📄 This article is excerpted from "Lao She on 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".
Many beginners in writing feel frustrated: they can't write anything!
In my opinion: keep learning, don't worry for now.
How to learn? In my opinion, the 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 get a grasp of it. If you don't dare to get in the water, how can you learn to swim? Once you start 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 write again, still write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have.
After writing a whole piece or half a piece, go read other people's works, and you will benefit even more.
Don't rush, don't think about publishing or not as soon as you pick up the pen. Thinking about publishing is not a practical approach. If someone tells us: they have only been in the water twice, but they are determined to participate in an international swimming competition immediately, would we believe that they will win? No! We would definitely encourage them like this: your ambition is good, but you have 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. Those who are willing to put in 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 won't work. Yes, we only wrote half a piece, and can't continue writing, 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.
I don't know if what I said is correct, 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, we shouldn't overestimate ourselves and look down on basic practice. That person who succeeded with one stroke probably already wrote very fluently, had rich life experience, and understood some novel or script writing techniques. 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 foundation is not very good, our life experience is also limited, and we don't understand the techniques of writing novels or scripts, then it's best to write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have, in order to practice and 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. Still, it's not for 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 essays 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 to write novels or plays. The tool of literature is language and words.
This doesn't mean that literature creation relies solely 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, it refers to the study of words. This way, it will make us dare to pick up the pen, not afraid of difficulties. While holding the pen, we should also strive to study politics, 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 material worth writing about and the ability to write.
To learn writing, we must first understand our own foundation. If our writing is still poor, then please try my suggestion - write whatever comes to mind, write as much as you have. At the same time, even writing a letter or keeping a diary should be done seriously, as a daily exercise in writing. The study of words should be anytime and anywhere, not limited to when writing articles. Someone who can write a novel will certainly be able to write a letter, and a good letter is also a literary work - a good diary 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 script? If it's a novel or a script, 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 big pile, inexhaustible. But when we write them down on paper, they are not such a big pile anymore, because what is written 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!
In this way, if we immediately write down those life experiences, write a thousand or two thousand words, we can still benefit. First, 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 is written down must go through selection; writing down every trivial thing won't become a literary work. It needs to go through selection, and the more life experiences we have, the easier it is to choose. Yes, with only one apple in hand, how can we choose?
Secondly, what is written with the so-called big pile of life experiences can be a very good article of one or two thousand words. This gives us confidence and dares us to pick up the pen again. On the contrary, if we insist on using that so-called big pile of life experiences to write a long novel or play, then we may never be able to finish it, and thus become discouraged and afraid to write again. Don't be greedy for big things! Only when we can write the small things well, can we hope to write the big things well. Moreover, the quality of an article does not depend on the quantity 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 in that period are indeed solid, as long as what we write is dry and tasteless, what's the matter? 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, the more we know, the more we can write people, write things, write scenes, write dialogues, all lively and vivid, writing about a sunny day makes readers feel clear and comfortable, writing about a flower makes people smell the fragrance! We must delve into life and keep writing! Today, we can describe a flower, tomorrow we can try to describe a person, today we can record an event, tomorrow we can try to write a lyrical poem, to enrich our expressive abilities. The richer our life, the broader our mind; the more we write, the day will come when we can write with ease. Yes, we need to put in some effort and lay a solid foundation. Don't be anxious, don't think about publishing or not. Those who are willing to work hard will be able to write articles.
In this way, isn't it difficult to make a leap in writing? No! The leap in writing is just like the 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 a leap? Then, if we can't write big things, we write small things; if we can't write good poetry, we write prose; with such enthusiasm, not seeking fame or profit, we work down happily, there will definitely be a day of success. Isn't that 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 pick up the pen, the pen will listen to us, right?