C. S. Lewis’ Advice to Young Writers #6

In 1959, at the suggestion of her teacher, an American schoolgirl wrote C. S. Lewis a letter requesting advice on writing. Lewis replied, “It is very hard to give any general advice about  writing. Here’s my attempt.”

In a series of eight blogposts we’re covering each of the points Lewis offered. They are just as pertinent today as they were 66 years ago.

When you give up a bit of work don’t (unless it is hopelessly bad) throw it away. Put it in a drawer. It may come in useful later. Much of my best work, or what I think my best, is the rewriting of things begun and abandoned years earlier.

– C. S. Lewis, letter of writing advice to an American schoolgirl, 14 December 1959

All of us who have been writing for a while have a desk drawer, a box, or a hard drive containing scraps, false starts, partial manuscripts, or entire failed novels. Dr. Lewis’s recommendation sits well with most of us, as we have trouble throwing our writing away. But this advise is not condoning pack rats. Lewis is hitting on a fundamental fact.

Creative work is cumulative.

We write in dialogue with all we’ve written before, as well as the many books that have influenced our formation thus far. And sometimes, going back to the artifacts, the documents we produced earlier can deeply inform, if not become, current and enduring work.

I’ve seen research that I’ve done for an abandoned project support a current effort; I’ve carried descriptive narration from previous manuscripts forward; and I’ve let the voices of similar past characters inform current ones. And none of this can be planned or foreseen.

So, leave the possibility open to “the rewriting of things begun and abandoned.” In your scrap pile there may be a source.