Mt. Fuji: A Writing Exercise
“So that’s Mount Fuji, huh?”
This writing exercise is inspired by an excerpt from Haruki Murakami’s essay collection, “Novelist As A Vocation.”
Try and pick a piece you’ve been working on – fiction or non-fiction – that, for some reason, got stuck. You decided to abandon it. It wasn’t working, you thought. Choose such a piece for this exercise, and also have a timer ready.
Here’s the relevant excerpt:
“I remember reading a book when I was a boy about two men who travel to learn what there is to know about Mount Fuji. Neither of them has ever seen Fuji before. The smarter of the two men sizes up the mountain from several vantage points at the foot of its slopes. Then he says, “So this is the famous Fuji-san. Now I see what makes it so special,” and heads back home, satisfied. His way is efficient. And fast. The less intelligent man can’t figure it out like that, so he stays behind to climb the mountain all the way to its summit. This takes a lot of time and effort. By the end he has used up all his strength and is completely pooped. “So that’s Mount Fuji, huh?” he thinks. Finally, he has understood it, or perhaps grasped its essence at a less conscious level.”
Set a timer for 8 minutes. You are going to role-play as the second man, the less intelligent man.
Rewrite a section from your abandoned piece in excruciating, painful detail. Slow down time. Make every action last longer. Go into minutiae. Chase down the gullies.
Take a brief break, not more than 3 minutes.
Set a timer for 6 minutes. Now, you will pretend to be the smarter man.
Rewrite your piece - preferably the entirety – in sweeping, abstract generalities. Speed up time. Eliminate details. Blast through, retaining only its essence.
Take a brief break, not more than 2 minutes.
Set a timer for 7 minutes. Now, you are YOU again.
Hybridize these two pieces. Hopefully, after doing this exercise, you’ve found a new angle of approach into this piece and you can see a path forward for it.
Written by Raghav Rao
Illustration by Sophie Lucido Johnson
Office of Modern Composition is a Chicago-based writing studio that both makes compositions and fosters composers. We offer one-on-one coaching for writers and also take on commissions for things you need to have written. We also offer free events like our in-person and online co-writes.
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Ok, well I did it. It's an interesting exercise. I have an overwhelming stockpile of stalled material, so I wrote as each of those guys and then merged the perspectives. But here's the important part--I did it, I wrote today. Thank you, Raghav, and Sophie! (ps I love the bird muse)
Thanks! I'm going to try this with a middle grade novel I've put aside :) Thanks!