10 Most Favourite Authors (All-Time)

Picking favourite books is very difficult. No reader must be subjected to it. The "favourites" list keeps growing as we read more and more. And, this is not just for books- but also for their authors! But, there are some all-time favourites that we all have. Especially, the ones we have read extensively because we just love the tales they spin out for us! So, here's a list of my top 10- in no particular ranking/order. 

1. J. R. R. Tolkien

2. Charles Dickens

3. Kalki

4. R. K. Narayan

5. P. G. Wodehouse

6. George Bernard Shaw

7. Neil Gaiman

8. Enid Blyton

9. Roald Dahl

10. Erle Stanley Gardner

It's not a fair list, and it doesn't have some of the authors whose books might make it to my top 10. But, these ten have given me a wonderful world of fiction that I have consistently loved and looked forward to! Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl are unbeatable when it comes to their way with children and adults, alike! Once you read Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan, Parthiban Kanavu, Sivagamiyin Sabadham- the historical saga leaves you yearning for more! 

Who are your favourite authors- the ones whose book you could give on any given day and trust completely to be entertained? Let me know in the comments!

Writing Short Stories

Writing anything in a short, meaningful manner is difficult. Writing meaningful short stories is probably one of the most difficult things. And, I mean stories. Not any essay, not a personal experience, not a short scene that can create an impact even stand-alone. Nope. I'm talking especially about fiction.  I have immense respect and awe for short story writers. 

Mark Twain once said something that has rung truer than anything else, and in fact only a writer as great as him could have said that in the way he did.

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” - Mark Twain

To be able to write a meaningful short story takes immense effort. It requires the author to have so much clarity and conviction. It's like a hard, short punch that can send people flat on the ground- but that which takes immense amount of energy to be generated by the deliverer. It's a fitting challenge to incorporate all that you want, and yet keep it short. 

If you are writing a novel, then you need to just have a basic idea, and you can develop it in your own pace and fancy- through hundreds of pages. But, a short story needs the clarity of how it is going to end. That is the catch. Most of the time, starting is never an issue, and you will have a core idea. But, a story needs a suitable, believable, cogent ending, too. That is where short stories need a lot of creativity. Within those thousand words you write- you need to introduce your characters, develop them enough so your readers understand how they behave, place something they need and lack, give a plot that takes them through the journey of experiencing an emotion/situation, solve the story's plot-knot and wrap it up convincingly!

I always write short stories when I know how I'm gonna wrap it up. When I wrote Gripped In Doubt, I had the basic idea of a man seeing himself on TV as an accused and being confused. That's how it started. But, though the idea seemed interesting enough to tempt me attempt writing it, I was also unsure how I'd actually solve that case- which I eventually figured and wrote. But, it took a lot of thinking and imagination, and extrapolation in the natural flow of my thoughts. The first thing my dad told me when he read it was that all the while he read it, he was thinking about how I would eventually conclude all that build-up convincingly!

And, I have another short story coming, in which again I had to spend a fair deal of time to make it a neat flow. And hence, I wanted to put up this thought that has been stuck in my head before I put up the story tomorrow!

What do you think? Doesn't Twain's words ring too true!

Pen and Paper v. Online Tools

I wrote my first two full-length novels in my diary- with a pen on sheets of paper. And, as the years passed I completely shifted to writing online- in word/google docs/other writing tools. And, I have found that both of them have advantages and disadvantages. I decided to make a comparison table. 

