The questions that young writers ask the most are the ones that are probably the most difficult to answer. What does it take to be writer? How do you know if you’re any good? What, people wonder, is that special, magic ingredient that makes the difference between a wannabe and a writer?
It’s something that I’ve thought about a lot. It’s impossible to find any single answer to that question. But I found some that work for me.
There is a scene in The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting. Tommy Stubbins is asking Polynesia if she thought he could learn animal languages. Her response to Tommy: “Are you a good noticer?” She goes on to explain that animals talk with more than the sounds they make. A tail wag, an ear lift–each of these things speaks volumes.
It’s a perfect question to ask of a young writer, as well. Because a good writer needs the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes. A good writer notices events and surroundings, stores them away somewhere in her brain, and takes them out again when she needs to develop a scene. If you’re a good noticer, that scene comes to life. If you’re not, it falls flat. It’s inauthentic. The reader gets bored.
There’s something else that came to me today. I think I’ve finally figured out the essence of what it takes to be a writer: You have to be able to make your mother cry.
Let me explain. Many years ago, I wrote a short story about a poor boy in a who lived in “the Projects,” a government-subsidized apartment complex. I modeled the Projects on my own experience living in one for three years as a child. Like I did with all of my stories in those days, I gave it to my mother to read. When I asked her what she thought of it, she said it made her cry. I was taken aback. It wasn’t a happy story–It’s a story about hope and disappointment–but I didn’t think it was that sad. But then she told me why she cried: Because I had described the Projects so well, it brought her back to the time in our lives when we lived there. And they were not a happy time.
So. Are you a good noticer? Can you make your mother cry? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you’re a writer, my friend.