Do You Know Enough to Write It? (Joshua Intro) (09/25/2021)

Do You Know Enough to Write It? | The Weekly Atticus

September 25, 2021

A recap of the week's writing at Atticus Review. Intro by Joshua Raff.

I dedicated most of my writing time in the past few months to research for a new non-fiction book project—general background work and more detailed work on what I intend to be two sample chapters. My aim is to test out the idea, to see if it has legs, and to assess whether I might have something publishable at the end.  Not surprisingly, the more I learn, the more I see how much more there is to do. I have never undertaken something on this scale before. Am I interested enough in the topic to spend several years doing the groundwork for a book that may never come to be? And when will I know enough to sit down and write?As it happened, while I was doing this first batch of work, I was reading Hermione Lee’s Tom Stoppard: A Life. As if more proof were needed that you must read to write, I found in Stoppard at least one possible answer to those questions. Stoppard is a masterful playwright, but the thing that has always intrigued me about him, even more so after reading his biography, is his intellectual curiosity. His wide-ranging interests, his thoroughness in learning whatever subject he chooses as the vehicle for one of his plays, be it science or mathematics, philosophy, politics, or some other subject, is astonishing.Toward the end of the book, Stoppard is quoted as saying “The trouble is I feel I have to know everything (impossible) just to use the tiny bit I need.“ I think he approached the subjects (or settings) of all of his plays similarly, even when as a young and inexperienced playwright, he was less certain he would end up with a successful play at the end of the process. My first attempt at a full-length book was a childhood memoir, which I wrote as my M.F.A. writing project over the two years of the program and some months after graduation. All to get to a draft I have (at least for now) put in a drawer. But doing the research and the writing brought back memories of a mostly wonderful time in my childhood. The work was truly its own reward. Should that always be the case?Faced with the possibility of several years of research on a subject I find interesting but would likely not pursue for pure intellectual interest, I ask myself whether I am the right person to write about the subject. Can I produce a good piece of work without the passion for the subject that makes me want to learn everything I can whether or not it ends with something publishable? And when will I know enough? There does not seem to be one right answer to these questions. I do not have the answer for me yet. I enjoy the learning but love the writing. For the moment, I will continue to read and research for the chapters I have and see where it takes me. Thanks for reading. We're glad you're here.Joshua RaffCNF Reader

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THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

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