::mslexia author method::

The A L Kennedy Method
From Interview no. 2

• Buy a new notebook and begin jotting down ideas in extremely small writing.

• Embark on a programme of open-ended research, amassing notes and books on various tangentially relevant topics (such as Persian eye torture, Welsh sea-birds, treatments for cancer). During this period you may go on one or more long expeditions in the belief that they are germane to the book.

• When your brain feels sufficiently full, pile the information into two large cupboards and close the doors. It will now settle into your mind as knowledge that can be dredged up at will by the characters in the book.

• Now prepare your room, clearing it of all visual distractions. Turn out the lights and light a candle in the window. (Your most concentrated work is done between 11pm and 3am because you hope to harness the REM brain-pattern that would normally occur then, a probably vain hope, as your biorhythms have almost certainly changed by now.)

• Meditate for half an hour.

• Select one of ten key pieces of music. Possible artists include: Blur, David Byrne, Massive Attack, Karma Police, The Kinks. Set your CD player to repeat one track over and over and turn the volume up extremely loud. The idea is to not-hear anything, rather than hear the music. The drumming, the flickering candle, create a kind of voodoo that aids concentration and inspiration.

• Now settle into your writing position with your laptop computer on a large embroidered cushion in your lap.

• Structure the book vaguely, dividing it into a number of (let’s say seven) manageable segments. This will give you a sense of where the plot’s ultimately going, which helps you navigate through each segment.

• Take the first segment and plan it more carefully, using a visual map which you draw in your notebook. Now start writing, going forwards three chapters at a time, stopping to rewrite them; forwards another three.

• If you get stuck, try slapping your forehead or hitting yourself (you may have to open the cupboards to retrieve suitably hard objects). If this fails, go into your other sitting-room and watch a video you have seen 100 times before. If it fails for days on end, consider redecorating a room in your flat, using a complicated paint technique such as ragging.

• Around half way through the book, review the entire structure, using more visual maps. At this point the second half of the book becomes more determined. It will, for instance, be clear exactly who else has to die. And major underlying themes will become obvious and influence the unfolding of later chapters.

• At some point, surrender the manuscript to your editor. But don’t imagine it’s finished: you will keep making changes right up to the day of publication.

If you get stuck, try slapping your forehead or hitting yourself (you may have to open the cupboards to retrieve suitably hard objects). If this fails, go into your other sitting-room and watch a video you have seen 100 times before.