Novelist as a Vocation

by Haruki Murakami

One thing I need to mention is that this book was published in Japan in 2015, so there is a seven-year time lag between that and the present 2022 English translation. I’d like you to be aware of this.

For a long time I’ve been wanting to say something about my writing novels, and being a novelist for so long; so in between other work I started, bit by bit, jotting down my thoughts, and organizing them by topic.

The first several chapters I wrote in my usual style—like how I’m writing here—but when I reread them the flow of the writing seemed stiff and kind of shrill, and it just didn’t sit well with me.

Why not? First of all, I feel a bit embarrassed about talking about myself, and about the process of me writing novels, so directly and openly.

Well, I imagine that someday I might have the chance to talk about this in public, but it might be a little early for it now.

So I think what’s collected here are things I’ve been writing and saying over and over (though the form may have gradually changed over time).

The first half of this book was serialized in the magazine Monkey Business.

Motoyuki Shibata

That’s how the first six chapters came to be serialized in each monthly issue of Monkey Business.

I imagine this book will be taken as autobiographical essays, but they weren’t originally written with that in mind.

Truthfully, I have no idea if this book could serve as a guidebook or introduction to help those hoping to write novels.

One thing I do want you to understand is that I am, when all is said and done, a very ordinary person.

But since I do happen to have a bit of ability to write novels, and have had some good luck on my side, plus a stubborn streak (or, to put it more nicely, a consistency) that’s proved helpful, I’ve been able, over thirty-five years, to write novels as a profession.

The last thing I’d like to note is that I’m not the kind of person who is very good at thinking things out purely using my mind.

The only way I can think about things in any kind of order is by putting them in writing. Physically moving my hand as I write, rereading what I write, over and over, and closely reworking it—only then am I finally able to gather my thoughts and grasp them like other people do.

Talking about novels strikes me as too broad and amorphous a topic to get the ball rolling, so I will start by addressing something more specific: novelists.

amiable

fair-minded.

idiosyncratic

When I hear that two writers are good buddies, I tend to take it with a grain of salt.

Writers are basically an egoistic breed, proud and highly competitive. Put two of them in the same room and the result, more likely than not, will be a disappointment.

Marcel Proust

James Joyce.

Suppose that a novelist blessed with a good voice makes his or her debut as a singer.

paintings.

“Literary translation

Similarly, when I published Underground, I was met with harsh criticism from the ranks of professional nonfiction writers: “a display of ignorance of the basic rules of nonfiction”; “a tearjerker of the first order”; “the work of a dilettante.”

nonfiction,

As my experience suggests, specialists in a given field tend to frown on those who, for whatever reason, stray onto their turf. Like the white blood cells that protect our bodies from foreign invaders, they repel all “alien” forces. Those who proceed undaunted may find, in the end, that the authorities have relented, and that their admittance has been tacitly approved…but in the beginning at least the road is bound to be rocky. The narrower and more specialized the field, I have found, the prouder the authorities tend to be and the stronger their antipathy to outsiders.

But what of the opposite case, when singers or artists or translators or nonfiction writers turn out a novel? Do novelists make a sour face? From my experience, no.

novelists

I think I have a pretty good idea. The thing that makes novels different is that practically anybody can write one if they put their mind to it.

pianist

ball...

mountain climber

It’s possible for a first-timer to produce a fine novel if he or she is blessed with just a little talent.

Hear the Wind Sing,

This may anger some people. I can hear them squawking, “What the hell do you know about literature?” I’m just trying to tell it like it really is.

In short, the world of the novelist is like a professional wrestling ring that welcomes anyone who feels like taking a crack at it.

While entering the ring may be easy, however, remaining there for long is hard.

I think this is why novelists tend to be so generous to outsiders who step up through the ropes to make their novelistic debuts.

“Come on in,”

“Too bad, kid,”

“Take care of yourself.”

Another reason novelists can be so magnanimous is that they understand literary business is not a zero-sum game.

professional athletes

Nevertheless, if one takes the long view, a fitting kind of natural selection is in operation.

I have been getting by one way or another as a professional novelist for over thirty-five years, as of 2015, when I wrote this.

living by the pen,”

I have seen the debuts of a great many new writers during that time.