the first rule of writing

I thought the other day that lots of advice about writing is too bland. "Write what you know" people say or, "Write about what you like". Advice needs more precision and edge than that. Before you write you need an image or the idea of a person to cosy up to, to hold dear, to draw sustenance from. This image is held so dear (and it can be completely made up) that it feels almost real to you. Is real.

What image have you to cosy up to when writing? A great title can really help; so can a series of ‘great scenes’, a great idea, an over arching idea- you need something to steer by and cling to to give pace to what you write, to give emotion to your work.

We write best about what we like and admire and find fascinating. We write second best about what we loathe. We write worst about we don’t care about.

You have to find something IN what you are writing about that you can love and admire and find fascinating. In the way shamans talk about ‘power objects’ and ‘power animals’, these things you love and admire are your power objects and power characters and power places and scenes.

Power objects – identify them: could they be, strangely, certain vehicles, clothes, equipment, perfumes, houses? Houses can be major power objects- which brings me to power places- EM Forster wrote that the cave in Passage to India was essential but he didn’t know how he would use it when he started writing. It was a power place for him. Something that fascinated him.

Power people- either a  character one loves or a character one is fascinated by.

So ask: where is the power person, where is the power object in anything you write. Assemble characters you love and admire and find fascinating- however strange or morally dubious they may seem at first sight.

This is the essential point: what is a power object or power person for you may not be 'popular', 'hip' or 'relevant'- however, when you have written about it, it will be.