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Interview Peter Heller, l'auteur de la rivière et The dog stars le nouveau film de Ridley Scott — Transcript

by Les Artisans De La Fiction · 5,745 words · 864 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:01oh interesting
0:03um
0:05so
0:06I never think about nature writing
0:09uh
0:11because nature writing is sort of a box
0:14for a kind of description
0:17and I sort of write in a more organic
0:19way like
0:20I always start my novels with a first
0:23line and I have no idea
0:25so I I never make a plot I never make an
0:29outline
0:30I came up as a poet I was writing poetry
0:34on my childhood
0:35and I'm so much more interested in the
0:38music of the language the sound of it
0:40the beauty of the language then the
0:42story
0:44so I always start with the first line
0:45whose music I love and I follow that
0:49that Cadence into the story and
0:52eventually within a few pages I bump
0:54into a narrative I bump into whatever's
0:57on my heart
0:58so if there is nature writing in my
1:00books
1:01it's only because
1:04as I am listening to the words I'm
1:07beginning to travel to a place
1:10and that place uh usually comes fully
1:15imagined because it's usually some kind
1:17of place that I know deeply by heart
1:21and so I think if to get to what you're
1:24asking I I kind of know what you're
1:26asking to get to what you're asking I
1:28think it's really important to know the
1:30particulars what brings a place alive
1:34a sense of place
1:37is all the details the small details and
1:40especially the details of the senses and
1:44so first I have to know the names of the
1:47flowers I have to know the names of the
1:49trees I have to know the names of the
1:50grasses and the plants
1:52I have to know the names of the birds
1:54that I'm hearing
1:56and then I have to know what does it
1:58smell like when the sun warms up
2:01Sagebrush that's a different smell than
2:04when the sagebrush is cold
2:07when a man is is walking up a stream
2:12the smell of the stones is different in
2:14the morning than in the afternoon
2:16and so these are the kinds of or maybe
2:19the wind blows and at a certain time of
2:22year
2:23say
2:25in May on this stream the wind will blow
2:29down pollen from the spruce and the fir
2:32trees and it will layer on the water
2:35like dust but that won't happen in the
2:37fall in the fall something else is
2:39happening so it's that idea of knowing
2:42the the
2:43particulars down to the sense details of
2:47how things feel and smell and sound
2:49that's what brings a place alive for me
2:53I go fishing
2:58what I mean to say is that
3:01the research is sheer love of being in
3:04Wild Country it's what I love more than
3:07anything in the world
3:08is to be out in nature to be out in Wild
3:11Country
3:12I spent most of my life as a kayak East
3:16they say
3:17um
3:19I learned to kayak when I was about 20
3:21and I just loved it so much and I took
3:24Expeditions all over the world and so
3:27I paid attention and as I was I was
3:30always on an assignment for a magazine
3:32story and as I was
3:34I would keep a notebook
3:36in the kayak in a little dry bag little
3:38waterproof bag keep a notebook here I
3:42would catch an Eddie
3:43stop pull out the notebook and I'd write
3:46down everything that I saw everything
3:48the how the light was on the Rocks what
3:51what smell what people were saying write
3:53it down write it down stuff it back in
3:55go again
3:57I train myself to pay attention close
4:00attention to all all those little
4:02details as I was traveling and I did a
4:04lot of traveling in Wild Country so that
4:06was really the research and of course
4:07sometimes I have to look up
4:09you know is a bird uh singing a mating
4:13song at this during this week of the
4:17month sometimes I have to make sure you
4:19know so I I do a little research that
4:21way but mostly I'm just
4:23reimagining uh places that I love
4:26so it's the same way as the nature
4:28writing and I don't know if this is
4:30going to be helpful to the students but
4:35when I sat down to write my first novel
4:40I thought I had when I got out of
4:42college I had to make a living so I
4:44started writing for magazines
4:46and I wrote lots of stories about
4:48Expeditions I wrote environmental
4:50stories I wrote profiles of people
4:54and when I finally got a chance to write
4:57fiction which I'd wanted to do since I
4:59was just a little boy
5:02I thought
5:04all the writing I've done to make a
5:06living so far I have known the ending of
5:09the story I always know what's going to
5:12happen next because it happened I'm
