An Alphabet Of Better Writing # P

P is for...Past

William Faulkner offers this brilliant thought about the past: "The past is never dead.  It is not even past."

Wow! When my brother sent me this (thanks Tom) it set all kinds of trip wires firing in my brain: how it is impossible to dissociate yourself from what has happened to you, how your experience shapes and informs the person that you are, how enriched the present moment is by the archaeology of what has gone before. The past is already an incredibly fertile terrain for a writer, but the notion that it is a living, breathing entity which closely shadows the present opens up new possibilities; it seems to do so for me, at least.

Without getting too metaphysical, the literary potential of viewing the past as an alternative version of the here and now is intriguing, not least because it makes the use of flashback less of a convenient plotting device and more or a narrative trajectory in its own right.  Breathing life into the past, into memory, is akin to breathing life into the imagination itself. Does the past not die because we are for ever condemned to repeat the mistakes we made in it?  Is it difficult to extinguish the past because we are unable to obliterate love that we have felt before? Is it a blessing or a curse that the past is such a potent force?  Is it a blessing and a curse?  Would you want to be free of your past if you could? Thinking about the proximity of the past makes me ask all of these questions, and I suspect that each and any one of them would be an excellent starting point for a novel, and used in combination, might lead to a rich and complex storyline.

In your writing life, be sure to think of ways in which what has gone before can add lustre and resonance to what is happening now; listen out for echoes. I think you'll find that the shadows cast by the past will add definition and texture to the bright light of the present-day.