In a recent review of the movie about physicist Stephen Hawking (The Theory of Everything), I read a line about his first wife, Jane Wilde, who “eventually earned a PhD in medieval Spanish poetry,” and I thought, Whoa. Medieval. Spanish. Poetry? And then I reminded myself that I, too, have studied obscure topics obsessively.
Because I have always believed that if you stop learning, you die.
I used to say that a lot when I was younger. I had friends who “settled down” and eventually just “settled” and quit being interested in much of anything beyond the confines of the kids and the house. They listened to the oldies station on the way to work, watched television after supper.
For me, that way lay madness. Or, actually, extreme boredom. Death, even (which is easy to say when you’re in your thirties and a bit of a smartass). I have this thing about learning new stuff. Or old stuff that’s new to me (history, say). Although I have yet to find my way to medieval Spanish poetry … but you never know.
Now that I’m older I’m a bit less obsessed about knowing everything (because, you know, the Internet exists) and a little more interested in what I can pass on. I learn something from every manuscript I work on, and those pearls sooner or later find their way into the blog. But posts on craft interest me the least because you guys can get that information anywhere. (Again, the Interest exists.) I’ll hasten to add, of course, you should use discernment: there are plenty of self-proclaimed experts out there. You can hear those self-hung shingles a-flappin’ in the breeze.
No, I find myself interested in inspiration … and the nature of creativity … and encouragement. I like that role. And I like showing, rather than telling. 🙂 I like saying, Here’s an example, have a look, what can we learn from this? Or Read this, I think it’ll resonate with you.
You understand me when I say—and I’m not the first—to be a good writer you must be a good reader. But not everyone understands, I think, when I say I learned a lot of what I need to know about editing fiction by reading fiction. And that you can also learn this way. I’m moving toward that now: I’ve been working on a series of posts I’m calling Study This, recommendations for intentional reading, authors whose techniques you might study (and enjoy too). Because if you are looking for the secret to writing well, the secret is reading well. We’ll kick it off on Thursday.
Tweet: I’m interested in inspiration, the nature of creativity, encouragement. I like that role.
Tweet: I learned a lot of what I need to know about editing fiction by reading fiction.
Tweet: If you are looking for the secret to writing well, the secret is reading well.
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AMEN. Looking forward to this series, Jamie. Thank you.
I’ve been having fun with it! We’ll see if others do too.
Very interested in this post, Jamie – nowadays ((I’m 64) I do, myself, watch TV after supper and listen to programmes for more mature people on the radio. But many of those TV and radio programmes will be about – for instance – Iron-age Archaeology, Use of more complex language in the primary school to encourage intrigue and interest, Peter Breughels’ ‘Battle Between Carnival and Lent’ and Listed Building renovation and restoration (all those in the last week). All also watched when dark and freezing outside – otherwise I would be ‘immersing myself in nature’ and learning there in in various other ways 🙂
So I would say I agree with you 100% about ‘keep learning or die’ – but would also say ‘hurrah’ for the fact that there are now so very many ways in which we can continue to learn. Aren’t we the lucky ones?? 🙂
The Irishman informs me all the time of the great documentaries I am missing on television! So I should definitely have acknowledged there are great sources of information that aren’t necessarily between the covers of a book. Even a well-written movie or television series can be helpful to someone who’s striving to write fiction (learning to write realistic dialogue, for example), although novels and movies are different media with different audience expectations.