Magicians’ Hats and Nixon on the Piano

“A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in first.”

Louis L’Amour, in “Education of A Wandering Man”

What, may I ask, are you putting in your hat?

I hope, as you research your topic and prepare to write a rough draft that you are indeed putting something in your hat.

Not that your hats are empty. You picked your topics because you already had an inkling or an interest in that subject; you already had stuff in your hat.

But those who really want to learn know you shouldn’t rely on the same old tricks.



My challenge to you: Put new stuff into your hat. Learn something new about your topic. Learn several something news about your topic. Widen and deepen your knowledge. You’ll find the more you learn, the easier it is to write on any topic because you have more experience already inside your own head to draw on.

But remember David McCullough’s caution from his essay “A Love of Learning” (emphasis mine):

Learning is not to be found on a printout. It’s not on call at the touch of the finger. Learning is acquired mainly form books, and most readily form great books. And from teachers, and the more learned and empathetic the better. And from work, concentrated work.

Did you know, for example, that former US President Richard Nixon plays the piano? And quite well, if I’m any judge of piano players:



(For some reason, the sound in this video cuts out at about 2:08 in. Ironic, given Nixon’s later experiences with an audio tape with no sound.)

Knowing Nixon played the piano is, however, only information.

Learning this, however, gives me another character trait to include with the hallucinatory Nixon that entertains and befuddles the protagonist of a novel I’m working on. It’s one more bit of information in that magician’s hat that may eventually help me produce a book someone else wants to read.

It’s the same with you. You have lots of information in your hat about the topic you’ve chosen. Add to the hat. Make connections between new information and old information. Then show us those connections as you work to convince us the problem you’ve identified really is a problem, and that there exist solutions to that problem that’ll make the problem go away.

Fill up your hat. Then show us your tricks.