What are you really interested in?

We’re starting a new occasional series this week, with writing advice from Professor, and author of The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis. He often corresponded with students and others who sought his advice on writing, so we have a wealth of advice from him on the topic.

This week’s advice from Professor Lewis:

“Write about what really interests you…If you are interested only in writing you will never be a writer, because you will have nothing to write about.”

Here, Lewis wants us to think about the value of curiosity. It ought to be normal for writers to have other interests. What do you like to read about? What do you think about in times when you’re bored? What hobbies do you have?

My writing instructor once told us about an author who got his first big paycheck from a novel. The first thing he bought was a giant desk. He cleared out a second-story room, moving the couches and chairs it had held. He then put this enormous piece of furniture in the middle of the room, transforming it into his office. He then tried to get to work.

The thing was: he knew it felt wrong. After some time had gone by, he shoved the desk into the corner of the room and brought in the old comfortable couches for his kids to sit on. The life of the family became the center of that room, instead of his work. Now, when he sees the desk in the corner of the room, he’s reminded that writing cannot be the center of your life. Writing is observing life; it can’t work the other way around.

Another writer used a different phrase to mean a similar idea: “everything is copy.” That was her way of saying that anything was game to be written about. The delay in your trip to school because a truck spilled its contents, spreading paint all over an exit ramp? Write it down. The way the light looked just before you went to bed on a summer night? Write it down. The memory of your birthday party from last year? Write it down.

Writers ought to live their lives…and then write about them. If we are living with our eyes fully open, we will have plenty to write about when we’re able.