	Pen and Paper	Writing On A Device
Ease of editing	You can edit. But it is definitely not the most convenient way to edit. You’ll have a lot of arrows and strikethroughs when you are drafting. You’ll have to rewrite them clearly again to make sense.	The best thing about online writing is the ease with which you can edit what you wrote. You can keep making changes and improvisations on your original text. You can add, delete, insert- all without any hassle whatsoever.
Distraction-free	Pen and paper wins hands down. You can turn off all distractions, sit with just a piece of paper, a pen, and give yourself to the story you see and feel.	There are many, many distractions. Even if you try to switch off your wifi and write on an offline platform, you just are a click away from turning it back on. So, unless you are super disciplined (which most of us are not), writing on a computer or laptop can definitely not be called distraction-free.
Completing A Story (Yeah, this is an actual criteria because one in a hundred story ideas actually reach the final form)	While you are writing on paper, you tend to be more involved in writing the story, rather than perfecting that one paragraph that you have managed to write. The story and your idea flows easier, and you keep writing. It is important to not keep editing while you write your first draft, and pen and paper actually helps with that.	This is the biggest drawback here. Since, editing is extremely easy and convenient, we tend to try and perfect/rewrite a single scene while there is a whole story left to be told. It takes much more to progress while writing online.
Environment friendly	Pen and paper is not really environment friendly anymore, looking at the rate at which we have managed to deplete resources.	This is the truest and most important advantage of this medium. We are saving hundreds of thousands of trees from being cut down for paper if we all shift to writing on a system.

There are also other miscellaneous advantages and disadvantages in both. But, if you notice- the biggest disadvantage of pen and paper is editing, and that itself actually helps in moving forward and separating the process of writing and editing, thus making it easier to complete what we write. However, the advantage of being able to save paper, and also make the editing process a thousand times easier are significant advantages.  

Although I might have preferred pen and paper earlier, I have used the online mode for quite a long bit now. And, having realized its disadvantages of getting me stuck on perfecting a couple of paragraphs when the whole story awaits telling, I have worked on my mind: consciously to push forward and keep editing only after completing the draft. This takes time, and I still don't follow it all the time, but the benefits we reap by saving paper, saving trees are so starkly important.

Which medium do you prefer writing in, and why? Share them in the comments below!

What Kind Of Posts Get The Most Views?

Continuous, regular blogging has given me the opportunity to clearly see what kind of posts get the views. It's not possible to analyse this without blogging regularly, because then the number of views is affected by the irregularity itself. While the stats have definitely shown an unbelievable(but totally believable) growth, there is still some types of posts that get more attention that others!

To begin: what do I write about? I write a lot of-

1. Book reviews

2. Movie reviews (sometimes, because I don't really watch a lot)

3. My thoughts on almost anything at all

4. The food that I try preparing, with their recipes

5. About things that I try learning, and the tools that I use

6. Fillers: those kind of random posts I write in between the posts I seriously write

7. Stories

There are also other kind of posts, but you could probably majorly classify them to these kinds in the past year. What gets the top views is the fillers, I guess people like reading random stuff that may not make a great addition to their knowledge or experience, but are nevertheless fun to read. Usually, these are my memories from school, or me writing about a mundane observation. The next thing that gets the viewers queuing is my stories, and this makes me very, very happy. I write short pieces, and I even tried writing a series of chapters with a running story line titled Murder In Beltour. I was so happy with the amount of people who read it and got in touch with me to tell me how much they liked it! People also appreciate with a really startling number of views when I talk about a new learning or a new tool. I guess this might be the kind of post with a take-away, introducing cool tools that make life a little bit easier!

But, my blog is about and has primarily always been about: what to read. I read a lot. I love reading. I have loved reading since my Famous Five years, and I love writing about what I love in them. It has made me so happy in the last 6-7 months when so many friends have taken the time out to text me, saying: 'Hey Sandhya, I picked this book up to read only because I saw your review of it, and I love it', or 'Hey, I didn't know about this book, it seems really cool- I just bought it to read'. It makes me very happy that a review can make someone want to read it. 

And yet, the blog does have things to offer beyond books. I have had a couple of friends who are not much into reading that they enjoy other posts where I talk about my thoughts or experiences. One even joked that they get to read so many books and know about them without reading them (though I told her that's not what the reviews are for). My point is, I am happy to have so many happy readers. Recently, a very kind, happy reader left such a sweet comment on the blog!

