How I write: Jane Smiley
The Pulitzer Prize and O. Henry Award winner takes a bath
I’ve been writing novels for 30 years. After the introduction of Diet Coke, I switched to that from black tea as my stimulant of choice. I eat candy, take baths and showers, get up and walk around, crave stimulation. I answer the phone, check my email and I try to go for a horseback ride about three-fifths of the way through the daily task. I never write more than 1,200–1,500 words per day, and I spend no more than two hours doing it. If I start going too quickly, I usually stop because slowness gives me a sense of density in the prose. I like each phrase to be like a tiny little firecracker going off in my mind, and I always hope, at the end of the day, that at least a few words or phrases will replay in my mind over the next 24 hours – this shows they’ve made a groove in my neural pathways.
If I can’t get started, I read a bit of fiction. And if I really can’t get started, I read fiction in the bathtub. If I really can’t get started, I make grammatical corrections on the previous day’s work. Getting started is akin to jumping into cold water – I know I will like it, but I’m lazy.
If the novel is plot-based, the first draft is more arduous, because inventing plot points is difficult for me. The second draft, where I try to smooth out and embroider the themes, is more of a pleasure. The novel I am writing is plot-based, and feels like heavy work. If the novel is theme-based, the first draft is always fun to compose and horrifying to read through, because it has no spine and I will have to plant one in there, so the second draft is when I do the whining.
Ten Days in the Hills is published by Faber, $32.95.