My Arvon Journey: John Harrison

I am just back from my second Arvon event of the year. Self-indulgent I hear you say? Yes, but I have a defence, so please hear me out.

I have enjoyed a rewarding portmanteau career, occupied in various roles focused on how people think. Across my working life children, colleagues and students have asked me ‘How do I know what I want to be?’. I answer that they must open to possibilities, remain curious, and make a commitment to lifelong study. I also mention that it might take a while to find their vocation, citing my own nearly 50-year career journey. You see, until recently I didn’t know what I wanted to be. That changed on March 1^st, the final day of ‘Starting to Write a Novel’ at Totleigh Barton.

In the aftermath of the course, I knew that I wanted to write fiction. Kim Sherwood and Fiona Mosley had addressed my two key questions. Were my story ideas good enough? Yes, but write the genre novel first, and attempt the epic tale of a poor Victorian Londoner later they both advised. Was I good enough to write fiction? Also yes, but with the caveat that I needed to continue studying the craft. I had read Forster, Woolf and other hallowed sources. I knew about evocation and exposition, killing my darlings and clear process. I had made a good start to my journey but there was a great deal more to do. Kim and Fiona guided us on issues on place, character and plot. They also gave us the courage to proceed.

Then the revelation – I had found my tribe. I had been looking for years, but I didn’t know what my tribe would look like. It turns out that it doesn’t have a look. Instead, it has an essence that unites people across all categories of difference. My tribe is those people who want to tell stories.

‘You seem different.’ was a common refrain after my first Arvon course. ‘More thoughtful, more curious, and more relaxed’ friends told me. I noticed it too, and I knew why. I was curious because I needed material.  I was thoughtful because I had to think carefully about how my characters would react to the challenges I had set them. I was relaxed because when the writing flowed I felt the joy of being immersed in my plot.

I craved more time to write – and then a plot twist. I was offered the opportunity to reduce my working week to two days. Exactly one month after my first Arvon course I was writing five days a week. The words flowed, sometimes so quickly that my fingers could scarce keep up. By the time I saw ‘Writing a Novel: Work-in-Progress’ advertised I had ‘banged-out’ a manuscript ready for ‘tarting-up’.

On 19^th August I was back at Totleigh, blessed to have Leone Ross and Karen McCarthy Woolf to advise on issues of voice, editing, and pacing. Tutorials, always too short, yielded good progress on all fronts. However, there was something missing. I hadn’t found my Voice, they said. Six months ago, I would have had no idea what that meant. I don’t yet know what my Voice sounds like, but I know how to find it, and I think I know how to set it free.

John Harrison 29^th August 2024