I will continue writing all these kinds of posts, and I hope you all get something out o it! Let me know in the comments what kind of posts you love reading!

Wait, are you wondering what kind of post this was?

The Art of Writing

The art of writing can be either- flamboyant or simple. It is tempting to be flamboyant while writing, especially if you grow up reading descriptions of authors like Dickens, Shaw, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and the likes. When I think of their works, I think of grand. Their narratives are so magically flamboyant that the mesmerizing imagery that it builds sweeps us off our feet. 

Flamboyancy is tempting. It draws you into its world of well-articulated, fancy vocabulary that captures a resplendence so dazzling and brilliant that you will never want to stop reading or writing. To an average reader, it can be elevating, and to the seasoned readers, it is a pleasure in the grandest sense. Employing those long-winding, complex yet perfect sentences unabashedly to boundlessly describe a scene, building the magnificent imagery, word by word, syllable by syllable, and painting the picture in front of your reader's dreamy eyes, is a whole satisfaction in itself. 

Yet, our flamboyancy is not for display at every instance of writing possible. The relevancy that our writing has to the readers is what that helps us distinguish when to be grand in writing, and when not to be. When the purpose of writing something is to inform the readers on something, the beauty is to keep it simple, short, sweet, and to the point. However, when writing for the sole purpose of appreciating the language itself, one can afford to show off their flamboyance and command over the language. 

Ultimately, the nature of the narrative of a text must primarily keep in mind its purpose and readers. There is no hierarchy between simple and grand writing. Whether a piece of text is good or bad is solely decided by how effectively it has achieved its purpose. Both simple narratives and grand literature are necessary, though they serve different purposes. 

As a writer, the maximum justice that one can do is to write consciously to add value to the readers, rather than being flamboyant when simplicity is needed or being excessively plain when the readers are looking for a spark of mastery on the language. It's all about the right balance!

5 Fun Reading Lists With Something For Each Of Us

Have you already read all the books on your list? Looking for good resources to fill up your reading list again? Check out some of these brilliant reading lists that can get you going for the next few months. Also, most of these resource links have further links inside them to guide you to several more interesting reading lists on their website! 

1. For those who love the solved and unsolved mysteries of Science, and the men and machines behind it, check out this wonder list of The Greatest Science Books of 2016, a treasure compilation by none other than our favourite brainpicker! Popova writes in her introduction to the list:

"The question of what makes a great book of any kind is, of course, a slippery one, but I recently endeavored to synthesize my intuitive system for assessing science books that write up to the reader in a taxonomy of explanation, elucidation, and enchantment."

The books in this list seem very interesting, and are essentially a part of my to-read list. Hope I can get to them soon, covering a few of them before college reopens!

 

 2. For the authors, writers, and all those who love the craft of literary expression: how about Hemingway's list of essential books for aspiring writers? Because, Hemingway believed and said:

"As a writer you should not judge. You should understand."

Writers can also check out this list of 24 books that shaped one of the greatest writers, Gabriel Garcia Márquez. This list looked so wholesome and endearing that I had to include it all in my own to-read lists!

 

3. Are you in the a-book-a-day-keeps-the-gloom-away phase? The Reader's Digest list on 18 classic books that you can read in a day is absolutely wonderful. This is a list I can endorse, having read some of the brilliant classics in the list such as The Little Prince, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, The Great Gatsby, and many more!

4. Are you curious what other authors are themselves reading? I came across NY magazine's article- 23 Authors on 26 Books They’re Reading to Escape the Present Moment- a list that was chosen during these tough times to read, and escape to the better world among books, and also part of an "ongoing effort to provide productive distractions from what’s happening outside of your windows and on your screen" from the magazine! Do check them out, there are some very interesting titles from Hemingway to Austen to Phyllis Grant, and so many more! It's a fresh list, and something you should definitely check out.

