Twitter confuses a lot of people. I mean what can you possibly say of any significance in 140 characters? I have to confess I’m really not that interested in whether you are brushing your teeth or drinking a cup of coffee right at this moment. Yet, having published my first tweet in June at the Writer’s League of Texas Agents’ Conference (1), I have published no fewer than 630 of the missives, which suggests I
have found a use for it. I mostly post URLs to news stories and opeds that deal with archaeology, ancient history and related events and it seems that others like that formula since I have in excess of 150 followers. Among them are bloggers, students, business people and at least four published authors.
I am particularly proud that one of my followers is Steven Pressfield (2). He is a fascinating and accomplished author who appears frequently on The History Channel whenever the subject is the Spartans or the Three Hundred at Thermopylae. Mr Pressfield is the author of several must-read books, including
The Legend of Bagger Vance (which was made into a movie),
Gates of Fire (the literal translation of the Greek place name Thermopylae),
The Virtues of War (about Alexander the Great) and
Killing Rommel (a copy of which I bought on my last trip to the UK). He draws on his experience of soldiering, copy writing and other odder jobs in other walks of life. His style of storytelling is gritty, realistic and memorable. It is a style many, including myself, try to emulate.
His most recent book is his autobiographical
The War of Art. In it he explains his philosophy of writing which is defined by a warlike state of mind. It was his ideas in
The War of Art that led to him being invited to take part in a live twitter ‘litchat’ (3) last Friday. What's a 'litchat'? Imagine a crowd of fans with a celebrity at the stage door asking questions using text messaging, and you get an idea of the format. What follows is an edited version of the questions and answers Mr Pressfield and I exchanged (with apologies to the others who were present).
I joined the conversation a few minutes after it had started so it took me a moment to get the MO. People were asking about his
The War of Art and his ideas about writing using a 'hashtag' to connect to the discussion. That cracked, I considered how professional interviewers Melvyn Bragg and Charlie Rose would begin a conversation with a celebrity. It came to me. I dived in with my question on
pragmatics – after all, Mr Pressfield had been in the USMC.
“How do you structure your working day?” I asked boldly, not expecting an answer.
It came just moments later. “Just like a job: four hours, usually in the AM.”
I was taken aback.
Asked how he approached his writing, Mr Pressfield replied “I write ‘em first, then do the research.”
I liked that answer – and said so. “That's a great approach,” I remarked. “It frees creativity, then [you can] nitpick with the fact checking: I must do that.” (The limit of 140 characters in a tweet means you have to write cryptically like a headline writer.) Feeling more comfortable with the format, I saw my chance to ask another question.
“What other periods of history or events fascinate you?”
“Most of my stuff is set in ancient Greece,” he said, “but my newest is WWII. I love history of all periods.”
“I was just wondering if your recent blogs hinted at a novel set in one of the contemporary military campaigns.”
“Very astute, Lindsay!” he said, which was a pleasant surprise. “My next is a war story set "fifteen minutes into the future.” (There’s the scoop – and you read it here first.)
One of the audience asked about his style of writing and Mr Pressfield explained “going deep is the only way, at least to me. Losing yourself in it.”
I had read about that phenomenon. “Losing oneself in one’s work is called ‘flow’ by author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (howzat for a name!).” It is the feeling you get when working on a task and it is so absorbing you lose all track of time.
He was asked who were men of the past he would want to meet and replied “Thucydides or Plato, my all-time faves.” I chipped in suggesting Tacitus or Suetonius, to which Mr Pressfield replied “ah, the Romans. They're next!”
“I certainly hope so,” I piped. “(Romans are my time period), so many stories to tell.”
Returning to the craft of writing and the black art of getting published I asked “what role do you see for literary agents going forward? Do you have one?”
“They're even more important today,” he said. “I have a great one: Sterling Lord. I’m a big partisan for agents.” “Partisan”: it was an interesting choice of words.
My own experience has been mixed and I felt compelled to say “but for aspiring writers, they can represent another barrier to being published. For mine (non-fiction) I went direct.”
“That's true,” he said. “Sometimes it’s harder getting an agent than finding a publisher. Congrats to you, Lindsay!”
I was chuffed by the compliment from the Maestro. “You are very kind. I appreciate the compliment
” Feeling emboldened, but with nothing more than curiosity behind my question, I asked, “would you ever consider a collaborative work, or are you happier writing solo?”
My question went unanswered in the flurry of last minute questions. It was 5pm.
“Hey, thanks, everybody ... gotta sign off now,” he said. “This was fun. Hope it helped a little. Excellent questions!” And then it was over.
He said he was heading for the library.
It had been a wonderful moment of connection: an established master of his craft and his fans, all chatting in 140 characters or less, no exceptions.
Thank you for being an inspiration to me, Mr Pressfield! Maybe one day we can collaborate on something together…?
Follow Steven Pressfield on twitter at @SPressfield. You can follow me on twitter at @Lindsay_Powell and read about my
book at www.Lindsay-Powell.com
References
- http://blog.lindsay-powell.com/2009/07/04/books-past-present-but-future.aspx
- http://home.stevenpressfield.com/index.asp and
