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Published in April 2023

I must admit that I’ve never read a book by Haruki Murakami. But quite a few people I know seem to talk about his books every now and then. So at some point I definitely should read at least one of his works.

Maybe because I’ve heard about his books for years, I thought I’d read an article by him in The Guardian. I was surprised to learn that his English was bad when he started writing and how this informed his style.

“My vocabulary was severely limited, as was my command of English syntax. I could only write in short, simple sentences. Which meant that, however complex and numerous the thoughts running around in my head, I couldn’t even attempt to set them down as they came to me. The language had to be simple, my ideas expressed in an easy-to-understand way, the descriptions stripped of all extraneous fat, the form made compact, and everything arranged to fit a container of limited size.”

This approach to creating text reminded me of minimalist Japanese design.

His initial experience later continued to shape his writing:

“It seems that I discovered my “original” voice and style, not by adding to what I already knew but subtracting from it. Think how many things we pick up in the course of living. […] when we try to express ourselves creatively, all those choices collide with each other […]. We become paralysed. Our best recourse is to clear out our information system by chucking all that is unnecessary into the bin, allowing our mind to move freely again.”

When I write for work, we always need to ensure that we follow the guidelines set by our clients. They usually ask for short, exciting and engaging stories these days, just like the style of Haruki Murakami.

I often tend to add (too many?) details to most of the customer stories I write. So this is mostly a note to myself!

I also could see myself in his comment on creative writing and translation:

“When I feel that desire, I sit down and set to work. When I don’t feel it, I usually turn to translating from English. Since translation is essentially a technical operation, I can pursue it on a daily basis, quite separate from my creative desire; yet at the same time it is a good way to hone my writing skills. If I am in the mood, I may also turn to writing essays.”

While really none of the writing I do at work is a “creative desire”, translations can definitely feel easier as there’s something to work with, compared to a blank space I need to fill from scratch.

Of course, as we usually work with more or less strictly defined templates, the space is never entirely empty and there are plenty of things to prepare before doing the creative part of the writing. There’s still more to start with when translating an existing text.

(Prompt for Craiyon to generate the header image: “Showing the power of simplicity in basic geometric shapes of different colours including those of the Japanese flag.“)