5. Do you have young kids, brother or sisters around you? Do you want good books they can read during this lockdown? You can check out my reading lists where you'll also find a review for each book. You can also see my post on Literature For Young Girls, my all time favourite books, and other reading lists.

Check these links out in leisure, and do follow my blog to keep getting new suggestions and book reviews! Happy reading!

10 Things You Can Blog About

Do you have a blog? And, are there days when you don't know what to write about? Here are some ideas from what I have written about and explored in the last 194 days of blogging everyday across various subjects- books, movies, stories, art, life, law, and more!

1. Write about a hobby, or something that you learnt to make/do recently.

2. Review a book, movie, game, product, service, food, or anything at all that you used, watched, or read. 

3. Elaborate on a thought inside your head. 

4. Write about the favourite people you admire (with or without names).

5. Write about places. 

6. Write a poem.

7. Write a story, or you can run a chapter series with 1-2 chapters of your story every week. I'm thinking about trying this out. 

8. Pitch an idea. If you want to collaborate on something, then let people know how to contact you so that anyone who reads the post, and is interested to work with you, can ping you!

9. Share anything interesting that you came across in the recent past. Or, share the interesting resources that you use/come across with your readers.  

10. Rant. And, provide actionable solutions, if you can.

There are so many other ideas, and once you get that small hitch, it's happy writing till you hit that publish button. Keeping an editorial list ready to publish on your blog can take your writing a long way, because then you'd have something to go up anyway, and you would be stressing about what to write for what would go up on another day! This will make sure you aren't writing for the sake of just putting up something. 

If you enjoy reading my posts you can subscribe and read them in the comfort of your inbox!

Also, I have a series of chapters ready to roll out as an interesting short tale for you all, with two chapters coming out every week! I am very excited to have my first chapter up tomorrow! 

So stay tuned, and see you tomorrow!

The Muse Mode (And, Mood)

Art: by me :)

The environment you are in plays a big role on what thoughts come to you when you sit down to write a story. Essentially, to write a good story, you slip into what I'd call the 'muse mode' (or, muse mood- whichever way you like it!). 

So, what's the muse mode? The muse mode is when you stare into infinity, irrespective of whether it's an ocean or a wall in front of you, and you are lost in the deep muse of what your protagonist(s) sees and does. You live the experience as you write it. Though we write a novel, we actually see the events playing out as we write it and even when we read it. And, most often than not, you become the protagonist and see it through your eyes when you write the story. 

That has always been my experience. Whatever form of story it is- a novel, a play, a short story, whatever- the best pieces written are the ones where you lived them through while writing. That is why the setting that you are in can influence a lot. What you can write from your heart in a fresh, open space one serene morning, is different from what you can write in a cab stuck in traffic jam. There is no hierarchy in standard with respect to them, as long as they are written from the heart, living that moment. Sometimes, we may carry the feeling from the serene morning, and live through it again to write about it in a cab stuck in traffic. The muse mood is still about the morning! A virtual muse mood, without an actual setting that demands it, is also very much possible, at least for writers who love the story they are writing. But, it is not possible for me to write without creating this mood. 

So, identifying your muse mode and writing genuinely is what can make a story actually reach out to people. Anyone who writes would definitely understand what 'muse mood' that I am talking about. And, if you don't understand what this whole post is about, I have an interesting exercise for you. Write 3-4 pieces, preferably stories of about 500-1000 words each, and write them each in different settings, different times. Then, go back and reflect on where you were and what you wrote!

Note: The drawing is inspired from a scene from the movie Whisper of the Heart, where Shizuku sits looking outside the window - deep in thought! Hope you get the mood I am talking about from the picture!

Ans, happy writing this weekend!

Fancy A Quote? Then, Make Sure You Save It

I have started reading a lot more nowadays- books, articles, magazines, daily newsletters(you can check some of them here), interesting pieces from archives of the blogs I like, and more often than not I feel like saving a quote, or a phrase or the article. When I read more on the same, or when I come across something interesting about what I previously read, I feel like adding it to the previously saved article or quote. A repository of the wondrous sources of information under every theme I read is what I am talking about. 

