Writing a novel is like making love, but it's
also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it's like making
love while having a tooth pulled - Dean Koontz
I guess the above mentioned quote said it all in one
line. Writing a novel is a journey. It begins from a blank page. It ends with a
world and its’ people. But how exactly writers cross the path? How they fill
out the blankness with words and create an entire world? How?
Some days back a very witty friend of mine had said – ‘If you
have the time to read and think blah, blah, blah, you can write a novel.’
I had curled my fingers and prayed for control. No, I did not have the urge to strike
the idiot. I had to fight the bubble of laughter that threatened to emerge out
at the comment. Man, I truly do have a talent for finding friends. But they help,
you know. They give me ideas for blog posts and they make damn good characters.
Anyways, when the urge to laugh died down, I sat back and
pondered what he had said. If you have time to read and think blah, blah, blah…well
really? It bothered me to realize that the world view us as a bunch of nobodies
with ample of time to read and think blah, blah, blah. Frankly guys writing a
novel takes a lot more than reading and thinking blah. Blah, blah. It takes
desire and unyielding passion.
If you are not born with the desire you are not a writer. What
do you think? Why a group of people endure rejections, mockeries and harsh
criticisms and still continue writing? What makes them cry in seclusion when no
one is watching and then wipe the tears to write yet another novel or short
story or poem? It is passion. We are fortunate or unfortunate enough to born
with it. We cannot give up. We are the prisoners of our own desires. But, the strange
fact is we don’t want to be free of the captivity.
So, what exactly do we do? How we write novels, poems, short
stories? I am sure about any of you. I can only say about myself. To me it is
like the above mentioned quote, a fusion of pleasure and pain. I begin with utter
zeal and dreams of being the next best seller. I dream of attending book
signings and getting mobbed by the admirers. With this glow I begin writing. As
the process continues and I head towards the middle, slowly and painfully,
dreams wane and reality creeps forward. This is the time I walk straight into
walls (no I don’t call them blocks). I tear the pages and blow the pieces in
the air (yes, I write the first draft with pen and paper). I bare my fangs at
about everyone. I transform into a whole new person.
Believe me the picture is not nice enough. Writing takes
away a lot of things and demands sacrifices. These we do willingly, if not
happily. I have given up watching television. Although I have never been a TV
freak, I used to watch an hour of TV everyday. That I have replaced with a
session of reading. I avoid attending parties unless I absolutely must. Once a
month I do step out in style and attend a get together of some kind. These are
not sacrifices, I am investing my time into something that matters to me.
So, you see we are not born with all the time of the world. We
make times for what we love. If anything, we are always hard pressed for time.
You know why? Because we live double lives. We balance day job and writing everyday
and survive to tell the tale. Some tales, we never tell. We never talk about rejections
and negative feedbacks. These we deal in isolation.
If you are a writer, you must have heard words that hurt.
Take them and move forward and keep writing. Don’t let the world pull you down
on your knees and keep you there (yes, I borrowed that from my favorite
character Rocky Balboa).
This is how you do it: you sit down at the
keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and
that hard ― Neil Gaiman
