It was Allen Ginsberg, so the story goes, who gained the benefit of Jack Kerouac’s writing wisdom. Kerouac, allegedly, scribbled down thirty things Writers Must Do and pinned it to the wall of Ginsberg’s hotel room.
The list is floating around the internet – I’ve reproduced it below. It’s an ode to the beat generation; their brutally honest quest for self and an exploration of hedonistic joy in a world of tight twentieth century values. Beneath the surface it is also timeless advice for writers. My take-out on five is:
1. ‘Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy’
8. ‘Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind’
To be authentic, writing has to be from the heart; and the emotions have to be brought out before they can be shared.
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
21. ‘Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind’
22. ‘Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better’
Concepts that seem pure in the mind of the author always fall with awkward, difficult words on the page. Kerouac was outlining ways of getting around the problem – of not letting words interfere with the shapes and patterns of the concept he was conveying; of keeping those emotions pure. His own writing reflected the mechanism, notably On The Road, which he wrote originally as a single gigantic stream-of-thought.
All these still hold true today. We have to push beneath the surface of the words, to recognise that what counts is the meaning. We must look for authenticity, and that can only come by being authentic. We must focus on the emotional content – not the words themselves, though they shape the way this emotion is registered and received.
Kerouac showed us ways of doing that. What are your takes on these – or others I didn’t cover? I’d love to hear from you.
Oh – and On The Road has been made into a movie. I can’t wait. Has anyone seen it yet?
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
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Jack Kerouac’s Writing Tips
1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house
4. Be in love with yr life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You’re a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven
Looks like the result of a brainstorm session, anything goes. I like those you’ve picked out and I also like 5. Something that you feel will find its own form – a bit like saying trust in the process and don’t over think it. The best lines are as often inspired as they are re-worked.
Thanks for sharing!
Indeed, looks very much like one of Kerouac’s flurries of creative splurging, I think he did much the same for ‘On The Road’, which he blurted out in three fiery weeks – though I believe there was actually more planning to it (and a couple of earlier false starts) than legend credits.
I’m definitely re-blogging this, but I also wanted to make a comment.
I’ve always identified with On the Road, so I’m a little scared to watch the movie as it will probably ruin my own fantasies and visual images surrounding the book.
1. ‘Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy’
I always wrote in secret notebooks when I was younger, a process that has slowed with the advent of a virtual world. I still write mostly in secret on LiveJournal, and there are tons of notebooks laying around the house with notes, and stories started in them. I’ve always found, and still do find, that words come easier for me with a pen in my hand.
21. ‘Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind’
Somewhat unintentionally, my book reviews always end up being stream of consciousness. I also spend hours gazing out my living-room window creating these fabulous narratives in my mind, only to struggle with re-creating them on the page.
I’ve learned, to find inspiration in every day things, and if I don’t feel like writing, I often end up in the kitchen creating other things until the words flow again. (It may help that my desk and studio are what used to be a dining room, and there are no electronic devices allowed.)
I’ve now seen the shorts of the movie, must admit the voices aren’t what I imagined…hmmn…
Kerouac was very much an advocate of the stream of consciousness idea – the ‘scroll’ manuscript for ‘On The Road’ was probably the highest expression of his thinking along those lines. I am intrigued that you don’t allow electronics in your writing studio. I use pen and ink myself as a planning tool – it’s a very different medium from the computer. I would guess that the ideas and stories that flow from more extensive use will reflect it – maybe even down to writing style? Giving an edge that screen-based composition doesn’t have.
Reblogged this on Naimeless and commented:
This is a fabulous post written by M J Wright.
If you’re looking for inspiration, or just a list of things to help you struggle through the writing process, follow his blog. It’s always interesting, intellectual, and honest.
Thank you for that post, Matthew – extremely helpful.
Glad to have been useful.
Number 22–”Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better”–helped me the most when I first started writing and still does. To me, it dovetails nicely with your sentence of going beneath the surface of words. I just keep going until I feel the meaning. Sounds a bit silly but have come to recognize the feeling, distinct from “the little darlings” that must go but that’s another writer. Really enjoyed the post and thanks, Matthew.
Karen
I know exactly what you mean by the ‘feel’ of the meaning of words! And that, I think, is where the best writing comes from.
Jack is great. I have read his journals. Full of inspiration. Full of unique perspectives. Thanks for this.
S. Thomas Summers
Author of Private Hercules McGraw: Poems of the American Civil War
Absolutely – he was an astonishing writer in so many ways.
Absolutely love Jack Kerouac – the whole beat bunch for that matter. The original of On The Road which Kerouac pasted together (he wrote the whole thing on long sheets of tracing paper and pasted them together – went at auction for over 2 million. 2.2 I think. Amazing. The version that was released in book form was edited and names changed, but is said to be fairly accurate. The original is now for sale in book form, too.
Yes, Kerouac had all sorts of trouble with the publication, including a threatened lawsuit from one of his barely-disguised characters. I have the ‘edited’ edition but must get that ‘scroll’ edition – a fascinating insight into the way the editorial mind works, apart from Kerouac’s.