I recently read Murakami's memoir, Novelist As A Vocation, and he claims he's never had writer's block because he's never committed to any timelines, or to writing anything that doesn't excite him. What a career.
It's such a delightful coincidence that you evoked Murakami. I happen to be reading his Norwegian Wood at the moment, and my wife has a copy of Novelist As A Vocation sitting atop her reading pile (which will move to my reading pile when she's done).
Anyway, I admire that breezy attitude he professes toward timelines. It's an enviable trait if you can sustain it.
Norwegian Wood, the book that changed his life. Great read.
The paradox to his "no timelines" rule is that he has always lived as a regimented writer. Just never one that has began with the end in mind. That's true logistically as much as narratively. No book that he's started did he begin knowing its ending.
In a sense, he's embodied mono no aware through his distancing with endings. As if his whole career is dedicated to the idea that endings are the worst of everything - so let it never be the focus. One of my favorite quotes of his (I forget it exactly) is, "I don't have any idea how 1Q84 ended."
I recently read Murakami's memoir, Novelist As A Vocation, and he claims he's never had writer's block because he's never committed to any timelines, or to writing anything that doesn't excite him. What a career.
It's such a delightful coincidence that you evoked Murakami. I happen to be reading his Norwegian Wood at the moment, and my wife has a copy of Novelist As A Vocation sitting atop her reading pile (which will move to my reading pile when she's done).
Anyway, I admire that breezy attitude he professes toward timelines. It's an enviable trait if you can sustain it.
Norwegian Wood, the book that changed his life. Great read.
The paradox to his "no timelines" rule is that he has always lived as a regimented writer. Just never one that has began with the end in mind. That's true logistically as much as narratively. No book that he's started did he begin knowing its ending.
In a sense, he's embodied mono no aware through his distancing with endings. As if his whole career is dedicated to the idea that endings are the worst of everything - so let it never be the focus. One of my favorite quotes of his (I forget it exactly) is, "I don't have any idea how 1Q84 ended."