5:13writing non-fiction
5:15journalism
5:16so now I have a chance
5:19to write a novel
5:21I don't want to know
5:23I want it to be like a river Expedition
5:25I want to put on that narrative current
5:27that River
5:29of narrative
5:31and I want to come around a tight Corner
5:34a tight Bend
5:35and be completely shocked and surprised
5:39when you're running a river you come
5:41around a corner there might be a cougar
5:43a mountain lion drinking or a waterfall
5:45and you have to stop
5:47or you know I wanted that
5:51sense of adventure and I also wanted to
5:54be I wanted to have as much fun as the
5:57reader so I didn't plot
6:00but I didn't know if that was even legal
6:02I sat down to write my first novel and I
6:05thought does anybody do this like do
6:07they just start with the first line and
6:08have no idea
6:11so do you want to hear this story
6:13uh how I came to get permission
6:15it's off the subject of what you asked
6:18but I'll come back to it
6:20so my best friend in high school was a
6:22man named Carlton cues and he was a the
6:25producer a showrunner for lost the big
6:27TV show Big producer
6:30and uh I called him up and I said hey
6:33you work with a lot of novelists do you
6:34know anybody who just starts with a
6:36first line and lets it rip and he didn't
6:38hesitate he said yeah man I worked with
6:40Stephen King
6:41Stephen King often starts with the first
6:43line has no idea it's a voice the voice
6:46is a character the character's in a
6:48place there's a situation because
6:51there's always a situation and he writes
6:55into the story and I was like
6:57and then he said something that really
6:59surprised me he said I worked with
7:01Elmore Leonard Elmore Leonard Get Shorty
7:04you know all these fast-paced crime
7:07novels in South Florida he often starts
7:09with the first line some guy in a strip
7:10bar you know talking and and he has he
7:12has no clue so it gave me permission
7:15and when I sat down to write the first
7:17novel I thought don't think don't think
7:20just listen and I wrote those first
7:23lines
7:24my name is Higg
7:26one name big Hig if you need another
7:31if I ever woke up crying in the middle
7:33of a dream and I'm not saying I did it's
7:37because the trout are gone everyone and
7:39I just sat up I said thought I'm
7:41listening and so it wasn't like I CR I
7:44designed this character it's like this
7:46man started speaking and then it was
7:47like he was on the other side of a
7:49campfire on an October night and he was
7:52telling me what happened to him a few
7:53years before and it was the most
7:55thrilling thing I'd ever experienced and
7:57so that's the way my characters you know
7:59come but it's not you know if you tell
8:02writers that are uh coming up that are
8:06aspiring writers and you tell them the
8:08characters just walk on the page or the
8:11place just manifests
8:13it's not helpful because then it seems
8:15like magic
8:16it's not magic it's like a pro
8:20basketball player you watch a pro
8:22basketball player in the playoffs and he
8:24is he's going down the court he's
8:26driving he's passing taking a pass
8:30dribbling making a magnificent layup and
8:33it's all you can tell he's not he's in a
8:36flow he's not thinking but it's only
8:38because he took 10 000 practice
8:42uh three-point jump shots he took 10 000
8:46layups 10 000 passes and it's the same
8:49with writing I mean the only way
8:52that this happens for me is because I
8:54spent 10 years in a room writing poetry
8:59being so so concerned
9:03with each word in a line with where the
9:05line break was with the counting the
9:08meter the syllables
9:11the stress is counting the stresses 10
9:13years writing short stories and throwing
9:16them out and learning learning learning
9:19how to create a character vividly uh
9:22fast you know a character that jumps off
9:24the page and then I went to work for
9:26magazines and again it was more training
9:30because in a magazine you have to create
9:32a character that jumps off the page
9:35alive right away or people will just put
9:38aside the story and so I think some of
9:42the things that help create characters
9:43are again the particulars you know
9:47someone isn't just tall someone just
9:50doesn't have brown hair so it
9:53everybody has
9:55pick particulars like a fingerprint and
9:57the same with the way they speak you
9:59know dialogue is one of the hardest
10:00things and I learned to listen and I I
10:03learned that it's in the way people
10:06pause and say er
10:09um the way they cough the way
10:13they run on when they're excited
10:17listen for that everybody's voice is
