Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – Birds Nest in Winter Trees
Bird by Bird is a book on writing by Anne Lamott, published in 1994. It is well known enough to get a mention on Ted Lasso. I’d never seen the title on any ‘how to write’ book lists, so decided to take a look.
We start with advice to write by advancing step by step. It’s no good imagining you will hold an entire story in your head before you begin. Write small pieces and put them together. If you have to prepare a piece about birds, take it one bird at a time. Other topics covered include finding a writing partner, taking notes of things around you, discovering your own voice, and how to avoid getting sued by the people who you might use in your writing.
Fairly soon after beginning the book I started to feel uncomfortable. This is why:
Bird by Bird’s building block approach is also the suggestion of a more recent book by George Saunders, called A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, where good writing is explored through a selection of Russian short stories. Remembering A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, I realised Bird by Bird does not use examples to show good writing in action. The quotes we get are the pithy wisdom kind, amidst much biographical material from the author’s life. When Bird by Bird mentions what it considers bad writing, namely ‘the comics’ and ‘formula films’ once again there are no specific examples. Which comics exactly? All of them? Just because writing is in a comic doesn’t mean it’s bad. And which films? Do you mean the ones that follow mythic structure like Star Wars, explored in such a fascinating way by Christopher Vogler in The Writer’s Journey? The lack of specific examples left the book’s advice, even if often sensible, feeling anecdotal rather than substantive.
Then there was the intrusion of the author’s religious beliefs into the book. I think the religious references were designed to give a sense of the big picture that a writer is supposed to be considering. For me, they revealed a certain outlook which can be as limited as any other point of view. For example, the author goes with her church group to a nursing home. She doesn’t want to go, old people and their health issues making her uncomfortable. How can God allow people to live in this state? There might be a sense of personal honesty in the way these less than flattering feelings are described, but I did not admire how they were then rationalised. There is mention of a medieval monk, one Brother Lawrence, who opines that the presence of leafless, winter trees must demonstrate a God who loves all things unconditionally. Otherwise why would such useless things exist? Similarly, says Anne Lamott, the presence of God’s unconditional love is demonstrated by people who ‘are no longer useful in any traditional sense of the word’? I sat back. Did I just read that? Seriously?
I thought of an observation made by the secular Shakespeare who tells us, ‘reason not the need. Our basest beggars are in the merest thing superfluous’. Who’s to judge what is important and useful? Not Bird by Bird I would suggest. Maybe think of the high esteem in which elders are held in other cultures – Native American culture for example. Why not have a look at Story Writing in a Nursing Home, A Patchwork of Memories edited by Martha John – a book resulting from story writing classes conducted by a volunteer teaching service. Older people are a treasure trove of memories and overlapping lived experience, causing one of the older participants in Martha John’s book to suggest that, ‘we’re a sort of patchwork quilt’. A patchwork quilt, a sense of something that has grown over time, giving a warm sense of continuity and stability, is a much better image for older people than a leafless tree, so useless that it can only be loved by a particularly forgiving and accommodating deity.
On a practical level Bird by Bird is out of date in the sections dealing with publishing. There is not even a hint that a vibrant self-publishing scene might exist in 1994’s not too distant future.
For me there are much more useful books on writing. I’ll finish by listing a few that have helped me. Whatever kind of writer you are, even an elderly one (!), good luck.
How To Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey
The Writer’s Journey by Cristopher Vogler
The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
Writing From the Inside Out by Dennis Palumbo
Sin and Syntax by Constance Hale
