How to write like Tolstoy
Yesterday I decided to open a book I bought about a year ago: How to write like Tolstoy, by Richard Cohen. Not because I want to write like Tolstoy, but because I thought it might throw some light on a novella I’m reading at the moment: The Kreutzer Sonata, which may be found in The Death of Ivan Illyich and Other Stories, by Tolstoy.
(I wanted to know why anyone thinks the story has any merit, because I am obviously missing something. The only entry for the novella states that Tolstoy revised it nine times. I think he should have tried at least once more, or binned it altogether. Still, to be fair, I’m, only halfway through it, so perhaps it will get better towards the end, or maybe I’ll become Enlightened and start to see the good in everything.)
Death of Ivan Illyich
Anyway, as usual when I pick up a book I started to get interested in that rather than the original reason for consulting it. I was delighted to find a section on how different writers dealt with revision and editing. I very much like the comedian Spike Milligan’s method of dealing with getting stuck.
(In case you don’t know, Spike Milligan was a zany English comedian. To give you an idea of his sense of humour, the epitaph on his tombstone reads “I told you I was ill.”)
What he did was this: when he reached a point while writing a script where he couldn’t think of the next word or line, he would type “F**k!” or “B*******!” (without the stars, obviously) and move on. Then he would send the script in. The first draft would be full of expletives, the next draft less so. By the time he reached the tenth draft it would be expletive-free.
I think I might try that!
See also:
The writer’s dilemma: writer’s block
Using preverbs to break writer’s block
Please note that the links to the books mentioned are Amazon affiliate links. Click on the book covers to view the books on the Amzon UK website.)