10:20completely different like a fingerprint
10:22if you listen closely enough
10:24so again I would say in Creative care
10:26creating characters it's all about you
10:29know the details are the are the Cuffs
10:31frayed
10:32you know are there scars are there are
10:36there are there ticks of speech that
10:38come up certain phrases all those little
10:41details
10:44right
10:46I read a book called typhoon by Joseph
10:49Conrad
10:52I read that when I was like 12 years old
10:55and I remember it just blew me away this
10:58description of the storm
11:01and it built you know it was just it
11:05built like the storm and it just
11:08completely powerful the language the
11:12language the way the language uh you
11:15know the language kind of blew in and
11:17and and built on itself and built on
11:20itself and uh
11:22I thought it was magnificent and when I
11:24started to write the fire I thought I
11:26want to write a tour de force like
11:28Joseph Conrad
11:30I didn't go back and read it again but I
11:32remembered the feeling of it
11:35uh the sort of EX the sort of uh
11:39aggregation of of sense sense details
11:44the um
11:46the acceleration
11:48and uh I just tried it
11:52um so
11:54again you know I lived through a I lived
11:57through a really bad fire and uh myself
11:59and my friends almost died
12:02came like 90 seconds from
12:05and I remember you know hearing the
12:07trees exploding and I remember the sound
12:09of the of the
12:11of the fire taking in the wind as the as
12:13the big gusts of wind came
12:16I remember the smell and uh so I use I
12:20use some of that
12:22but uh I can't say again there was a
12:24deliberate structuring uh
12:28but again it's in the senses I mean I
12:30really believe I mean I think I was
12:31going to say one thing to your to your
12:33students
12:34um
12:35and I know that it's something that you
12:37tell them but we do this too the people
12:40who are practicing all the time it's
12:42it's to stay rooted in the senses
12:44because you know the reader they trust
12:47the senses much more than they trust the
12:49stuff the the explication the think
12:52think he think stuff and so for me you
12:55know to get the fire you know again it's
12:57like what is that what is that smell you
13:01know of the first of the first smoke
13:03what is a what does a piece of bark
13:06that's on fire what does it look like
13:08when it blows across the river you know
13:09just to get the precise detail through
13:13the senses is so important
13:15you know that's a tough one because uh
13:18as I said you know I started my first
13:19novel and this guy started talking so it
13:21was first person
13:23it was from his point of view
13:26so I thought that novel worked out
13:28pretty well as soon as I finished that
13:31novel and it
13:32canov bought the novel
13:35I started the next one right away
13:37because I had heard about second novel
13:39syndrome
13:40and I'd heard about sophomore effort and
13:43I didn't want the pressure you know so I
13:45thought I better get the second one
13:47written before this one is published I
13:49had nine months
13:51so I started in I started writing as
13:53fast as I could and again uh it was for
13:57I thought you know well the first one
13:59worked out pretty well
14:01I'll write first person again
14:03I got to and this is if I make one
14:06conscious very deliberate choice in the
14:08beginning of a novel
14:10uh it's usually
14:13where to put the speaker and and is it
14:18first person is it close third person so
14:22then I got to let's see so the next one
14:24after that
14:26after the painter was Celine
14:30and you know I guess it was my choice
14:32because I remember the first line was
14:34something about
14:37she
14:39my
14:40oh no
14:41no I did make a choice it started out my
14:44mother's name was so that was first
14:46person I remember I switched I thought
14:49for this novel there's multiple
14:51characters that I'm going to want their
14:53perspective the easiest way to do it is
14:55to go to a close third where I put the
14:57camera
14:58uh on the shoulder of each character but
15:02I'm still a third person narrator I made
15:04that choice and I think all my novels
15:06since then have been third person
15:08so here's the thing about third person
15:11first person you can hide behind your
15:14character
15:15I can never I as the writer can never be
15:19smarter more witty more erudite
15:23then Higg he's he's the one talking
15:28so if he's not that well read or not
15:31that smart
15:33it's not me it's him
15:36same with Jim and the painter now when I
15:38go to Celine and I start writing third
