Skip to main content

||The recipe..

I recently took a short trip and I love how such trips give me the solace to think about all the things that bring me peace. So one day I randomly started to think about how there are some writers you instantly feel connected to. Its like one moment you're reading and within a few pages you go "Whoa! That's so me!" or "Hey I know how that feels. Poor guy." Sometimes you don't even have words and you just sit there admiring the beauty of the words in front of you. This made me want to write a list - one that enlists all the important ingredients that go into the making of a writer who is popular among his/her readers for all the right reasons.

1. Experience
I remember when I was thirteen and the first chapter of my science book had a line that said everything is made up of at least 8% truth. (No, it's not crap I just came up with, trust me!) I have no idea why this has stuck with me for so long considering all of the important stuff from that very book never did. Now if you're thinking what has that got to do with.. anything, really? Well, I'm just trying to say there's a little bit of truth in every piece of non-fiction too.

2. Pain
You could say this is pretty much the first point itself. Just that someone who has experienced pain can describe it better. S/he can even describe joy and happiness and all the positives in life better because they are more acquainted with what all of it is really worth. It always takes some pain to make an incredible artist. When life gives you lemons, use lemonade as your personal shade of ink.

3. Observation
In my very first interview I was asked about my 'unusual' hobbies and I mentioned people watching. While I'm pretty sure the interviewer thought I was a creep, (No, really, I'm not!) its an actually amusing hobby. People say I never make eye contact while having a conversation and my eyes tend to flicker every which way (Again, NOT in a creepy way). I'm just too used to observing everyone around me. It's something I learned back in school from someone I used to idolise and keep on a pedestal. The best writers are often the most subtle observers.

4. Grammar
I might be a little biased here but a little bit of grammar perfectionism never hurt anyone. I personally go a little "Aw! But you were doing so well." every time I read something almost amazing and then bump into a grammatical error. Sorry for being a grammar snob but that's just who I am.

5. Solace
Loneliness is a writer's best friend. Learn to turn it into solace and you've got a buddy for life. It never betrays you, is always by your side when you need it and saves you from the company of stupid people.


Comments

  1. I had been waiting for it! And you have responded perfectly. This, is a writer's rule book.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

What do you think?

Popular posts from this blog

||Tell me why..

He nudged her to bring her out of her reverie. She was lost again, zoned out, overthinking. "Penny for  your thoughts? Or do you want it to be punny?" She laughed in that way she only laughed with him and broke out of her spell. It was easy being around him, effortless. It didn't matter what she had to do to be near him or how many intolerable yet genius puns she had to endure to hear him giggle at his own damn jokes. Maybe that's exactly why she couldn't describe what about him made her happy. She had been asked that often, a lot, really. And she couldn't figure out how anybody who knew him even the tiniest bit couldn't understand it. It felt natural for her to gravitate towards him because he was it. Not in the epic love story and grand gestures way but just the I-can-just-be-myself-around-you-and-you-put-me-at-ease way. She was wound up and every year of her life and every incident that came along with it had built her up a nice, cosy layered wall tha...

Welcome to this stupid post

  It has been a year and a half since I last wrote anything, well, significant. (Coincidentally, also the exact age of my dog.) So I figured it was time to get out all the stupid. Here goes nothing. He’s twenty eight, almost twenty nine. January has always been a difficult month, it’s been the month of departures in his life. Most people are excited about the hope January brings with it, he’s terrifyingly cautious of the signs it brings - of people leaving, of things changing, and basically everything going to shit. His fears are not unfounded, he’s not a vague person like that. He’s seen things happen, he’s felt things hurt and he’s experienced darkness in its complete, mystifying totality. People think he's naïve, his problems self-made but tell that to the spiraling tornado in his head that won't quit screaming. Fast forward to two years later, it's his thirtieth birthday eve. He grew up celebrating and anticipating this month, now he plans to sleep well before midnight....

||Friends? Sure..

I woke up this morning thinking about writing this post because I couldn’t fathom how one year we were going crazy with friendship bands, everything was simpler, love was friendship, movies were influential and then I wake up today and it’s a pretty normal day. Also I wanted to try out my cute new keyboard which otherwise seems like money not so pragmatically spent. I wanted to reminisce a little bit about all the different kinds of friends I’ve had over the years. The one you rang first on the landline every time you got the tiniest bit of gossip. The one you went running around the school playground with, jumping off corridors as your fancy birthday dress flew up in frilly cuteness. The one you spent hours with coming up with numbers to cryptic-name your multiple crushes/persons of interest. The same one you found sitting on the first bench after assembly, new to school but so old and wise beyond her age (still). The ones you keep thinking you’ve said goodbye to but they keep coming ...