I hate concepts. Having a concept isn’t having something to write: having something to write about is having something to write. Never favour plot. Story is fine, but plot is like chemical farming. Closure is wrong. It is toxic. Work into a genre if you like, but from as far outside it is possible. Read as much about Hollywood formalism as you can bear, so you know what not to do. Break the structures -don’t just look for new and sly twists on them. Never do clever tricks with reader expectation. Instead be honest, open and direct in your intention not to deliver the things the reader expects. You won’t always be successful in that, because, it’s harder than it looks. After all, you used to be a reader too. Oh, and that’s the last thing. You aren’t a reader any more. You’re a writer, so don’t try to get reader kicks from the act of writing. Never tell yourself a story. That romantic relationship is over for you. From now on the satisfactions will be elsewhere. […]

Pág 49 – Wish I Was Here
«Learning to write in a new way’»
M. John Harrison
Serpent’s Tail, 2023