Novelist as a Vocation

by Haruki Murakami

One famous example was the 1922 dinner party in Paris that brought together Marcel Proust and James Joyce.

Eric would be interested in this.

The thing that makes novels different is that practically anybody can write one if they put their mind to it.

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

In my considered opinion, anyone with a quick mind or an inordinately rich store of knowledge is unlikely to become a novelist. That is because the writing of a novel, or the telling of a story, is an activity that takes place at a slow pace—in low gear, so to speak.

Like my thesis.

Novelists sit cloistered in their rooms, intently fiddling with words, batting around one possibility after another. They may scratch their heads an entire day to improve the quality of a single line by a tiny bit.

That is what novel writing is really all about. It is time-consuming, tedious work.

None of these, however, is a pace suited to writing novels over the long term.

Name the one hit wonders.

A novelist, however, sees the idea of “a leisurely life” as practically synonymous with “the waning of one’s creativity.” For novelists are like certain types of fish. If they don’t keep swimming forward, they die.

So how do you discover if you have what it takes to be a novelist? There is only one answer: you have to jump in the water and see if you sink or swim.

The nature of that experience, however, diverged somewhat from the norm. In those days, most guys graduated from college, found work, and then, when things leveled off, got married.

I entered Waseda University in Tokyo in the late 1960s at the peak of the student protests;

I took part in a program sponsored by Waseda.

Words have power. Yet that power must be rooted in truth and justice. Words must never stand apart from those principles.

Scattered applause rose around me. In that instant, and based on no grounds whatsoever, it suddenly struck me: I think I can write a novel.

Hear the Wind Sing

I myself was relieved not to have won,

As was Neil Gaiman.

I am proud to have written my novels and lived my life as an independent agent. It may be a trivial thing, but for me at least it carries some weight.

writer’s greatest responsibility is to his readers, to keep providing them with the best work that he is capable of turning out.

In his early days, Bob Dylan played the acoustic guitar and sang protest songs, carrying on the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. When he abandoned that style and went electric, however, a great number of his supporters raked him over the coals, cursing him as a “Judas” and a “traitor” for selling out to commercialism.

“Originality” is a living, evolving thing, whose shape is devilishly hard to pin down.

It seems there’s a sizable number of critics who will go on disliking whatever I write, no matter its quality.

Better to evoke a strong response, even a negative one, than to elicit nothing but humdrum comments and lukewarm praise.

I’m not a big fan of generalizations, but if you will permit me to venture one (my apologies!), Japan is a country where most people really hate it when you go against the flow. For better or for worse, our culture places an extreme emphasis on harmony, which means that Japanese care way too much about “making waves.”

“Am I having a good time doing this?” If you’re not enjoying yourself when you’re engaged in what seems important to you, if you can’t find spontaneous pleasure and joy in it, if your heart doesn’t leap with excitement, then there’s likely something wrong.

This is purely my opinion, but if you want to express yourself as freely as you can, it’s probably best not to start out by asking “What am I seeking?” Rather, it’s better to ask “Who would I be if I weren’t seeking anything?” and then try to visualize that aspect of yourself.

It is especially important to plow through as many novels as you can while you are still young.

Some individuals decide what or who is right or wrong based on a quick analysis of people and events. Generally speaking, though (and this is purely my opinion), they don’t make good novelists. Instead, they are better suited to becoming critics or journalists.

I don't agree with this.

James Joyce put it most succinctly when he said, “Imagination is memory.”

My advice, then, is to hang a sign on your chest of drawers that says For Fiction Only when you are in the process of writing.

Experiences are crucial for a writer, of whatever kind.

I have long held that no generation is superior or inferior to another.

Isak Dinesen once said, “I write a little every day, without hope and without despair.”

How many times do I rewrite? There is no specific number.

“It would have been better if I’d taken the time.” I was dumbfounded when I heard a novelist friend say this. I still am, if I think about it, which I don’t. It’s none of my business. But if the writing can’t be made as good as it is within us to make it, then why do it? In the end, it’s all we have, the only thing we can take into the grave. I wanted to say to my friend, for heaven’s sake go do something else. There have to be easier and maybe more honest ways to try and earn a living. Or else just do it to the best of your abilities, your talents, and then don’t justify or make excuses. Don’t complain, don’t explain.

And as physical strength declines (I’m speaking in general terms here), there is a subtle decline in mental fitness, too. Mental agility and emotional flexibility are lost.

And if you want to sustain that willpower over the long haul, then your quality of life becomes an issue. First of all, you need to live to the full.

But most young Japanese are still not good at handling English outside of school—whether it be speaking, reading, or writing. And this is a major problem. If you leave this kind of distorted educational system in place, I don’t think even including English study starting at the elementary-school level, a fairly recent move in Japan, will help much.

What I hope for from schools is simply that they do not suppress the imagination of children who are naturally imaginative. That’s enough. I want them to provide an environment in which each person’s individuality can thrive. Do that, and schools will become fuller, freer places. Simultaneously, society itself will also become a fuller, freer place.

The wonderful thing about being a novelist is that even in your fifties and sixties, that kind of growth and innovation is possible. There’s no age limit. The same wouldn’t hold true for an athlete.

Rick Nelson had a song late in his career called “Garden Party.” The lyrics included the following: See, you can’t please everyone So you got to please yourself.

You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you’re doing—even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.”

sometimes get interesting letters from readers. “I read your latest book, Mr. Murakami, and was disappointed. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it. But I’m definitely buying the next one. Keep up the good work!” That kind of message. Truth be told, I love readers like that and am very grateful for them.

There’s one more thing—maybe something I don’t need to actually put into words—but abroad, especially in the West, the individual is paramount.

At each step of the way you have to take responsibility and make decisions yourself.