The ABC of writing

Hey everyone. I made a poll on Instagram asking you guys whether you'll would be interested in reading a blog on writing tips. And I love how everyone responded with a yes. But, as soon as I saw so many yes I got scared, even though I have been writing officially for the past 2-3 years and casually ever since I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.

So, I decided why not just start by telling what I knew, I learnt and am still learning while writing and about writing. Mostly this will be for those who have always asked me 'how do I start writing' on WhatsApp. So let's begin.

1. You do not need to be perfect in the language. CATCH 22: You should be able to form intermediate level sentences.

The first and foremost thought that comes to people's mind is 'Oh God I must be an expert in this and this language if I want to be a writer'. But that ain't the case. You must know the language enough to be able to make a sentence that any kid of 8 to 10 years can. Of course, the sentence must be grammatically correct and should linguistically make sense. Everything else is to accessorize and all that you learn as you write your 100th blog or draft, depending on how perfect you wanna sound.

I do not have the first draft or something that I ever wrote, it is probably in my personal diary, an entry or perhaps a wannabe poem.

However, I will share something for reference as before and now.

This is from 2016, and a story I was writing or I must say a fanfiction. Not many know about this but okay.

Raja lost his consciousness halfway. He stumbled and was about to fall only to be supported by Pari.

"RAJA! ARE YOU OKAY?"

The parapet of clouds seemed happy with her pronouncing his name for the first time. They rejoiced the moment and heavily poured drenching both of them in the sudden change.

If I were to write that now I would remove the extra additions I made just to sound sophisticated.

It would go like

Raja was about to lose consciousness, and he stumbled. Pari came forward and held him close.

'Raja, are you okay?'

The parapet of clouds seemed happy, hearing her say his name for the very first time. They seemed to rejoice the moment as they heavily poured, drenching both of them in a sudden change.

(of course, he was losing his own consciousness not others, so we can remove that pronoun. I am also paraphrasing the sentence.)

You will notice that grammatically both versions were correct. However, second a bit polished and appropriate and first, too dramatic even for me.

And if you are really concerned about the grammar of your writeups, you can go to Grammarly ( sadly not sponsored haha). Its free version is enough for normal writing. We will deal with the tools later in another blog.

2. Respect the language you can write in.

You can write in both Hindi and English or choose one of them and trust me it doesn't matter. You can even write in your native language as well. In fact, that is how we keep our tradition and culture alive, by telling stories about us to the world. Songwriters or lyricist, look at them. I am sure nobody who enjoys A. R. Rehman's music would say 'Oh that is some other language'.

Art is not limited by boundaries of land and barriers of language. And, writing is an art. Stop worrying about how you are writing and start focusing on the 'what'. I can write in Hinglish and I seldom try Hindi too but what I am good at, is English. So, I focus on telling my truth and not on which language I have chosen to do so.

Something I wrote in Hindi from the perspective of Akbar for his wife, 'Marium uz Zamani'

Mohabbat ki kahaniyaan toh lakho thi

Koi Humara kissa kaha?

Phool toh the mere gulistaan mein...

KOI #RAGISTAAN_E_GULAAB SA KAHA?!"

Translation: Lakhs in number are love stories, but where was my story? I had flowers, as many as the stories, in my garden but none like the 'Desert Rose'.

As much as I could write Akbar's feeling in Hindi, I can never write mine.

My feelings plain in simple English goes with this post I shared recently on my Facebook page.

~The ice cream stick~

Have you ever wondered why humans were made this way? To remember and be reminded of everything they have lived... No animal is given such instincts to save moments for later.. I realise this as I grab the ice cream stick, sticky and reminiscence of our kiss, and tuck it in my new jeans pocket, not even caring once about the dilemma inside my heart. I knew this moment would be more than this and might occur again as far as I trust my love but scared, somehow, like any other lovestruck girl, I push it inside my pocket. Knowing it is only pain I have tucked in...not good memories. For good things, are lived in 'then and there'.

3. Learn to speak truth, specifically your truth.

Now that we have covered other technical aspects like grammar and literature, we can focus on feelings.

I have come across two types of people who ask me how to write or how to improve their writing and they are;

1. I do not feel or think this intently and I do not hence, know what to write about at all.

2. I feel a lot but I do know how to write.

Let us first address the first batch.

Okay, so you do not feel this much, it is alright. There are a thousand types of writing and I am sure you will find yours. Maybe you could make a travel blog, you might be travelling a lot or you might be a tech guru? Who knows. Writing has many genre and you can find yours by starting with your first draft.

Coming to the second type. These are probably my friends. Haha. Trust me the only thing stopping you is your consciousness and your fear of getting judged by others. It does not matter, the advice remains the same, that you start writing but instead you start by making small notes of your feelings and observation. Later when you are quiet, you could look at those notes and make a writing or better, a poem outta it. Another way, would be to vent everything you feel to a paper or computer, instead of me or another friend. Then with a calmer mind, you could correct the mistakes and grammar.

Well, what is important is you be true to who you are, of course, in different percentages depending on what you are writing about and whom. Without being Kangana, you could be truthful. So often people ask what if that person reads your posts? Well, it is okay. In this world, there is my truth, their truth. Some experiences are not facts and I can write it exactly how I felt it even if it bothers others, it doesn't mean I lied or I am hurting them. I try to heal via my writings on my Facebook page and I write for the passion here. Depending on how I make someone feel, they can follow or unfollow.

In short, do not be afraid. there are many people, even your closest friends to judge you. Perhaps your best friend will say something horrible about it (worst case scenario or if you are as unlucky as me) or the person you wrote the poem for, would probably never want to read it (we will cover this down below). However, none of this means you are bad or your writing was. There will be people who will understand and relate, despite how you feel. Trust me, I have been there.

4. Cherish your words despite the outcomes

I once wrote a beautiful poem about self-betrayal and it was not any ordinary poem, the last letters sang with the next first letter and I somehow in the end made the whole word 'Betrayal' as end product. I do not remember anymore why I didn't save a draft or the poem or what these type of poems are called. I only remember I was angry so I deleted the account I wrote that with, and never took a single screenshot of this and many other poems I wrote or I must say bled in love. I was angry because nobody wanted those words. But, sadly I didn't notice, even I didn't love them. They were supposed to be my mind and heart baby, and I was no one to kill it.

And I regretted the decision.

Not saying you can not make a post private but there is a difference between completely deleting a post or words without a trail and just making it private.

I have written blogs and websites that I didn't like later, or was inconvenient to post on, I didn't delete those, I saved them and took the website down.

So, just like I mentioned as much as it hurts when you realise your friends won't read your stories or the person you wrote the poem for doesn't even care enough to glance at it or will never feel those things you did. But you do understand your words and trust me one day you will understand that is just enough. And even though you might have muses and inspiration, you should always cherish your words enough to write only for yourself. And, the only acceptance or approval you need is from yourself. One day, it will be like that. You will start having your favourite style of writing, your words, the best post, the cliche poem and much more. You will be able to design your own galaxy with the choicest of stars from your brain that will make sense to you and your community. The catch here is the community might be just you, or one more person, several others or the world too. As long as you are proud of what you wrote or at least calmer or happier after it, you did it right. Even if you don't feel all those things but just feel like a heavy sinking feeling has lightened 0.001% off your chest, it is well enough to start and continue writing.

Love

♪

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PS: You can find my casual writes and poems on my Facebook page, I post one post minimjm per day.

https://m.facebook.com/lunaticamehy/?_rdr

That is all for the blog. Hope you'll find the tips useful and different from what others tell you about writing. I wanted to share how I started writing and this is it. Sorry, if it wasn't what you expected.

#bekind