What did J.R.R. Tolkien say about his writing process?

The creator of the world-famous fantasy legendarium, J.R.R. Tolkien, said that he never invented any of the events in the Lord of the Rings:

“I have long ceased to invent… I wait till I seem to know what really happened. Or till it writes itself.”

What does it mean?

Leo Tolstoy noticed a similar paradox when writing Anna Karenina. He confessed that he never knew in advance what Anna would do next and just waited to see how things would unfold.

Both authors seem to reveal the secret of their writing – being able to listen to the text, its characters, and the inner logic of the plot without forcing anything on them.

They didn’t just “tell” or “command” their characters to act in a certain way. They didn’t bid them to “do their will.” Instead, they patiently listened to them, letting them think and act on their own.

Whether you are making a violin, cooking a meal, or growing tomatoes, you need to quiet your own preconceived mental images of what “the thing should be” and allow it to be what it is.

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” Michelangelo

Do you love what you make? If so, you will be “following the material.” You will be interested in the dialogue, not domination. Like a hobbit, you will be growing things — not forcing them into existence.

Like an Elf, you will infuse all your art with the twilight of Lorien.

‘Are these magic cloaks?’ asked Pippin, looking at them with wonder.

‘I do not know what you mean by that,’ answered the leader of the Elves. ‘They are fair garments, and the web is good, for it was made in this land. They are Elvish robes certainly, if that is what you mean. Leaf and branch, water and stone: they have the hue and beauty of all these things under the twilight of Lorien that we love; for we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make.

Properly speaking, the cloaks they received from Lady Galadriel were not made; they grew out of the love of Lórien. Their magic was spun out of twilight under the stars of Varda.

If you want to hear songs in what you do, you need to let things be as they are. It is true Art to see what the material requires. True Art is the opposite of the Machine. It is “the deeper magic.”

People will look at the work of your hands and will see “leaf and branch, water and stone” — the hue and beauty of everything you love.

As we let go of the desire to dominate, our inner stillness suddenly transmutes into “hearing.” What will we hear when we stop all inner striving and let go of our insatiable desire to control? Suddenly, the stillness of the moment will reward us with an enchanting sound, a call.

“Deep calls unto deep in the roar of your waterfalls” Psalm 42:7

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