15:40person it's a little scary because it's
15:42all on the table there's no hiding you
15:45are as witty as smart as erudite as
15:50beautiful as storyteller
15:52as you Peter Heller the writer are
15:54period buck stops here so that's the
15:57risk of third person that's the sort of
16:00vulnerable feeling that I got when I
16:02started the first third person but it
16:03was so fun you know it was so fun to
16:05move the camera around a little bit pull
16:07it back a little bit to ten thousand
16:09feet look down uh I thought that was a
16:13guess but I think that the next novel I
16:14write will probably be first person
16:16again
16:18because I've written now four in uh
16:21third person
16:22fun right yeah I don't know you know
16:25it's that wasn't a deliberate choice I
16:28just uh I think I found myself I loved
16:30both characters
16:32and uh
16:34it was so fun to sort of you know be
16:37next to one be next to another
16:40and then you know sort of be with the
16:42fire you know later on and stuff like
16:45that uh I was I was just having a gas
16:47and uh the character win is really based
16:51a lot in a lot of my books the
16:52characters are you asked how I construct
16:54characters and um I should go back to
16:56that because something important
16:59um
17:00Celine uh the third novel is my mother
17:06Jim stegner in the second novel
17:09is Jim Wagner famous New Mexico painter
17:14he was my fishing best friend for 10
17:17years
17:18and you can search Jim Wagner image
17:21painter New Mexico images you can see
17:24the paintings as I saw them the hand
17:27the palette uh
17:30in the river when
17:33is my best friend Jay
17:36I mean he's 6'5 he's a gentle giant he's
17:39protective of people he's an ephemeral
17:41artist he likes to make art with sticks
17:43and stones uh he's a he's a consummate
17:47Outdoorsman very tough but gentle
17:51and uh so I wrote and that I'm not Jack
17:54but but but I I relate to Jack because
17:57Jack's wariness of people is sort of is
18:00is sort of the way I approach the world
18:02so
18:03in most of my books the main characters
18:06are based on real people and that makes
18:09it a lot easier to you know sort of
18:13reimagine the details of their per of
18:15their uh personas and
18:17character
18:19yeah
18:20yeah it's funny you know
18:22again I
18:25I don't want to tell the students that
18:27you just you know that I just sink into
18:28it and and
18:31and it comes
18:35so
18:36I wrote
18:38so many magazine stories in the
18:40beginning
18:41that were rejected
18:44like every you know writer I have a box
18:46of rejection letters they used to send
18:48them to you and they you know they last
18:49and they
18:51they're artifacts of rejection
18:54uh I got rejected by I got rejected by
18:58uh guns and ammo magazine
19:01can you imagine some Little industry you
19:05know
19:06uh I got rejected by everybody and uh
19:09and I just kept writing these stories
19:13you know I was interested in you know
19:15this guy who was this kid who was making
19:17a sailboat and I write about it and
19:19finally got into a local paper in
19:21Vermont my first profile I was like
19:2418 and I wrote about this boy who built
19:27a boat
19:28score okay now I know there's light
19:30there's life possibility
19:32as a writer
19:34and I just worked I filled up
19:37friend gave me
19:38trash can for my birthday
19:41and back when we were typing and we
19:43would crumple the paper up and she said
19:46you fill it up I filled it up I mean I
19:49just wrote and wrote and wrote and after
19:51a while so one poet once told me he was
19:55a he was really into tennis
19:57and he said that when he was learning to
20:01play tennis
20:03he would make the beautiful hits where
20:05the balls zinged right over the net and
20:08he would follow it with his eye with
20:09great satisfaction
20:11perfect
20:13he would also when he made a bad hit he
20:16made sure to follow the ball all the way
20:18over the fence into the road and see
20:20where it landed
20:22because after a thousand hits ten
20:24thousand hits he started to be able to
20:26feel
20:28when it was going to be a bad hit and he
20:31could make that micro adjustment
20:34it's the same with writing it's like
20:37now when I'm writing it feels like I'm
20:40just in a flow but what's happening is
20:43I've written so many damn stories that I
20:45can feel when the energy is dropping I
20:48can feel when the energy is dropping and
20:50I can feel when the horse I'm riding
20:51wants to go down into some Gully
20:54and that's not a good idea so I nudged
20:56the horse over it's a micro decision but
20:58it's happening very fast and and
