Tuesday, June 3, 2008

It's a heroic struggle, writing, sometimes.

A UK writer called Roger Morris tries to write ... with his cat's help. Follow the link and press play.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many authors are there left like Roger who still write longhand into a notebook?

Mary McCallum said...

I believe Michael Ondaatje does. I think it makes the prose quite different. I have tried it sometimes, Graham, and I let the writing flow more, and allow less self-correction as I go. And I guess I write more at a sitting because of it.

But oh I love it when it's finally on a screen and can be edited. I love to edit and edit and edit....Not sure I could ever have written a novel without the computer.

I'm sure Ondaatje is not the only one who writes freehand (with a fountain pen no less). Am I remembering correctly when I say Richard Ford is another one who does? And gets it typed up before reading the whole thing aloud to his wife? Susan Pearce would be able to help me here as she took better notes when he was speaking in Wellington.

Then there are those who dictate their stories of course -- like Elizabeth Knox (voice recognition software) and an older Henry James. Think of those long Jamesian sentences with all the sub-clauses ....