For someone who has great discipline, maybe Google Docs or a simple word document where they can copy-paste the links/quotes/phrases/notes, compile and categorize them according to relevant tags, would suffice. But, if you're like me you'd be the lazy dude who just reads an interesting article, tell yourself you'll do the copy-pasting of the links later, and then just forget. Instead, what we need is an extension that is convenient to use and is always there where resources can be saved, compiled, categorized, tagged and everything- all in that same instant. That's why I use Diigo. 

I opened an account with Diigo in 2012. But, I never used it much until I started doing a post everyday since December 2019. Like I said in one of my previous posts where I was talking about the power of habit, I found myself reading more the moment I started writing regularly. I had to explore things, and not keep my mind stagnant in order to be able to write the post for the day. When I was reading more, I felt the need to create a repository of quotes and links, and anything I was going to cite/use/refer in my writing. So, I started to use Diigo again, and this time I'm just loving how all of it gets neatly stored and put away then and there!

What is Diigo, and what does it do? 

"Diigo is actually an abbreviation for Digest of Internet information, Groups and Other stuff."

Diigo has a tagline that says it all: better reading and research! It allows you to bookmark any web link, highlight and attach notes to the web page that you bookmark, allows you to compile many bookmarks into an outliner that can be shared and collaborated. The best part is that what you save on diigo will exist intact even if the web page itself is taken down later. I really like how my personal library on Diigo is developing! 

I have started reading most books in their kindle version, and Kindle Highlights sorts out my needs for the quotations and excerpts that I want saved from the books. However, I save these along with other leads, lists, and essays from the various blogs and newsletters that I read in Diigo, so that all of them are presented in a compiled form for any tag I want to view. 

This is a really cool tool that can be used for anything- be it for your academic research, personal repositories, or just internet-collectibles! Check it out, today!

Before Sunset

My long hair tousled by the cool, mellow breeze that blew in a course that pushed all my hair to the right, and my mind put to peace by the melodic chimes of the gentle wind and the soothingly alluring dance of the waves as they came from far to near, rising and falling, keeping the rhythm of what seemed the order of the world- I sat there taking in the whiff of saline air as the skittish waves played with my calloused feet, running them over with white, happy foam before they withdrew into the sea liberating the trapped sands under my feet. 

My eyes stared into the distant horizon, a line where the sky met the sea and where the serene colours of warmth and tranquil made a heavenly blend- a spectacle to watch, and I thanked myself for reaching the shore on time to catch a happy moment, one that would be etched in my mind for eternity. And, right on the line was the sun, the giant celestial ball of fire that gives our Earth its life, slowly descending after the day's job in this half of the globe. 

The water shone and sparkled in the beautiful pale tint of pinkish and reddish orange, gleaming in the direct rays of the setting sunlight, scattered around by the water and air. And at that moment, no thought could precede the one about this wondrous life and the order of nature. The sun no longer visible, but the water in the shade of a blissful, deep red and a bluish tinge marked the beginning of the oncoming nightfall. I smiled. 

The foamy water was still playing around my calloused feet, and I knew they would as long as I stayed, such faithful companions for the mind. I picked my duffel bag lying on the side,  brushed away the fine, wet sand clinging in defiance, and strapped it over on my shoulders ready to leave for the day. 

Another evening well spent, and every evening of my life shall be so, as long as I manage to reach the heavenly seashore- before sunset.

WriterDuet: A Lucid Platform

I have been attempting to write a story in script/screenplay formats, and WriterDuet is the wonderful discovery that makes the whole thing look so much lesser of a mess to me in this first experimentation of mine! It is not for nothing that this writing tool is called as the 'Google Docs' of Screenplay. 

