I’ve been writing various ‘How To Write’ blog pieces, and I’m certainly not the only one. But it occurs to me that what doesn’t get talked about so much is how to be a writer. At least, not in terms of it having nothing to do with writing. Which it doesn’t. Writing is just a side effect of being a writer.

I know a guy I’ll call Mike who’s the country’s leading expert in his field, which is essentially testing products. Now, a lot of test people join a test lab, learn how to run the tests and then carry them out. They’ll have the necessary qualifications for the job but they won’t necessarily have the same attitude as Mike.

When Mike joined his first test lab, he didn’t just learn the tests. He wanted to know why they’d been designed the way they had, and how each instrument in the test procedure worked. So he took everything apart, the theory and the practice. Which meant he not only learned why a test was designed the way it was, he also discovered that many of them could be improved and that some didn’t really even do the job they were supposed to.

Mike and I went to Sweden once, to work through a new test procedure with the experts at one of the world’s leading furniture makers. On the way to their centre in our host’s car, Mike was listening to the engine and at one point advised our host on several things that needed looking at. Our host confirmed that a garage had just said the same for about half of Mike’s observations, and he would now get the other half checked out too. At the end of our two days at their research labs, they took us on a tour of their test facilities. Mike was constantly pointing out machines that weren’t adjusted properly or materials that weren’t quite right of the job. I felt a little embarrassed for the guys showing us around, one of whom was the head of the centre but he asked Mike if he’d be willing to return specially to run a formal audit over their entire set-up.

The new test procedure that Mike and I put together would have quite a big effect on a lot of people. So we took it on the road, speaking at all kinds of conventions, universities, workshops. Those who didn’t like the new test for various reasons would often try to catch Mike out, either with questions in public or private conversations in the margins. But they never could. And the reason they couldn’t was because his mind was always on the job. Not just the immediate topic but all around it too, on the chemistry that’s involved with the test process; on why exactly the industry would object to a particular element; on how the whole puzzle of theory, practice, outcome and effect came together.

Writers can just put a story together, following a stock plot pattern, using stereotypical characters, functional dialogue and a predictable outcome. This doesn’t require anything more than concentrating reasonably well during the writing process, and doing a bit of pre-planning and tidying up afterwards.

Or they can do the sort of thing Mike does. Which is why I called this blog ‘How to Writer’, not ‘How to Write’. A writer has his mind on the job constantly. But for him the job is not just writing a story. In fact, that’s just a small part of the job. Even early drafts and lots of revising are just a small part of the job.

I once heard a football manager tell a story about Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary Manchester United manager. Our guy had been talking to another manager who was interested in a young player from a small Scottish football club. Our guy suggested he phone Sir Alex and ask him if he knew the player. So they did and sure enough, Sir Alex gave them a thorough run down on the player concerned, even though he was obviously not the boy’s manager. Then our guy suggested for a laugh that they phone back Sir Alex and ask him if he knew anything about the groundsman at the same Scottish club. So they did and Sir Alex indeed knew the groundsman’s name and quite a lot about him. Now, our guy is a not bad manager but will never be asked to manage Manchester United, I believe, because he didn’t seem to see the link between Sir Alex’s constant on-the-job attitude and success at the highest level. He didn’t see the link between that obscure Scottish player and Manchester United’s long list of trophies under Sir Alex; he seemed to believe it was just a fascinating hobby Ferguson happened to have.

In fact, I believe that many people who write or want to write fiction make the reverse assumption: that only the time they actually produce words matters, and because they do occasionally produce words, they must be a writer. Like our okay football manager they’re blissfully unaware that to produce writing that soars, causes emotion and produces memorable characters, they need to learn how to writer. Well, actually, I’m not sure such an attitude can be learned. I think it probably results from an inherent and through-everything love for the art of writing.

Sir Alex was well known of being the first into Old Trafford most days and the last to leave. I don’t think that was him making some kind of work-ethic point; I believe it was down to love for what he did.

With the next post, I’m going to look closer at what I believe are some of the key ingredients and attitudes that make up how to writer, starting with observation and meaning.