From the brilliant British actor, Michael Caine : “A lot of actors hold up a picture and say ‘This is me’,” Caine replied. “I try to hold up a mirror that says, ‘This is you.’ What I try to do is obliterate myself and show you someone you can believe in. You see parts of me. If I play a Cockney, that’s my accent. Alfie’s a bit of a womanizer. I’ve been that. A poor man? I’ve been that too. I’ve played a father and a happily married man. I am that. But none of these things reveals the entire me. If you watch a film thinking, ‘Oh, Michael Caine is acting very well here,’ it’s a failure for me. You shouldn’t be thinking of me at all.”
Ah.
There goes fame and fortune. My job is to disappear. Your job is to disappear. Here are three ways for a writer to disappear: 1. Master the craft of writing so well that the reader doesn’t get stopped by grammatical errors, passive sentences, awkward structure. 2. Resist the urge to show off. Have Less is More tattooed across the back of your writing hand. 3. Repeat after me: I serve the writing; the writing does not serve me.
Your turn: Set aside a half hour to serve your writing. Use a timer. Here is your opening sentence: If I disappear, I’ll… Start writing immediately and continue without stopping. I’d love to see and share on next week’s Breakthrough post.
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