With automatic backups and sync, this platform is really cool to use. It acquires a sense of the flow of the sequences, and is very useful even for those attempting to write a full-length script for the first time. When used with a desktop version, the software saves the work neatly in both offine and online modes- making it a reliable platform that doesn't require you to keep hitting the save button. 

The features that appeal the most to me are the real-time collaborations allowed on the platform, and the neatly filed and comprehensive edited versions of the script with co-writers. It also has this cool provision to put up a mind-map of the scenes in the story, allows outlining, tagging, and taking notes while writing. Customizing your experience with the platform is a pro-feature of WriterDuet, but the free version in itself is great. 

The whole process is neatly arranged, and the space looks stylish and clean- you genuinely feel like writing when you open the tool! It's been one of the coolest finds, one that makes you happy to have found it at the right time! You can check them out here if you are interested- WriterDuet. 

Happy writing!

Slow Shift: From Paperback to E-books

Credits: art by Mom

The physical presence of the book in our hand, the scent of the time-tested old copy wafting to our senses as we caress the worn out jacket with so many creases, which seems like the copy wants a crease for every fond reader who read it, the tinted print paper with words crafted in Garamond, an old-school appeal of the paperback and hard-bound: we all love it. 

Or, for some of them, a fresh, crisp copy- with no scribbles, no creases, no bent pages, the fresh scent of new print where the ink can still be smelt, a copy that's theirs and only theirs- is something to be loved, adored, and cherished. 

Nothing can replace it. Agreed. Yet, we have to slowly shift to the world where we buy more e-books than physical copies. Why? Here are three good reasons.

1. Save paper. The more you are willing to buy, the more they are willing to print. And, tens of thousands of people buy it, and they print tens of thousands of more copies. And, that's a whole lot of paper, there. The world is inching towards less and less resources every single day, and you can do your bit to reduce such wastage. When you think from this angle, even the most ardent fan of physical copies tend to pause and think for a moment. Do that: pause, and think a bit.

2. You never have to give away your books. You'll have them with you, and you don't have to think about a space for them. It's definitely more efficient in terms of how you can manage your books! No more do you have to worry and bother about your books not fitting within you air baggage allowance, voila!

3. Notes, Highlights, Quotes- the three best features of e-books. You can save all of them in a manner that you just need to do a key-word search to get them out in a jiffy. This can be really useful to those of us who write regularly. Vaguely remember a quote from The Little Prince on life? You'll have it ready. This is such a beautiful thing, and I really enjoy looking through these highlights and notes of the e-books I read. Amazon Kindle is great, and it neatly arranges the highlights and notes under a tab for each book. I also really like how Google Play Books creates a drive folder, and makes all the highlights and notes in a document, with each book having a different document. Such arrangement is a huge repository of wonderful, ready insights and key-points when you need them!

We are all human, and we all love to flaunt. If you sit in the class reading an Anthony Powell, it is sure to attract eyes and amp up your social image, while reading the same as an e-book won't really bring that much attention. We all love that attention, even if we aren't reading the book because of the attention. Even otherwise, we love to collect, display what we read, have a wall full of books, and all that- but times change, and the need of the world changes, and we must change, too. 

Buy from a sale of old-stock of books, but try avoiding a fresh copy. If your grand-dad has a great library, that's wonderful! Keep it. But, try to shift slowly into more e-books when you plan to buy something anyway. The supply will go down if the demand does, and that's definitely in your hands. If you still want a physical copy of something, get it, but don't make it a habit. 

I have started reading more through e-books now, and I have actually grown a liking to it. Take your time, shift slowly, but shift- because it definitely helps!

Mind-Map

Expression through words is one of the most beautiful forms of art. But, humans by nature are undoubtedly visual creatures. Even while reading a piece of literature, poetry, any report or description, there is an image that our brain tends to associate with the text. Sometimes, one of the highest praises that a classic literature gets is on how it paints a ‘vivid picture’. Which is why, a mind-map is most successful in translating thoughts on paper. 

