Continuing our elaboration of Jack Kerouac’s Belief and Technique for Modern Prose.
Be in love with yr life
Dear Writer,
I think all writers are in love with life. Why else would we spend countless hours dealing with the tedious business of inventing characters and stories?
Life might leave us confused, bewildered, awestruck, angry, sad, or outraged, but we still love it. Even if our experiences have mistreated us and left us bitter, we pay homage to existence by creating stories that illustrate its mystery, its complexity.
So how do you connect with that love for your life, even when it’s shitty?
Think about what makes it unique. Think about the littlest things that make it good. Think of all you learned and how strong it has made you. Take your pain and your happiness and turn it into beauty. That is the magic of art.
Continuing our elaboration of Jack Kerouac’s Belief and Technique for Modern Prose.
Try never get drunk outside yr own house
Why not get drunk outside your own house? This is good advice for obvious reasons. You could get into a fight, make a fool of yourself, or suck face with a total stranger. You’ll avoid DUIs, black eyes, and regrets if you indulge at home.
What does this have to do with modern prose?
If we apply Jack’s advice to writing, we might say that it means to keep our grandiose ideas safely tucked away until they’re sober enough to get dressed and walk out into the light of day.
I’ve seen too many writers rush to publish and sabotage themselves by not polishing their work.
Resist submitting your wild typewritten pages while still high on creative madness. Keep your writing safe till the energy has settled, the manuscript has matured, and you have your editor look at it first!
Continuing our elaboration of Jack Kerouac’s Belief and Technique for Modern Prose
Submissive to everything, open, listening
Dear Writer,
Keep your ears and eyes open. Be aware of the thoughts streaming through your mind. You might be enduring a boring dinner party, standing in line at the grocery store, or being trapped by a neighbour who wants to talk about the weather. What seems like a boring waste of time could be the void that generates a big bang of ideas.
Steal pieces of conversation, pay attention to the questions you ask yourself, take notes on peoples’ faces and expressions. Keep your mind open and submissive to information. Stay curious about the world. There is magic in the mundane if you look closely enough.
For the month of May, I’m going to elaborate on Jack Kerouac’s Belief and Technique for Modern Prose. This list of 30 mantras is one of my favorite collections of writing advice. I have it pinned to the cork board in my office. It’s intuitive, poetic, and mystical—just like the writing process.
1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
Sometimes, we try too hard to please readers or live up to some standard in our minds. Suddenly, writing isn’t fun anymore. It becomes work. Once we cease to enjoy it, the creativity fades and we’re left with mechanical, uninspired ramblings.
That’s why you should keep some writing for yourself. Go on a spree and write wildly without expectation, without imagining what other people will think of it. This is for pure enjoyment.
Keep your scribblings secret, but look at them from time to time to rekindle your mischievous sense of fun.
Don’t approach you’re writing with the mindset that someday you’ll write something incredible. Now is your time. Today could be the day you write that story that gets you the big break you’ve been waiting for.
The words you write today could be the beginnings of your best work. They might bring you to the person you need to meet, or the publication that gets you in front of the right eyes.
They might deliver you to the reader who becomes your biggest fan. You never know when you’re going to write the words that change everything.
All you have to do is show up.
Take care of your body and your brain so that you have the best chance. Get in that chair and do the work.
Be ready because today might be the day!
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