>> So tell me how you write, you writers - on the wild moorside? in
>> the heart of the mean city? from deep within your tweedcovered
>> chairs?
Anywhere and everywhere. Walking is good for rhythm and clearing the
head. I have my Psion wherever i go and even use it occasionally.
>> Here goes:
>>
>> 1. Do you write daily?___ weekly?___ irregularly?___ Is the
>> writing a fixed part of routine, or does it follow other
>> pressures/dictates? Please specify:
Irregularly but frequently. Sometimes it's hard to say what is/isn't
writing as there is a constant background activity of looking into
things, making mental notes, etc, etc.
>> 2. These days do you write in the same place e.g. in the
>> kitchen/bathroom etc; on the bus to work? Is the workplace in any
>> sense a protected space? Please specify:
Both adults here have their own computers (and separate phone lines)
which the children sometimes use. My machine is in what is in effect a
corridor to the kitchen which is very convenient in _some_ ways as i am
"on duty" as househusband when the others are at home. My partner, who
is also a writer, has her machine in an upstairs study. Neither of us
write anywhere else when in the house (and yes, we have been known to
email each other rather than use the stairs).
>> 3. Drafting: notebooks, scraps of paper, word processor or what?
These days there are no hard copies whatsoever apart from a thick file
of rejects from the pre-digital era.
>> 3a. How are drafts organised - in linear/sequential mode, or in a
>> more complex structure? Please describe:
Apart from source text (found text, notes, previous failure, overmatter,
whatever), there is usually just one draft of each piece which is
updated irregularly. There may also be versions where attempts have been
made to create web pages, hypertext, images, etc. Occasionally there are
short sequences where an existing piece is copied and pasted then messed
around with in the usual manner.
>> 3b-e. Why? How long has it taken this practice to evolve? Are you
>> consistent in this? How aware are you of other writers' strategies
>> in this respect?
I was pleased to be able to abandon the use of spiral bound reporters
notebooks (the endless copying from page to page, book to book - the
_handwriting_ which i have always loathed) in the late 80's when i
acquired an electronic typewriter. This coincided with changing from an
almost nomadic existence to working at home looking after the babies. The
PC improved matters greatly and getting a handheld computer which i
could link to the PC meant that i could dispense with the emergency
scraps of paper and ballpoint on my infrequent excursions to poetry
venues etc.
Most of the writers i have known have used the notebook/scraps of paper
method but it is fascinating to hear about how others approach it these
days.
>> 4. A route-to-work question: what, in general terms, is the
>> relationship between draft and completion?
Poems are very rarely considered to be finished.
>> 4a. Does your motivation/intent change during this process? If so
>> can you say how? An example might help.
Some poems are more "fixed" than others. An early draft may be nothing
but a few linked phrases in search of musicality, as it were. At this
point the material may be gobbled up by something else. Or a first draft
may emerge already close to "completion" in which case i know where i am
heading.
>> 4b. What do you mean by "completion"?
Arriving at a draft which i feel i can show. Apart from a one or two
poems which are published on the Web and an old pamphlet of which there
were not many copies (most of which i have locked away) i have not been
published and so i am able to carry on updating my drafts.
>> 5. Input: is there a way of generalising your raw materials? Are
>> there, for instance, groups of books, musics, other artworks, or
>> people in your life, which you plunder repeatedly? Name the most
>> significant:
Common speech. Found text. The "atmosphere" from dreams and other
"trippy" states. Images - finding a poem can often be similar to finding
a photograph in as much as all that may be required is to "frame" and
"(under/over)expose" etc. Poetry is everywhere - the trick is to find
the composition which allows the various elements to resonate. To extend
the photographic metaphor - subtle use of a "dada filter" has been very
interesting in recent years. Incongruity, inanity, grotesquerie, etc -
these things are often filtered out by "normal" processes.
>> 5a. What conditions input? Weather? Nation? the Sports pages?
>> Rejection of all of these?
Brain chemistry? Chance! Serendipity, certainly.
>> 6. How open to mistakes are you? What steps do you take to
>> encourage or discourage them?
I was brought up with a working class dialect in which "bad" grammar was
normal and certain modes of expression and even individual words were
discouraged. I presume that some of this affects my work as i have made
little effort to get to grips with grammar. I consider myself to be
blind to it to a certain extent. There is a sense in which some of my
writing is a translation, and probably not that good as a result. I do
allow chance to operate occasionally.
>> 7. Roadtesting your writing: on a few friends? at readings? read
>> to the cat? leave in a drawer for 6 weeks? Not at all?
In what seems almost like a previous existence i would write in a pub
after work and then go and recite/perform immmediately afterwards. Some
reasonably good oral poetry emerged from this practice. These days i
find it extremely difficult to get out at all and i have been
concentrating on texts which i test on mailing lists and with my partner
(tough gig) or a couple of close friends.
>> 7a. Does this process transform the work? If so how?
Feedback from mailing lists is often difficult to understand in as much
as it is sometimes "kewl" and incomprehensible or in the form of a
simple "i like ..." (I'm not complaining here, BTW!). So it doesn't
usually lead to significant changes.
>> 8. Do you have lots of pieces of work on the go at the same time?
>> Are they separate or all part of the same fabric? Or do you work
>> methodically at one piece, then the next, then the next? Or in none
>> of these ways? Please specify:
I have lots of pieces (as draft email messages). Some of them are
related. I work on the piece which is most appealing at the time, when a
window of opportunity opens.
>> 9. How do you plan/prepare for performance? To what extent is this
>> incorporated in the drafting? Is performance a fixed point in your
>> intent?
Given that the only light my work sees is usually on mailing lists
(apart from that work which i have up in my webspace), the performance
aspect is limited to such things as spacing and shape.
>> 10. Are you obsessive about the practices you've described? Or
>> could you stop and do something else?
I am obsessive about those practices but i could change if necessary or
if i could see ways to be more efficient.
That ought to be enough to irritate quite a few people. If you have read
this far then i hope you found something of interest. Surprisingly
difficult questions to answer, Ric!
Regards,
Steve
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