We all know what is a mind-map, even if some of us may not call it that. It could more or less be described as a pictorially graphical layout of ideas, concepts, and their sequences branching from a central, core thematic approach. It is literally mapping what's in the mind in respect of a chosen theme or subject. 

Before I write anything, I usually have a mind-map. From my academic research to casual essays, there is always a theme, and I brainstorm ideas around all aspects of the central theme using a mind-map. But, why should you use a mind-map?

1. You get a clear picture of the content you are going to translate into writing.

2. You immediately get to know if you have a lack of content on a subject, which would leave you with unanswered question areas on which you can hypothesize your perspectives. 

3. It gives you further insight into which questions need more research on. 

4. You get to roughly know how much emphasis and words to allocate to every aspect. This is very useful when there is a word limit, and ensures that you don’t harp long on a trivial aspect and write only two lines on an important one.

5. You brainstorm each aspect, and it is easy to spot what you have missed.

6. You successfully avoid repetition. 

A writing translated from a mind-map clearly shows high on planning, and also results in a coherent and easily comprehensible work. This is true even for creative writing as an art, and I have personal experience with that. A mind-map doesn’t have to be in a rigid format- it is more like a rough sketch for you to get an overall feel of ‘I know what I’m doing’. 

So, try it out, experiment, and find your own formula as to how to organize what you write! 

Friday-Thoughts On First Drafts

First drafts don't have to be perfect, they just have to be written. 

It is not without meaning and purpose that it is called a ‘first draft’. A first draft captures the abstract story that runs in your mind, and traps it in ink so that it can take a shape that you can re-look at, and it makes sure that the idea doesn’t fade away. It is written only to be rewritten better and made finer. The concept, content, and the rough base without which you cannot have the story is what makes this preliminary version the most important aspect of getting a good story. 

When I wrote my first two short novels, I was most successful in completing the process of writing it. Nitpicking and perfecting everything in your writing when you are just writing it for the first time is unnecessary, and often leads to the work remaining incomplete. I have personally experienced that perfecting unnecessarily while writing also breaks the creative flow, and it can actually lead to the loss of a naturally occurring scene that your mind saw in the flow of writing. 

When you are actually writing a story, developing your characters on paper for the first time, what is more important is to capture all the various small, interesting details that come in your mind about them and their setting, even if it is not written in your best form. That is exactly what a first draft is for. 

Improvisations, changes, and your best skills come in later as you enhance your draft and make those subtle corrections that you want, to your heart’s content. But, your biggest and most important achievement is to get your first draft written. 

Have any incomplete writing? Take it out, and just write your heart’s content without looking back on corrections!

Author's Chair

We had a beautiful intra-class contest in school every year during our primary schooldays: Author's Chair. We all had to write one story and one poem, and our English teacher used to read all of them over a few days, and declare a winner, a runner, and a commendable piece under each of those two categories. And, the ones selected got to wear a crown, sit on the "Author's Chair" and read out their poem or story to the whole class. 

I wrote my first story in Class IV for Author's Chair. I still remember us waiting expectantly, with bated breaths, to see if our story or poem would make the cut. My class IV English teacher was one of the most favourite teachers in school, and I remember how much I wanted a word of praise from her. I had worked so hard on my piece. While my poem didn't make it, my story won. I still so fondly remember walking up proudly, wearing a crown, and reading out my first written story on the famed Author's Chair. It is such a beautiful, cherished moment, and I could have never thought of a better way I could have shared my first story. 

We used to have DEAR sessions- Drop Everything and Read! During these sessions, every single person in the school had to drop all their work, pick up a book, and just read for an hour. We used to love it. We made sure that we already had a book planned for the session, so that we could start reading without any delays.

