📄 This text is excerpted from "Lao She Talks about Writing" (this book selects Lao She's discussions on writing, and elaborates on the theme of "how to write") in the section "Don't Be Afraid to Start Writing", originally published in May 1960 in "Literary New Soldier".
There are many beginners in writing who feel frustrated: they can't write anything!
My opinion is: keep learning, don't worry for now.
How to learn? In my opinion, the best first step is to write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have. If you never dare to start writing, you will never grasp the essence. If you don't dare to get in the water, how can you learn to swim? Once you have started writing, then read books or articles published in magazines, and you will understand some writing techniques. Only by writing ourselves can we have a deeper understanding of other people's works and learn some tricks.
Alright, let's keep writing, still write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have.
After finishing a piece or half a piece, then go read other people's works, and you will benefit even more.
Don't rush, don't think about publishing as soon as you pick up the pen. Thinking about publishing is not a practical approach. If someone tells us that they have only been in the water twice, but have decided to immediately participate in an international swimming competition, would we believe that they will win? No! We would definitely encourage them: your ambition is good, but you need to practice hard, don't give up if you fail. This way, one day you will participate in international competitions. I think writing is the same. Whoever is willing to put in the effort to learn will succeed, but don't expect to become famous with the first stroke of the pen. I said write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have, precisely for practice. If we neglect this practice process and want to publish immediately, then it will be difficult. Yes, we only wrote half a piece, and can't continue writing, so how can we publish? Don't be anxious about publishing or not, being so anxious will make us discouraged and unwilling to learn. From a learning perspective, it's already good to have written half a piece, before this, we couldn't even write half a piece, right?
I don't know if what I'm saying is right or not, but I always think that beginners in writing should not decide to write a 500,000-word novel or a multi-act play. Maybe some people have done that, and indeed succeeded. But that is not a common occurrence, and we shouldn't underestimate the importance of basic practice. That person who succeeded with one stroke probably already had well-written texts, rich life experiences, and some understanding of novel or script writing. They put in hard work, but we don't know about their practice in the mountains. We should know our own foundation. If our writing skills and life experiences are not very good, and we don't understand the techniques of writing novels or scripts, it's best to write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have, in order to prepare for creation.
First, we need to write fluently. When I say write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have, it is to gradually enrich our ability to express in writing. It's still not about publishing. Just think, if we have the ability to write down whatever we think of, see, or hear, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? Even if we never write a novel or a play in our lifetime, but our letters, reports, and miscellaneous thoughts can be written concisely and vividly, isn't that something to be happy about?
Of course, when our writing skills are proficient, we can try writing novels or plays. The tool of literature is language and words.
This doesn't mean that literature creation solely relies on words and doesn't need anything else. It's not like that! Political ideas, life experiences, literary cultivation... are all important. We shouldn't only focus on words and neglect everything else. When I said write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have, I was referring to the study of words. This way, we will have the courage to pick up the pen and not be afraid of difficulties. While holding the pen, we should also strive for political learning, actively participate in various activities, enrich our life experiences, and also watch plays, movies, and read literary works. By doing both, constantly writing and caring about politics and life, our writing and thoughts will progress, and our life experiences will gradually become richer. We will have both valuable materials to write about and the ability to write.
To learn writing, we must first assess our own abilities. If our writing skills are still poor, then please try my suggestion - write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have. At the same time, take writing a family letter or keeping a diary seriously, as a daily exercise in writing. The study of words should be done anytime, anywhere, not limited to the time of writing an article. Someone who can write a novel will certainly be able to write a letter, and a well-written letter is also a literary work - a good diary is too! Once we have a foundation in words, but still can't write an article, what should we do? We should think about what we want to write, is it a novel or a play? If it's a novel or a play, then it's no wonder we can't write. First of all, we often think that some of our life experiences are enough to write a novel or a three-act play. In fact, those experiences are not enough to support such a work. When those life experiences are in our minds, they seem like a large pile, inexhaustible. But when we write them down on paper, it's not such a large pile anymore, because what we write on paper is the most worthy of being written down, and the irrelevant and unimportant things are not used, just like a big bamboo shoot, it looks thick and long, but when you peel off the inedible skin, only a small piece is left. We can't cook a big dish with this little bamboo shoot!
So, if we immediately write down those life experiences, write a thousand or two thousand words, we can still benefit. Firstly, we will realize that what is worth writing down is not as much as we imagined, our life experiences are not yet rich. If we want to write a long piece, we must accumulate more experiences in order to have choices. Yes, what we write down must go through selection; casually writing down trivial matters cannot become a literary work. It needs to go through selection, and the more life experiences we have, the easier it is to choose. Yes, if we only have one apple in our hand, how can we choose?
Secondly, what is written with the so-called large pile of life experiences, a thousand or two thousand words, may be a very good article. This gives us confidence and dares us to pick up the pen again. On the contrary, if we insist on using that so-called large pile of life experiences to write a long novel or play, we may never be able to finish it, and thus become discouraged and afraid to write. Don't be greedy for big things! Only when we can write the small things well, do we have hope of writing the big things well. Moreover, the quality of an article does not depend on the number of words. A well-crafted folk song, even if it's only four or eight lines, can be sung throughout the country.
Also, even if our life experiences are solid and what we write down is indeed good, we may still encounter difficulties - writing dryly, without flavor. What's the matter with that? I think it's probably like this: we only know these few people, these few things, and don't know more people and things, so we can't use more people and things to enrich those few people and things. Yes, a novel or a play is a small world, we only know a lot about it, and we can write people, events, scenery, and dialogues vividly at any time, writing a sunny day makes readers feel clear and cheerful, writing a flower makes people smell the fragrance! We must delve into life and keep writing! Today, let's describe a flower, tomorrow let's try to describe a person, today record an event, tomorrow try to write a lyrical poem, to enrich our expressive abilities. The richer our life, the broader our mind; the more we write, the more skilled we will become. Yes, we need to put in some effort and lay a solid foundation. Don't be anxious, don't think about publishing or not. Whoever is willing to put in the effort will be able to write articles.
So, isn't it difficult to make a leap in writing? No! Making a leap in writing is just like making a leap in any other work, it requires hard work and diligent practice. We can't put hard work and diligent practice aside and just talk about making a leap. Look, we were originally afraid to pick up the pen, but now we are picking it up, isn't that the momentum of making a leap? Then, if we can't write something big, let's write something small; if we can't write good poetry, let's write prose. With this happy and carefree attitude, not seeking fame or profit, we will definitely have a day of success. Isn't that making a leap? Alright, let's all work happily! Let go of our inhibitions, write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have, and gradually we will improve and write something decent. Don't be afraid to start writing, the pen will listen to us, right?