Showing posts with label Evelyn Waugh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evelyn Waugh. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Words

There are always words going round in my head; some people think in pictures, some in ideas. I think entirely in words. By the time I come to stick my pen in my ink pot these words have reached a stage of order which is fairly presentable. ~ Evelyn Waugh
 
Waugh may have been exaggerating just a tad, but I very much understand this. I primarily think in words myself. I have never visualized a scene and then written it down. And I most definitely do not write the oft-advocated ‘sloppy’ first draft. I need the proper words to build the proper picture.
 
If there is a picture at all. I do not see a movie in my head, as some readers and authors claim. At most, maybe a few still shots, and those more akin to illustrations than photographs. I do hear what is being said. I may walk about, talking dialog out to myself before ever setting it down. That may be one reason I do not like any music in the background when I write. It interferes with my internal soundtrack.