Writers on Writing: Big Magic

Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic

     To supplement your veracious appetite for fiction, there are a lot of great books about the creative process itself.  I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorites: Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic.
​
    This is the first Elizabeth Gilbert book I’ve read, and her work hadn't tempted me before.  But  I heard Big Magic’s praise on (Pub)lishing Crawl’s podcast one morning and saw it in the library’s return pile that afternoon, it seemed meant to be.  I’m sure Gilbert would think so.

    Big Magic turned out to be exactly what I needed to push me through the final weeks for writing an academic article with a strict deadline.  Gilbert’s book is both idealistic and practical at the same time (which is quite the accomplishment).  It’s not a book about writing mechanics, though.  She won’t help you establish style, build a narrative, or develop characters.  This book is about how you treat your creativity in whatever form it takes.  Gilbert seeks to orient you toward her north stars Gratitude and Perseverance and away from the black holes Bitterness and Martyrdom that tend to beleaguer the creative process.  Big Magic is a navigational tool, not a step-by-step guide.
    She offers gems like:

“My fear became boring to me, I believe, for the same reason that fame became boring to Jack Gilbert: because it was the same thing every day.
    Around the age of fifteen, I somehow figured out that my fear had no variety to it, no depth, no substance, no texture… My fear was a song with only one note-- only one word, actually-- and that word was “STOP!”” (pg 19)

“He was lazy, and he was a perfectionist.  Indeed, those are the essential ingredients for torpor and misery, right there.  If you want to live a contented creative life… you must learn how to become a deeply disciplined half-a**.” (pg 166)

    Creative journeys require constant reorientation and adjustment to keep on track.  This book is the perfect tool to get you out of a creative slump and (importantly) keep you out of it.  Read it devotionally: one chapter a day, every day, until the "slump-threat" is gone.  Then slide it under your bed, close at hand and ready to battle the inevitable next slump.

    One virtue of Big Magic is its breadth.  Gilbert uses her own passion for writing to divulge lessons about creativity in general, so it works just as well for actors, chefs, designers, and master paper-folders.  And yes, some of Gilbert’s lessons are as naive and sentimental as you expect (“the universe loves you” and the like).  However, when you’re in a slump, and find yourself eating salt and vinegar chips and bemoaning your latest rejection, that’s the message you need.  Even if you don’t believe the universe loves you all the time, believe it long enough to get out of the crater you’re making in the cushions and get back to work.

---