20:59subconsciously now
21:02I go to where I feel energy to where I'm
21:05curious to where my ears start to go
21:08forward like a dog
21:10you feel that when you're writing you
21:12feel like it's when it's getting hard
21:13and oh you turn
21:15Okay this feels more fun and I don't
21:18mean fun in the sense of
21:20whoopee you know I mean because a lot of
21:22what I write is very dark
21:24I mean fun in the sense of feeling
21:28your spirit wake up your curiosity wake
21:31up your excitement to explore whatever
21:34this uh scene is or this this place or
21:38this milieu uh so that's that's sort of
21:43the you know the most basic precept is
21:45to follow I follow my nose towards the
21:47energy and the sense of fun and
21:50curiosity
21:51no
21:52no but I believe in rewriting and I'll
21:55tell you I'll tell you the best advice
21:58um
21:59any writers ever given me
22:01I finished the dog stars and
22:04uh I as I said I I started the next one
22:08very quickly because I thought I got to
22:10get it out of the way
22:11I started it I sat down to write I
22:14started with the first line I started
22:16writing there was a painter
22:19I won't ruin it for anybody because this
22:21happens in the very beginning
22:22he kills a guy with a rock
22:25the guy's beating a horse to death he
22:28saves the horse kills the guy basically
22:30so
22:31then I started thinking well
22:33should the guy have a brother
22:36whose vengeful bent on vention I call my
22:40editor in New York Jenny Jackson I can
22:42off I said should he should he have a
22:44brother she said oh yeah of course you
22:45should have a brother so I wrote the
22:47brother and then I started thinking Hmm
22:49he's got a commission to go to Santa Fe
22:51to paint these twins when should he go
22:54and should the brother follow him and
22:56then I started thinking I'm thinking
22:58about it I didn't think about the last
23:01one I was like don't think don't think
23:02just listen and now I'm thinking about
23:04everything
23:05this can't be good I was in the little
23:07coffee shop in Paonia Colorado where the
23:10painter is based it's the same coffee
23:12shop where my character meets his motto
23:14who becomes his lover
23:17tiny it's as big as this room right here
23:20there's one table in the middle you're
23:22going to talk to anyone in there who is
23:24in there Palo batigloopy he's a great
23:27science fiction writer
23:28we got to talking about process I told
23:30him about my challenge
23:32he's younger than me but he said
23:34sit down son took his coffee cup and he
23:37said I want to tell you a story I wrote
23:40two short stories one like this Fugue
23:43State I kind of fell asleep and and I
23:45just wrote and I woke up and it was done
23:49sent it off it won a big award and I
23:51love it Second Story I designed I
23:55plotted every second of the story I
23:58designed the characters to interact a
24:00certain way in every scene complete
24:02authorial control through the whole
24:03thing I sent it off it won a big award
24:06and I love it now when I hold them both
24:08up I love them both and I can't tell the
24:11difference
24:12and he leaned forward and he said just
24:14make sure it doesn't suck
24:18the whole creative burden just lifted
24:20off my shoulders and thought huh that's
24:21something maybe maybe I can handle but
24:23what he was really saying was look rely
24:26on your craft
24:27you have revision write the clay make
24:31the clay that's full of excitement full
24:34of energy
24:36like I was saying the fun go go go go go
24:38go don't look back don't edit as you go
24:42go momentum run
24:44make the clay at the end you can wear it
24:47slow you can tighten it up you can Lop
24:49off the bad stuff
24:51put new stuff in rearrange things where
24:53you need it you have revision you know
24:55how to do it you've written a thousand
24:57stories
24:58don't worry about it but the other thing
24:59he was saying that was so marvelous
25:01which I which I just love and it's it's
25:03made my writing life much more happy is
25:07that every story can have a different
25:08method every novel can have a different
25:11method every poem can have a different
25:12method and so sometimes you start with
25:15the first line and you don't know and
25:17you just let it run sometimes you block
25:19it out maybe a little bit some general
25:22big movements and you write into that
25:25and then you let it run
25:26sometimes you outline the whole thing it
25:29doesn't matter just make sure it's not
25:32terrible and you're going to be okay
25:34I thought it was great
25:36I started writing when I was six my
