Writing as Conversation: Exactly Who Are You Talking To?

As a teenager with (very) vague ambitions to be a writer, I surprised and gratified to be taken seriously by my Uncle Jim (that’s him on the right, in a self-portrait). I didn’t get to see Jim very often, because he lived on other side of the country, but he was the family’s resident intellectual – a designer with Waterford Glass, an amateur painter, and as well-read as he was well-travelled. I vividly recall a rainy spring afternoon when I was 14 or thereabouts: Jim had come to visit for a few days, and we spent the afternoon sitting in front of the fire having a long, rambling conversation about books, writing and all that jazz. The following day he went off for a walk and came back with a second-hand copy of Ulysses (he hadn’t been able to find a new copy anywhere in town), into which he’d slipped an encouraging note written on brown wrapping paper.
 I still have that note, and that copy of Ulysses. Over the years it became something of a totem for me, a touchstone, a tangible article of faith, even it would be years before I finally gathered to courage to read it. More importantly, though, I still have that memory of being taken seriously as a writer, which is why Jim’s self-portrait hangs above my desk. Because no matter what book I’m working on, and regardless of its genre, it’s always my Uncle Jim I’m talking to.
 When you’re starting out telling a story, focusing on a single person can be hugely helpful in terms of pinning down exactly what it is you’re trying to say, and why, and the best way to say it (i.e., the narrative voice). That person could be a friend or your sister, a writer you’d like to impress or some philistine from your past you desperately want to prove wrong. It might even be your own uncle, long gone but still a friendly presence at your elbow. But it doesn’t really matter who that person is, just so long as you feel you can speak directly to them as you tell your story.
 The most concise version of this idea came to me courtesy of the wonderful PD James, which I came across in her short but brilliant non-fiction title Talking about Detective Fiction:

“A book is a conversation with a reader, singular; not readers; have an ideal reader in mind; regardless of first-person or third-person voice, you’re telling that story to one person.” – PD James

 If you find yourself stuck in your writing, or struggling to get started, try this: stop writing, pick someone you know will care, and start telling them the story in the way you know they’ll like best. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the words start to come.