Philip Pullman on Creative Inspiration: Write to Please Yourself
The movie based on his story The Golden Compass is about to open.
On his site, Philip Pullman addresses a number of questions about his life and work as a writer:
Were you encouraged to be creative?
No, I was ignored. When anyone took any notice it was to point out what a twit I was, and laugh at me.
This was the best possible preparation for the life of a novelist. If you have grown-ups fussing over you and encouraging you and taking an interest, you begin to think you’re important, and furthermore that you need and deserve their attention.
After a while you become incapable of working without someone else motivating you. You’re much better off supplying your own energy, and writing in spite of the fact that no-one’s interested, and even learning to put up with other people’s contempt and ridicule. What do they know, anyway?
What inspires you?
Three things. (1) Money. I do this for a living. If I don’t write well, I won’t earn enough money to pay the bills. (2) The desire to make some sort of mark on the world – to make my name known. To leave something behind that will last a little longer than I do.
(3) The sheer pleasure of craftsmanship: the endlessly absorbing delight of making things – in my case, stories – and of gradually learning more about how they work, and how to make them better.
Who do you write for – children or adults?
Myself. No-one else. If the story I write turns out to be the sort of thing that children enjoy reading, then well and good. But I don’t write for children: I write books that children read. Some clever adults read them too.
How long does it take me to write a book?
It depends on how long the book is. THE FIREWORK-MAKER’S DAUGHTER took me six weeks, THE AMBER SPYGLASS three years.
What advice would I give to anyone who wants to write?
Don’t listen to any advice, that’s what I’d say. Write only what you want to write. Please yourself. YOU are the genius, they’re not. Especially don’t listen to people (such as publishers) who think that you need to write what readers say they want.
Readers don’t always know what they want. I don’t know what I want to read until I go into a bookshop and look around at the books other people have written, and the books I enjoy reading most are books I would never in a million years have thought of myself.
So the only thing you need to do is forget about pleasing other people, and aim to please yourself alone. That way, you’ll have a chance of writing something that other people WILL want to read, because it’ll take them by surprise.
It’s also much more fun writing to please yourself.
Quotes from philip-pullman.com
Book cover image: The Golden Compass
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November 23rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
Phillip, I am a beginning writer and I have to say that your column really helped me out. I am in my 20’s and, as most young people, ego centric. We want to prosper, be accepted and all of that. Your column really helped me. I am bookmarking it.
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
You may be able to contact Pullman via his site.