I had a great friends circle with a lot of readers during my high school. We used to rush to the library, and make sure we got all the books we wanted before others could. We used to then rotate the books amongst ourselves, until all of us had read all of them. We used to pre-book the novels we wanted to read the next week. The librarian teachers were one of my closest and best teachers, I could even take the liberty to say they were one of my best friends, in school. They beamed every time I entered, and kept books stacked away for me, which they felt I'd enjoy. They used to discuss the books and authors with me, and get my review and opinion on the novels. They were one of my most favourite memories in school. 

I remember, once I complained to my high school librarian that the books were stocked in a haphazard way in the library, and how it was difficult to locate the ones I wanted. She asked me smilingly: 'Is it not your library? Why don't you do something about it?' I was mildly taken aback, but she was right. I got the sense of feeling that the library is mine, and it is my school. So, I went back home that same day, made a list of the authors in the library, and made small name cards for them. I went back to her the next day to proudly tell her my idea on how to organise the library, and from that day till today the library follows the system of name cards that I made and began.

School is one of the places that can do magic, and a world of wonder, to students.  I felt happy every single day I went to school. And now, my school is one of the things I'm proudest about in my life. And, mine undeniably did a world of wonder to me.

The school did us proud. Now it's high time we return the favor, isn't it?

Screenplay Writing

Image from Powtoon

Stories have always captured my attention. Fiction has been the sweetest, most precious gift in my childhood. So naturally, I went around making up stories in my head all the time- some of them heavily influenced by what I read, and some of them just plain original born from the grey cells of my brain. But, it has mostly been novels. When I tried writing my own stories, they were also in a novel-type format, with conversations and long drawn detailed descriptions, and I loved it.

Several years back, my dad sent a link to an article on No Film School which talks about (Big Spaceship) Victor Pineiro’s crash course on how to write a screenplay. And, since that day, that one article has constantly been on my bookmarks bar. And, I’ve looked at it every time only to want to try it out.

So, during the December holidays in 2019, I started trying it out, and it’s pretty cool. Here is why the crash course is brilliant.

1. Gives insights. It beautifully gives you a way to structure the idea that wafts around in your head. It gives you a way to tame your wild imagination in order to actually write it out, especially if you are writing a screenplay. 

2. Insights are actionable. I hate people who advice in an abstract manner when something needs a concrete solution. So, when giving insights on how to write a screenplay, Pineiro sticks to insights that are actionable, and step-wise follow worthy advice. I loved them. 

3. Page-line(like timeline). One of the most important things is to introduce characters at the right time, and bring right events at the right time. You own your story and how you want to say it, but the rough page-line, as I'd like to call it, just gives you an absolutely sensible perspective. 

4. Words with meanings. Plot, theme, logline, story, scene, sequence, acts: there are so, so many words that we use when we think of the components of a story. But, do we clearly and exactly know what they are? The crash course gives you that, and personally I really liked that. 

5. Examples. It doesn't just explain things, and give you an insight. The slides give examples that we know, and can easily relate to and understand. 

Nothing is set in stone. You can bend rules, you can make rules, and you can own your style. I myself experiment a lot with story writing in different styles and perspectives. All said, I still loved the universality of this crash course that fits almost every story. 

Do check it out! Also, I hope soon you'll get to read a completed screenplay from me!

How Do We Write In The Present World Of TL;DR

The world today is driven by audio-visuals. Paintings, photographs, films, music- they rule the game. When people claim to have read an article or a book, I can bet they have not most of the times. It is a world where very few love descriptive, lengthy texts. Its is a world fast-paced, and one that required the impact of words to match their pace. 

So then, are words powerless? Of course, they are not! But, words now need to fit within a square box. 100 words; 200 maximum. I don't believe anybody who is not specifically there for it would read it otherwise. I see comments saying TL; DR to blog posts. They aren't even ready to write the long of it: too long, didn't read. So, that's how the world runs today, nobody wants to read a long post. What started as a brilliant  concept of Twitter is now the norm of the brain in today's world. Is it sad? Not really. Writing evolves, and styles do too. It is a happy challenge for those who court words and want to create an impact. Random thoughts, but valid ones. What do you think?