Sometimes I toy with the idea of writing a novel.
I have written a number of non-fiction books but wonder if I would be able to write a fiction book.
If I could write one it would open up a whole new world of writing for me.
Often, I am discouraged and say ‘you could never write one’. This happens when I read something which I immediately recognises as something I could never write.
It might be a tweet, or an article online, or a newspaper opinion or report, or a blog post. On reading it strikes me that I could not have written that. Not in a million years.
And I give up the ghost of an idea.
Then I read Charles Bukowski, as I am at the moment. Or I read Graham Greene, which I am also reading, and I notice the simple words they use in their books.
And in the case of Bukowski, I see the short, blunt, simple sentences and I say, ‘I could do that’.
Then I recognise that writing a novel is not about showing how clever or articulate or learned the writer is. It is about telling a story, communicating with the reader.
Using short words, if necessary, short sentences, painting pictures and images.
Like painting. All painters have the same paints at their disposal. How they use them, and which ones they use, determines the image.
Perhaps I can write a novel.