tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post6490559460964980026..comments2023-09-25T05:45:41.437-07:00Comments on The Art of Fiction: A Good Poet Has Fallow YearsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post-64394506093136683922014-06-23T12:17:21.864-07:002014-06-23T12:17:21.864-07:00Yep, I think the writing is only one part of the c...Yep, I think the writing is only one part of the creating and sometimes they just brew away inside you. I was away for a week and wrote 4 poems and a story, after weeks of nothing. Adrian Slatcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13946068316432524571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post-67720392675108938682014-06-23T12:16:04.302-07:002014-06-23T12:16:04.302-07:00Comment from Jim Murdoch: (sorry Jim, my clumsy fi...Comment from Jim Murdoch: (sorry Jim, my clumsy fingers "deleted" rather than "published" this post)<br /><br />I once went three years without writing a single thing—and by “thing” I mean poem because I only thought of myself as a poet back then—and then, out of pure frustration, I sat down one day to try and write a “thing” just to enjoy the feeling of words trickling down my arm and the next thing I knew I’d produced a novel. I don’t think writers have fallow periods. Okay, there are times when they’re not outputting but the writing process is a continual one. I’ve learned patience. When the words are good and ready they appear. Sometimes they’re poems, sometimes not. I wish I wrote more but then I look at what those who do write constantly produce and I think to myself that most of it hasn’t been chewed properly. I have a long gestation process. I content myself with the fact that when I do find myself writing something it’s something that needs to be written. If I am going through what you refer to as a fallow period—and the fact is I only produce a poem every few weeks these days—it’s because I have a lot less to say these days about things I have any opinion on, any opinion anyone would be interested in listening to. Not that I write for other people—never have—but I’m aware that they’re out there, more so than I used to be.<br /><br />I read both The Pearl and Of Mice and Men for O-Level. Can’t say they put me off for life but I’ve still never got round to reading anything else by him and he’s not even on my long list. I particularly enjoyed the latter—so that’s where the characters in the cartoons come from!—and I made a point of watching the last film adaptation with John Malkovich as a surprisingly effective Lenny. Cannot see for the life of me why anyone would want to ban the book. It’s a great wee book and short. Big fan of short books as you know. If there’s one hope I have for the future of writing—once ebooks become the norm—is that more short books make it to print. (I suppose ‘make it to print’ will still exist as term. I still talk about taping TV programmes and there’s not been any tape involved for years.)<br /><br />I’ve read a lot of books over the years but I do have to say that those we were assigned in secondary school made a particularly strong impression on me—in addition to the Steinbeck: Catcher in the Rye, Billy Liar, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm—plus the poetry of Larkin—HUGE influence there—and Ted Hughes (not so much). I also appreciated the Shakespeare more than I expected (we did Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice) but I think it would’ve been nice to look at some contemporary plays too. <br />Adrian Slatcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13946068316432524571noreply@blogger.com