advice to the aspiring

Scottie Bowman (bowman@mail.indigo.ie)
Thu, 16 Apr 1998 20:26:06 +0000 

	Yes, Will, I did realise the poem was written by Billy Jones. 
	My shorthand reference was simply a quick way of thanking 
	Malcolm for letting us see it.

	But as for: `...Deciding what writers should know and how it 
	works is the writer's job, not yours...' 

	Now, that sounds ever so slightly menacing.  As if I should keep 
	my pesky nose out of other people's business & not presume 
	to advise writers how they should go about their work.   But, Will, 
	I *am* a writer.  A long time ago admittedly, but there they are 
	on the shelf, two well received novels & - somewhere in the attic - 
	all the high class reviews (Spectator, London Times, Guardian, 
	Irish Times, Good Housekeeping Book of the Month for 
	May 1966?.....honest) as well as the personal notes from 
	Elizabeth Bowen, Claire Tomalin, etc., etc.  I even, after all these 
	years, have an agent (Mark Hamilton) who keeps asking for 
	Godsake cut out the medical nonsense & do the business.....

	I realise there may be special rules on this list but surely if 
	I think writers are advised not to put their faith in `How To' 
	manuals & to trust to their own instincts I don't deserve to 
	be quietened for my impudence.

	Writing seems to me to one of the many things in this cruel 
	world that must be learned & can't be taught.  If Dr Hemingway 
	or Meister Salinger had written books of instruction I should 
	be tempted to start taking notes.  But when others advise me 
	the best way to go about it - what to bear in mind, how to start 
	& so on - I'm reminded of those authors of `How to make a million 
	on the Stock Exchange.'  One wonders why they want to pass on 
	their secrets to me, why they expose themselves to the labours 
	of writing from what must presume is the comfort of their own 
	personal tropic island.  If Wayne Booth or whoever knows how to, 
	why doesn't he do it ?   Maybe he does.  But if so, the word hasn't 
	reached here yet.

	Scottie B.