As I was saying earlier
I think that writing and magic
are pretty much synonymous.
That most of the effects of one
are completely accomplishable by using the other.
So, from time to time during this course
I may very well use magical terminology
to make a point about writing.
This doesn't mean that I'm trying to introduce you
to some strange cult
or that you'll have to sacrifice any goats
or worship any ugly-looking idols.
No. What I am trying to say is that
there are certain things which are given as advice to magicians
which I would also think would be useful advice
for somebody who is aspiring to be a writer.
The first of these concepts is the concept of the four weapons.
Now, these are four symbolic tools or weapons
that any magician is advised to make sure
that they possess a full complement of
before commencing their magical career.
These are the four suits of the tarot deck
which is to say discs or coins or pentacles
swords, cups, and wands.
Now, each of these
represents one of the four classical elements
and also represents a human quality
a human ability
that is necessary if you wish to be a magician or a writer.
Starting from the lowest of these four implements
that would be discs or coins or pentacles.
They represent the element of earth
which is to say they represent your ability
to deal with the material world
the hard physical world that we all exist in.
So, for a writer that means, yes, pay attention
to your physical circumstances
you don't want to starve in a garret.
Many writers have done
but it doesn't sound like a particularly
thrilling experience to me.
Try and make sure that your material circumstances
are at least bearable.
Also, try and obtain a knowledge of the physical world.
Try and find out how situations work
how people work
how all of these things
that make up the material world about us
how they all fit together.
Find out about history, find out about physical science
find out about all of these things
until you understand the physical world.
That will save you an awful lot of embarrassment
if you're trying to write a medical drama
and you have no idea beyond the fact
that if you're poorly you should perhaps have some medicine.
No, try and find out how a hospital works.
Try and find out how every facet of the material world works
and you'll be a better writer because of it.
Now, the next weapon, in ascending order is the sword.
The sword represents the element of air
which is to say the human quality of intellect.
Specifically, the sword is the discriminatory intellect.
It's the intellect that has got a sharp cutting edge
that enables you to discriminate between a good idea
and a bad idea.
To discriminate between one thing and another.
This will be very, very useful to you
in your career as a writer.
And also, the pursuit of intellect itself.
That to expand your intellect will be to expand your capacity
to write about things.
So, that is the importance of the sword.
Moving on to the next most important
of the four magical weapons
that would be the cup.
The cup represents the element of water
and thus, represents human emotion
and particularly human compassion.
Now, in creating characters
you need to feel compassionate
towards them
even if they are the most hateful villain possible.
You need to understand them.
If you're going to write about them
if you're maybe going to put words in their mouth
you need to understand them as a human being.
So, the key to that is compassion.
To be able to think yourself into somebody else's shoes.
This is why, whether to a magician or to a writer
to have the cup and the compassion that it represents
continually within reach is an essential thing.
The most important of the four weapons
is the wand.
Now, the wand represents the element of fire.
So, it represents the human spirit
which is to say the human will.
Now, this is the most important of the four weapons
because it is the weapon
that should be directing the other three.
It is the centre of the human self
that has an intellect.
That has an emotion.
That has physical circumstances
and is directing all of those things.
Now, to a writer
will is the single most important element
because if you do not have will
then you might have the best ideas in the world
you might have a wonderful idea for a novel.
And you will get perhaps two chapters in
before you have an even better idea for another story.
So, you abandon the novel
perhaps you'll get back to it, perhaps you won't.
But you move on to your next great idea.
You perhaps get a chapter into that.
You can very easily, without the application of will
you can end up after 30 years as a writer
having nothing but a stack of uncompleted manuscripts
that you never finished.
The important thing about will is
if you focus that upon your imagination
you can actually bring things into materialisation
where they exist in the real world
where the rest of us exist
and where the rest of us can read them.
Now, it's obviously a lot easier to say
"Get in touch with your will"
than it is to actually do it.
It's not one of those things
that we're ever taught how to do that.
I can only give you my own experience.
When normal avenues of education were...
forbidden to me, at the age of about 17
I began to realise that I was at something of a disadvantage
and that if I wanted to ever have the career
that I dreamed of as being a writer and creative individual
who could support themselves, then I was going to
have to make an attempt at that at some point.
I did. This was around the age of 24, 25
where I decided that I was going to leave work
and live off of the then non-existent mercies
of the benefit system
until I could actually establish myself as a writer.
And then I sat around and did very, very little
for the best part of a year.
I was planning huge projects
that I was obviously never going to able to finish.
And it came to a point when I thought
"Why are you doing this?
Why are you staring these incredible epic sagas
that you are going to draw and write
and yet you've been doing them for six months
and you've only got one complete page
another page that's got a mess of pencils on it
and a little bit of ink.
That's what you've got, two pages."
And I thought, "Why are you doing this?"
And I realised that the reason I was doing it
was so that I would never have to be judged.
I was never going to complete these things
so I would never have to send them in
and have them judged by somebody.
I would never have to have them rejected
because if they got rejected
then I wouldn't even have the dream of being a writer.
I wouldn't even be able to think
"Well, I could have been a writer
apart from, perhaps, my working-class upbringing
or the circumstances of my life
or my experience at school."
There'd be some excuse.
What I realised was that, sort of
this was trying to avoid being judged
and it was also foredooming
any attempt at being a writer.
If you don't finish your work and give it somebody to appraise
then it will simply never get published.
You are kidding yourself.
What I realised was that there was nobody
that was going to help me become a writer.
There was nobody who was trying to prevent me
from becoming a writer.
It was entirely down to me.
I must take responsibility
for myself and for my own actions
and then see what happened.
Funnily enough, as soon as I'd made that decision
I thought, "Right, why don't I have a look
and see what papers publish comic strips
what papers might be looking for a new comic strip?"
I sent in a couple of sample episodes
to a then current music paper called Sounds
and, luckily, I received a telegram in reply
we didn't have a phone in those days
telling me that they'd like to start running the strip.
This was my first professional work.
This enabled me to build the rest of my career upon it.
Purely by making that decision
to take my life and my responsibility for it
into my own hands
and I would say that that is not just the secret
of being a good writer
that is the secret of being a responsible human being.
So, these are the four weapons
and I would advise you not to neglect any single one of them.