Allaboutwriting

Publisher Gary Cummiskey of Dye Hard Press puts on his writer’s cap to discuss ideas, inspiration and the writing process.

A few weeks back I surprised myself by finishing a short story I had started writing about seven years ago, having abandoned it after a few paragraphs. But I suppose that is part of the nature of writing fiction ‒ it can sometimes take a while for a story to come together, for the writer to finally “get it” and proceed with the work through to completion.

At the recent Melville Poetry Festival I had a conversation with poet Bernat Kruger about the different approaches used when writing poetry and writing fiction. My contribution to the discussion was more or less as follows:

I am primarily a poet and poetry tends to come to me in off-hand moments when poetry is, or seems to be, the last thing on my mind. I don’t sit down and “try” to write a poem – I have done it once, but once only. Poetry usually comes to me when I’m engaging in activities such as cooking, driving, walking, washing the dishes or getting drunk. It also comes to me as I drift off to sleep. Images, lines and sometimes whole poems filter through as I head into the dream realm, and so I have developed the habit of keeping a notepad and pen at the side of my bed.

So for me the writing of poetry does not involve planning – for me it can’t be planned, can’t thought out in advance, because it either comes to me or it doesn’t. For me, poetry, and the writing of poetry, lies outside the parameter of what we call “reason”. When inspiration hits – and sometimes it hits hard – I grab my notepad and pen and start writing. People ask me what my poetry is about and I tell them that I don’t know.

That does not mean I do not advocate craft in poetry – I do, and my poetry is often extensively revised in finicky detail until I am satisfied. And there is always room for change, even after it has been published. Publication is not the end of a poem.

But the writing of fiction comes to me differently. I hit on an idea, something that comes to me either in a conscious state or in a dream. And I think about it, and ponder, and try to figure whether the idea or dream images can be developed into a narrative.

This can take time – writing fiction requires thinking and working things out. One has to think about characters, picturing them. What do they look like? How would they hold a glass? How would they speak? What does their voice sound like?

What about the setting of the story? When a character does this or that, what are the surroundings like? When a character walks into a garden you have to picture them walking into a garden – how would they walk? What are they wearing?

Sure, none of this background detail has to find its way into the written story (besides, who would want to know what every character wears in every scene?) but it has to be in your mind, even if vaguely, in order to conjure up the story so that you can write it. You have to get in tune with your story.

I don’t believe fiction has to be rooted in “reality” or governed by the plausible. It can be realism, magical realism, fantasy or whatever. It also doesn’t need to have a linear, recognisable plot. But you have to live it in your mind or, if necessary, even try out a few things to become acquainted with the details you need to be able to write with confidence. I’m thinking particularly of how the French writer André Pieyre de Mandiargues made a point of riding a Harley-Davidson when writing his novel La Motocyclette.

When things seem right – when it all comes together – when it fits in your mind – then the story begins to flow.

And this can take time – it can be a few days, a few weeks, months, or as in my case, several years.

Gary Cummiskey is the author of several chapbooks of poetry, including Romancing the Dead (Tearoom Books, 2009) and Sky Dreaming (Graffiti Kolkata, 2011). With Eva Kowalska, he edited Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African Beat poet, published in 2009. He is currently preparing a collection of short fiction.

He is also the founder of Dye Hard Press, which since 1994 has published over 20 titles, mainly of South African poetry. He has published authors such as Kobus Moolman, Arja Salafranca, Alan Finlay and Gus Ferguson. Recent titles from Dye Hard Press include pushing from the riverbank by Alan Finlay, The Edge of Things: South African short fiction selected by Arja Salafranca, and Closer Than That by Gail Dendy. Visit Dye Hard Press

Read Janet van Eeden’s in-depth interview with Gary Cummiskey of Dye Hard Press.