Some writing advice from a conversation with screenwriter Michael Almereyda:
Finish your work. Just get it out there. If you don’t finish it, nothing happens with it.
What if it’s bad?
It’s not a matter of good or bad. As long as there is genuine feeling in it, genuine curiosity or exploration, that’s what matters. Then you can move on and be better at what you do next.
The Notebook
Don’t let Da Vinci intimidate you. The notebook can hold everything, even your shopping list. Your dreams, your doodles, your diary. It doesn’t have to look like perfectly calibrated depictions of metatarsals, gear ratios, or written in the Vicar of Nibbleswicke’s script. It can have flaws and it can be your source of inspiration during dry seasons. Write anything you feel like writing, no matter how trivial. It gets you in the habit of writing down your ideas.
(Source: talk with creator of Zits comic strip.)
Have you ever noticed that masters of their craft have a reverence for their tools?
Maybe it’s the bike mechanic who takes really good care of her bike — lubing the chain, keeping the derailer’s high-lows lined up perfectly, etc. Maybe it’s a landscaper carefully oiling the hedge trimmer before/after use, stepping away from a giant shrubbery depiction of… Winged Victory. Maybe it’s a grandfather, carefully putting back his tools in their proper, outlined places. Maybe it’s a chef, always keeping the knife sharp enough to cut portals between worlds (like Will Parry’s in The Subtle Knife).
On Wednesday, I met the cartoonist of one of my favorite comics, Zits. His primary tool was the brush. When he described the brush, I couldn’t help but think of the wand dealer in J. K. Rowling’s Diagon Alley. The brush was made from hairs of the tail of a sable living in Siberia. The sable’s adaptation to the cold winters had made the hairs strong yet flexible. The brush costs $50. It lasts, if treated well, for one month, maybe two if you stretch it. No ordinary brush.
On top of that, the cartoonist mixed his own ink, from a thick ink with a thinner one, to get the viscosity he desired.
NB: Sometimes people make the mistake in believing that good tools/gear equates with being dedicated to your craft. Not so. Just because you have the best tool doesn’t mean you’ll know how to use it to best advantage. Yet, a dedication to your craft eventually leads you to seek good tools and materials, and sometimes, as with the hairs of the brush, the stories behind them.