25:39father read to me every night when I was
25:41um little and he read poetry he had he
25:43was reading ee comes to me when I was
25:45six which they're kind of racy I didn't
25:48understand them thank goodness uh Yates
25:51when I was 11 he read a lot of poetry
25:54and I wanted to do that
25:56and then I was in my library when I was
25:5811 a little I was in New York City where
26:01I grew up I left when I was 15 but
26:04I was in my little Library I had a crush
26:06on the librarian her name was Andy
26:08Bosworth she was English
26:11are you looking for something to read
26:12and I was like uh-huh
26:14and she took down a little volume of
26:17short stories called in our time by
26:19Ernest Hemingway and their Nick Adams
26:21stories they take place up in upper
26:22Michigan I took it home and my heart
26:24just about fell out of my chest it was
26:25like I want to go to the Big two-hearted
26:27River with a rucksack make Camp make
26:30Cowboy Coffee over an open fire not burn
26:33my tongue the way Nick didn't burn his
26:35tongue I want to fish for those
26:36beautiful trout but it was that first
26:38experience of Pros
26:40that went straight through my skin
26:42straight to my heart I hadn't
26:44experienced that before you know it sort
26:46of bypassed the head it just and I was
26:48like I want to do that so I was 11. so
26:51ever since I've been 11 I was like you
26:53know
26:54this is what I want to do
26:57I didn't get a chance to I didn't sit
26:59down to Ride The Dog Stars till I was
27:0150.
27:02because I had to make you know I was
27:04working for magazines
27:06but but nothing wasted you know because
27:09on all those magazine stories I got to
27:12see characters under pressure
27:14best thing for a fiction writer I got to
27:17be in all sorts of different country and
27:18and learn about the details and hear
27:20different languages all good
27:23oh yeah a million of them oh I I I I'm
27:27in love with so many writers and so many
27:30have taught me so many things you know
27:32Hemingway was that first you know uh
27:35taught about economy
27:37check off too uh
27:39and then uh I thought you know
27:43Hemingway is so infectious I gotta get
27:46away from him and and I've got to read
27:47someone who's completely opposite so I
27:49started reading a lot of Faulkner
27:50because
27:52you know instead of the short sentences
27:53here we are Clause after Clause whoa
27:56and I loved Farner he would just he
27:59would actually weave a world out of a
28:01matrix out of words that was like an
28:04atmosphere you know and I thought it was
28:06fantastic uh so those were two big ones
28:09in the beginning uh Joseph Conrad I love
28:12that you know you talk about nature
28:14writing I love that ruminative
28:16uh very patient uh
28:20uh study sort of studies of you know how
28:24the sea the light on the sea and moving
28:27through the ocean and up the River and
28:29Through the Jungle uh
28:33and the the the the the the forest being
28:36an implacable Force looking over an
28:39excrucible in intention and Heart of
28:42Darkness you know the way he turned
28:44those phrases that were so brilliant
28:46so he was one and then I learned a lot
28:49from the Chinese poets the the classical
28:52Chinese pose from the like the Tang
28:54Dynasty these guys are so efficient you
28:57know in a few lines just a few lines
29:00they have you knee-deep in a mountain
29:02stream the wind blowing the the Mist
29:05through the trees
29:07and then they just break your heart five
29:09lines I just thought the efficiency the
29:12distillation and the beauty was just so
29:15amazing you know and I always uh strive
29:18to do that
29:19right so I went there late I was 33
29:22years old
29:24and I was writing for magazines I was
29:26making a living but I wanted to be
29:28around
29:2950 people who believe that poetry was
29:32the most important thing in the world I
29:35missed that and I wanted to be around 50
29:37people that thought
29:39writing a great story and stretching
29:42artistically was the most important
29:44thing I applied to the poetry and the
29:46fiction I went did both
29:47and uh it was it was fantastic it was
29:51just what I needed because otherwise you
29:52know I felt myself just becoming a
29:54magazine writer you know writing for
29:57certain dollars a word for adventure
30:00packages or maybe an environmental story
30:03that was important but
30:05it's not what I came up wanting to do
30:06you know it was like so
30:09um for me you know it was just so
30:12wonderful to be trading books and you
30:15know methods with uh you know other
