Writing Like the Pros

Today, I caught an interview on the radio with John Updike. I was so pleased to hear that—despite our vastly different levels of talent and experience—our writing processes appear to be very much the same. 

Minor character details (like his how his character relishes the feel of the smooth inside edge of a walnut on his tongue) are stolen liberally from his own experiences. Plot is roughly imagined but not set in stone as he allows it to unfurl all on its own. His stories and characters are chosen because there is something he is curious about, something he might learn from trying to tell their as yet unimagined stories.

This comparison seems akin to a little kid flinging a basketball up toward the hoop, no greater hope than hitting the back-board, versus a Michael Jordon taking off from the foul shot line, floating through he air, and, at the very last second, rolling the ball gently off the very tips of his finger. Not the same shooter by any stretch of the imagination, but soul-mates in the joy, the dream, and the delight of the attempt.