Thanks to Jonathan Dodd for this week’s submission. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
Usually I can rely on some sort of stirring in the elemental soup that is my inner multilogue to produce what appears to be the germ of an idea for my weekly bloggish musing/raving.
When I manage to notice it, I fish it out and start typing it onto a nice fresh blank screen.
Amazingly, it just writes itself. I read it as it appears on the screen while my fingers type it. I’m reading this right now, wondering what on earth I’m going to write next.
I have no idea how this happens.
Amazing myself
The nice thing about doing this is that every week I amaze myself because I manage to pull it off. I feel like a magician standing in front of an (admittedly small) audience, reaching into his top hat and wondering what, if anything, he might find inside.
I’m aware there are other writers who work differently. I’ve heard that there are three types of comedian out there.
Three kinds of comedian
First there’s Eddie Izzard, who spends months writing his material, trying everything out on small audiences over and over again, until he’s satisfied (as much as anyone can be), and then he does the show, more or less the same each time.
Then there’s the Billy Connolly method, which consists of walking on stage with an idea of how it’s going to go and just winging it, but having a huge number of funny stories on tap to tell at any point that seems relevant.
Finally, there’s the Robin Williams method, which is to walk on stage and start talking, with a deliberately empty head and a huge amount of trust in whatever it is that keeps the flow of invention coming.
Apocryphal elemental soup
All three of these comedians are amazing and wonderfully funny, and I write this in the full knowledge that my information about the way they work is entirely apocryphal. I apologise fully to my three comedian heroes for any misrepresentation. Blame it on my elemental soup.
I think writers fall roughly into the same three categories. Maybe all artists do. My writing habits function very much like Robin Williams does. It’s scary, but it works most of the time. I can only wonder why I always have to force myself to sit down and do it.
Inspired by the Olympics
This morning I was thinking that I’ve been immensely inspired by the Olympic Games, but that the inspiration has mainly manifested itself in watching the incredibly events on the television.
My mind was completely empty when I sat down to write this. It turns out that these are exactly the right conditions for my inspiration to do its thing.
It’s all very weird.
If you have been, thank you for reading this.
Image: Bluebirds and Teapots under CC BY 2.0
