Letter #6: How Neil Gaiman’s Passion for Writing influenced Mine
I’m listening to Tim Ferris’s podcast where Neil Gaiman, one of the best fiction writers alive is talking. His voice is hypnotic. It penetrates straight to the emotional mind. It’s not only because of his majestic accent but also the passion he shows when describing writing.
He explains his process in incredible detail. The way he writes his first drafts in long-hand using a fountain pen. After that is complete, he edits the draft while transferring his words onto the computer. He then describes the tools of his craft: the special German notebook — the Leuchtturm1917 and the Italian Visconti fountain pen. Both make him write more effortlessly and efficiently.
He speaks like a man in love with his craft. The passion he declares for writing is intoxicating. I’ve read many of his books with my particular favourite being The Graveyard Book. His words come alive on the page, just like how he awakens when he talks about writing. It’s little wonder that millions read his books.
He ends by simplifying writing to one basic principle:
“You write. That’s the hard bit that nobody sees. You write on the good days, and you write on the lousy days. Like a shark, you have to keep moving forward, or you die. Writing may or may not be your salvation; it might or might not be your destiny. But that does not matter. What matters right now are the words, one after another. Find the next word. Write it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.”