30:18other aspiring writers was very very
30:21valuable and we had some great teachers
30:22Marilyn Robinson was my teacher Joy
30:25Graham
30:26was it was really fantastic and I came
30:29back to my life of writing magazines
30:31again but with this renewed uh
30:34commitment to telling the truth as best
30:36I could with the mo it's truth and
30:38Beauty like Keith said for me you know
30:40it's like
30:42I always pray to write something true
30:44and something beautiful
30:46I get on my knees and pray before every
30:48book and uh
30:51so and I want to say I just um before we
30:54end I want to say one thing about method
30:56that's very very has been very important
30:59to me something I discovered completely
31:01changed my life
31:02so this is for you guys
31:04uh I read that Graham Greene wrote 500
31:09Words a day every day of his life
31:11wherever on a yacht in his apartment at
31:14a hotel and Raffles hotel and saying he
31:17wrote 500 Words every day he stopped at
31:19exactly word 500. he kept a little uh
31:23subtotal in his book
31:25in the middle of a sentence in the
31:27middle of dialogue he stopped and I read
31:29that I thought what is he doing I don't
31:31do that
31:32he's stopping in the middle if you pick
31:34an arbitrary number and stop you're
31:36going to stop in the middle I thought I
31:38don't do that none of my author friends
31:39do that we might have our quota like
31:42okay I'm going to write a thousand words
31:43pretty much every day I'll write for or
31:45some people have three hours whatever
31:50scene
31:52off we go
31:54we'll blow through our quota we'll write
31:55three thousand words six hours you know
31:59put down the laptop go that was
32:01fantastic wow go on with the rest of her
32:04day problem is that's a transition
32:07that is a double return that is white
32:10space so I am coming back to White space
32:13every morning I get up I might as well
32:16start the novel if I'm writing a novel
32:18which is a marathon I might as well
32:20start the novel every day restart it
32:22roll that rock back up the hill
32:25and I thought okay let me think about
32:27how I can do the Graham green method
32:30I can write about a thousand words a day
32:32and it could be 200 you know for anybody
32:35you know the the quota is different for
32:37everybody
32:38some people only have time to write a
32:40hundred words a day great but you set
32:42that so I said I can write a thousand
32:44words a day with good energy
32:46I'm never going to write less I'm always
32:48going to write a thousand but I'm going
32:49to go past it until I'm in the middle of
32:51a scene that I'm excited about and I'm
32:54going to stop so it's usually you know a
32:56thousand seventy words or whatever I'm
32:57in the middle
32:59I make myself stop all that energy if
33:02I'm excited about the scene all that
33:03energy I would have spent writing it now
33:06I've stored up like a battery and I jump
33:09out of bed the next morning and I cannot
33:10wait to get back to work
33:12so I get this momentum and uh also
33:17because we do so much work in our
33:19subconscious and when we're asleep
33:21remember studying for tests in college
33:22you study right before sleep and how you
33:24doing all that work
33:26the scene when I write it the next day
33:28is better than if I had let it run
33:31because I've been working on it so now
33:34all of a sudden the quality is coming up
33:36and I have all this momentum every day I
33:39can't wait to get to work and so you
33:41write a thousand words a day if a novel
33:44is a hundred thousand words
33:46you have a draft in four months if you
33:48write every day
33:49so
33:51I love that method of taking your quota
33:53making sure you make sure you make your
33:55quota every day go just past so you're
33:57in the middle of something exciting and
33:59make yourself stop
34:02it's amazing what happens to your energy
34:06you know I you know I may be naive
34:09but I don't think there's any
34:11substitution for the human horror I
34:13really don't
34:15because I know in my own process that
34:19the choices that are now unconscious but
34:22the choices of cadence of pacing
34:27of focus where I want to put the camera
34:31uh
34:33uh characters in motion and and
34:35evolution
34:37those all come
34:40directly from the heart
34:43you know how I am invested how I feel
34:46how emotional I am what the emotions are
34:50those dictate all the choices and I just
34:52don't think a computer can do that they
34:54can mimic it but we know I mean we're
34:56we're we we're sensible
35:00I have faith
35:10thank you

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