedrals of England are fabulous exceptions to this rule. 

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