Feline Musings

William Faulkner, Nobel Laureate and American short-story writer and novelist, advocated self-training as the best method of acquiring writing skills. “Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” As a professional technical editor, and an aspiring author, I have tried to imbibe these words in my daily routine. I read, and read a lot – including the instructions on shampoo bottles, recipes on spice packets and witty lines on truck tails. I connect to the world through social media and read what others are saying. I read on recommendation, I read by choice, I read after careful research, I read because a book is available at a throw-away price, and I read just because I can surf the internet for free in office. Needless to say, I have always been astounded by the amount of readily available information and the number of authors traversing time and space, topics and genre, to compete for a reader’s time and attention.

Off late, I am overwhelmed by the number of young Indian authors, who are getting published. The emerging trend is in favor of bloggers, who decide to get published, after honing their writing skills through years of dedicated blogging, and on receiving encouragement from their “bleaders” (blog-readers). Faulkner’s words seem to be inspiring one and all. Ardent bloggers have either been approached directly by publishers or they have contacted publishers, not with manuscripts in tow, but with a URL in their signature. Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, got a book deal with Penguin India via her blog - The Compulsive Confessor. To quote Hemali Sodhi, GM-corporate communications, Penguin India – “We’ve been tracking Meenakshi’s blog for quite a while. There are a whole lot of talented people out there who can write well and they’re doing it online through blogs.”

Blog communities and forums are also coming forward to publish writings by bloggers. Norwest Venture Partners funded Indian community site Sulekha.com has launched a series called “The Sulekha Book Series”, wherein the site is publishing a book containing writings by some of its bloggers. They plan to release two books a month – one will be a single author book, the other a collection of works by bloggers around a particular theme. The first book is Subbu Chronicles – A Series of adventures by BS Keshav. Caferati, which has a writers’ forum on Ryze has published Stories At The Coffee Table. Oxford Book Store has an annual online writing competition – E-Author, and two past winners – Madhulika Liddle of Delhi from e-Author 4.0, and Devi Yashodharan of Chennai from e-Author 3.0 – are reported to have received publishing offers.

The list of bloggers turned writers has been growing – Advaita Kala, Karan Bajaj, Dilip D’Souza, Amit Verma - marking a major cultural shift in the styles and content of what’s being published. Books by bloggers are becoming a cultural phenomenon and a trend, and so is populist writing. Any blogger with a blog that will entertain and amuse the public has a chance to get a book deal. The appeal of a blogger’s personality and the passion for a subject becomes an attractive force for publishing houses looking for long-term commitments and sustained zeal. Aspiring authors are even coming out with e-books that can be downloaded from their websites and blogs. (I am reminded of Paulo Coelho’s web-based marketing wherein he releases some chapters of his forthcoming publications on his website, and regularly contributes small pieces of writing on the online newsletter – Warrior of the Light.) Today, such marketing concepts are being well-utilized by the tech-savvy, young and ambitious Indian writers!

The influence of blogging on Indian authors has been growing. Even authors, who have been previously published, are entering the blogosphere and their writing style and approach is taking on the colors of blogging. For instance, when I read the introduction of Anita Nair’s latest book – Goodnight and God Bless – it suspiciously sounded like a collection of blog posts – “A sparkling collection of literary essays, each one a bedtime rumination, Goodnight and God Bless is about books, writers, book events, mice, mothers, airport hotels, the wind and other such unexpectedly thought-provoking subjects, snugly interwoven with a warmly personal and anecdotal history of the author and her assorted family members.” I may be wrong in drawing this conclusion, but we cannot deny the fact that blogging (and sustaining a blog) has become intermittently woven into the life of an author – published or aspiring. Ashok Banker, author of Byculla Boy, and the recent Ramayana series, has a blog on Indian English. Samit Basu, author of India’s first science fiction novel in English, The Simoqin Prophecies, uses his blog Duck of Destiny to promote other Indian writers. Jaideep Varma, author of Local used blogging as a tool to publicize his work. My own baby-step as an author with a maiden work published in a collection of short stories by bloggers – The Eleven – was possible when author and publisher, Aarti Honrao from Sai Kiran Publications, browsed through my blog.

However, with the latest trend of Indian chic-lit and populist writing, I, as a conventional writer have started having serious doubts about my aspirations to be a published author. Populist writing is like a Govinda or a Priyadarshan movie – the masses love it, the classes shrink from it; but at the end of the day slap-stick comedies and garish masala movies are the ones that rake the most moolah. And somehow, this trend is emerging in what people are reading and enjoying. With younger readers, in stiff competitive worlds, always running short of time and with stress levels bursting at the seams, we cannot deny them the pleasure of their “quick-bus-ride” or “light-after-dinner” reading material. Chic-lit and populist novels are selling like hot-cakes, pointing to the facts that many people are reading, and publishing houses are ready to experiment and cater to changing audience and reading habits.

Amidst all the shifting trends, I am wondering about the whereabouts of the serious (aka mature) reader and the serious (aka literary) writer. I am wondering whether books with expletives and references to casual sex get publishers and readers just like quarrels and misgivings on a reality-show garner the maximum TRPs. I am wondering whether good linguistic appeal is not significant anymore and mere ramblings can be converted into coveted best-sellers. However, I also know that thanks to the young breed of Indian authors, the world can today read about contemporary India straight from the horses’ mouth, probably making travelogues by foreigner’s as sources of information on India, as passé. I am proud to see so many books by Indian authors lining up book shelves and I dream to be one of these names. Till then I seek solace in my dilemma about an appropriate writing style and subject from another of Faulkner’s quotes – “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

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