Writing is hard (or easy?)

reflections while writing a book

Hey you beautiful people! Long time I know.

I have been writing a lot recently, not blogs but my own book. This piece is just a stream of consciousness kind of a write up. I want to talk about the process of writing itself. How freeing and paralyzing it is, at the same time. Just like the moment before jumping out of an airplane while skydiving: you are both excited as well as scared.

Let’s start by ideation. The inception, the creation.

Being a YouTuber/ Booktuber since 5 years now, I have read a lot. I have extensively digested amazing literature. Some authors have opened my mind, some have made me feel a unique emotion, some have transported me to distant fantasy lands, some have just sat with me with a hot cup of coffee and discussed life. Having this myriad of perspectives and stories, when you first think of writing something, you are all over the place. You have so many nuggets in your bag, you want to give away everything. When I was first trying to ideate what should I write about, I wanted to write a biography, a sci fi, slice of life, hardcore fiction, back to biography, then to fictional memoir and so on. What makes best use of my thoughts? Which vehicle will best help me transport my experiences to all my readers? This thought is paralyzing. What if the ideas don’t resonate? What if the book is just a part of some long lost stack of library books?

Well, hold that thought. Even if you fixate on a concept, an outline, the next step comes, the physical act of writing. The start is the hardest. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This is your yardstick, iconic opening lines. You are a Nolan fan, you love how he opens his movie. GRAND. How do you start? You then start somewhere in the middle and then work back, kinda Nolanesque as well.

One more attribute: your mood when you write. There are some days when you are just at the top of the world. Something good has happened in your life, your adrenaline is flowing at just the right velocity per hour, and you are going to write the next bestseller. The problem is, this moment comes once in a red moon. Not a blue moon. (like my Matrix reference? let me know). Most days, you have your default temperament and you are not the best writer ever. Accepting this notion is a game changer. When I read Stephen King’s book on writing, it opened up a whole new perspective for me. Writing is just writing, it’s not a higher state of being. You sit down, you open your laptop and start writing. The stream comes through, that is pure writing. Inspired writing is short lived. Look at the body of work Mr King has produced. Volumes of books. Are they all masterpieces? probably not. Are they as a whole , classics? yes.

Okay, release that thought I asked you to hold. How much do you think about the readers when you write? And Ive realized you don’t think at all. Then you aren’t original. You can say what everyone wants to hear, or say something you want to say and let the readers decide what they want to read. This is freeing. I am writing a book I would love to read. Period. Even if 2 people read it apart from me and like it, I am an author. Before statting to write, I read so many posts and blogs about writing a book: start as close to the end as possible, define a changing moment, define the conflict, set up stage, three act structure, character motivations, aah so much jargon. I dont need to think of this like an exam again- revise your syllabus and write an exam. No. Writing is art. It is in a different realm. It pushes the boundaries of mundanity. So yeah, I am not strictly sticking to the rules and guidelines. When you read my book, you’ll exactly know what I am talking about.

I like this format, as I am writing my book, there are so many nuggets I am discovering. If you like this, let me know. I will keep sharing my journey, so that we are in this together. I am looking forward for you to reading my book. Yes you, who has always supported me and is an important member of our incredible family of literature loving people.

Very well then! See you in the next one :)