Comments - Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Mikool

Maya

Maya — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Making of a writer...

I just loved it...its awesome!

As I told you yesterday.... I just love reading you.

Btw I heard your voice on CJ.. You sound more like a professional reporter. Ever tried it elsewhere?

I don’t know what I was doing in that other thread.. Politics is not my cup of tea! I was tracking the new Europe editor and ended up there.

Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I’m pleased you enjoyed it.

It’s nothing particularly original in it’s origins though, because surely EVERYONE has been through stuff like that. In the end you just have to laugh about it......

Funny thing about my voice, I have spent my life in and out of studios to record songs, and, to do voiceovers for tv and other publicity stuff, because my voice suits that kind of work apparently.

This means that I have learned ”mike technique” which means, in two words, ”how” to speak (or sing) into a microphone.

Politics?!!

Oh, keep goin’ is my advice!!

The world is full of people for whom politics ”IS their cup of tea”, but they talk more uninformed bullshit sometimes (and that’s particularly true right now with Mumbai and all the drivel I have read here and there) than what can be a small and simply formulated idea from someone who doesn’t necessarily have all the facts, but just wants to state their honest opinion.

Yo!!!!

Maya

Maya — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t write because my imagination is very limited..and my life is not very eventful like yours....lol

Oh come on Michael, its not only mike technique..lol I think its a born flair for talking/singing. Wish I could hear you live… yea inshallah (God willing in Arabic) sometime..

Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Maya!

Yep! You’re right. Not everyone can sing or talk professionally, and wouldn’t it be weird if everyone could? LOL

I have to be good at SOMETHING :).

You are reading the words of a man who finds it impossible to draw a human face or figure in three-dimensions, who never understood even the BASIC principles of algebra, and who cannot for the life of him dance (I can’t seem to coordinate it all LOL)!!

And those are just the three things I’m best at!!!!

???? But you DO write!!! (Unless there are two ”Maya”s on the site. And with imagination too........

Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Oh Maya, about me singing live...

Funny you should say that, because you’re GOING to, along with others I appreciate here, in three weeks time.....

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

HEY MICHAEL!

...

..

.

!

................!

Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hey Butterfly!!

Well I’m sure that strikes a chord in you, just like in anyone else who is ”looking” for a means/reason to write.

But in you in particular.........

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

oh yes it truly does...

...and you know, it also happens with me, and i am sure many out there who write, you, that sometimes it’s not about,

”i want to write”, but rather ” i have to write” get it out , and get it out well!

beautiful post...need i say more???

:)

Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Yes,

you ”need” say more. As much as you want, when you want, how you want. LOL; (About anything, I mean, not just this post!!)

”i have to write” get it out , and get it out well!”

Maybe that’s getting close to something.

Since I started writing, having found out clearly WHY I wanted to write, I’ve never stopped. Some of it’s good, some bad, some is still in boxes under ”I don’t know yet”, but I write.

It doesn’t matter.

I just have to say things, and express my sentiments.

Like in the (many) songs I write too....

Oh, Butterfly, and talking of.....

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

still in boxes under ”I don’t know yet”, but I write

Well, open up those boxes then,...who knows, they might have your next Christmas present!

there, i said some more...!

Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hmmmm,

More Angel of Wings style I say it all and I say nothing.

or,

How to write in a read-between-the-lines-way.

That’s what you do best....

Talking of christmas, I have presents for all my friends this year.

First time in 35 I’ve wanted to celebrate christmas, so presents all round the world.......and for you too..

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

and for you TOO..

how kind of you, sir...

oh ho

ho ho ho

ho ho

ho!

ARVIND K.PANDEY

ARVIND K.PANDEY — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Well, one needs to have a sensitive heart to turn into a good writer.The ability to write well is god-gifted.

You don’t need to be a professor of English Literature or a serious academician to be a good writer.Had that been the case,the world would have seen only grammarians and academicians in the writer’s shoes.

Even you don’t need to be storehouse of facts to be an impressive writer.Just look at the style of writing of the Leftist people.They love facts and when you read their ”realistic stories” you feel like vomiting!

I don’t know what are the other elements that lead to creation of an impressive piece but I am quite sure that if you don’t have a sensitive heart you can never emerge as a successful writer.

I am also quite sure that owning a PHD also does not grants anyone the license to pose as a writer.All you need is a beautiful mind besides a beautiful heart.

It appears that you are pretty confused when you are writing about making of a writer or else you would have not insisted on writing about ”what you know”.It’s making not of a writer but of an intellectual.

A writer is more interested in putting in words what he has experienced or felt.To verify the facts or be madly conscious about the details is not a task of a writer but an intellectual.Here again I feel intellectuals are not always writers.So ”what you know” should get replaced by ”what you have felt” if we are interested in talking about making of a real writer.

For instance I might I have not read volumes about science of romance or might not have heard experiences of other people involved in intimate relationship with a woman but if I have fallen in deep with deep love with a woman or ,for that matter, I have gained some insight on intricacies involved in man-woman relationship without ever being in one such relationship I am sure I can come up with a brilliant piece only if know how to arrange words but sadly that’s something God gifted.

Additional input can serve the purpose but that’s not all the time essential.I think genuineness of what you have felt is all what you need to write a perfect piece.Facts are secondary.

And that’s why you find that reviewers who have written huge pieces on works of Premchand (a great Hindi writer) writer) have failed to write even a story half well written as Premchand.They had facts,huge so-called experiences as well, great knowledge of construction of sentences too etc...etc..But they did not emerge as great writers.Why?

I hope you get my point.

Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Arvind!

I am afraid you have misunderstood a few things here.

In fact, in this article, ”What you know” does not mean just facts. FAR FROM IT.

It MEANS ”What you know (AND THUS WHAT YOU FEEL AND EXPERIENCE AND YOUR IMPRESSIONS GAINED AS A RESULT”.

I see what you want to say, but, in english as it is spoken in the Western world, ”You know what I mean” does NOT just mean ”YOU KNOW THE FACTS, but it also means that you understand, feel, are compassionate with etcetera.

It seems that in India you use the word differently, as just meaning fact, as you stated. That’s ok by me, but westerners can give it a lot more meanings. I express myself as a westerner because I am one, so that word is perfectly legitimate.

Sorry, but

”It appears that you are pretty confused when you are writing about making of a writer or else you would have not insisted on writing about ”what you know”.It’s making not of a writer but of an intellectual”.

I am not at all confused about why I write Arvind, on the contrary, I know why I chose ”know” and I know EXACTLY why I write.

I was right to choose that word. And of course I realise that a perfect mastery of english ALONE means nothing. Hey LOL c’mon, I wasn’t born yesterday!!!:)

So if you think, like I do, that writer’s should write is what they feel, then that’s exactly what I said, in English English..In the post. ”Know” is that....

Seeya!

Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Moreover,

Arvind,

this post was meant to be fun, and a lighthearted way for all of us writers to laugh about it all and remember how we came to be writers. No polemic or serious analysis intended.

I mean, does EVERYTHING have to be about definitions and wrong and right? Does it ALL have to be so serious and analysed?

”It appears that you are pretty confused when you are writing about making of a writer”

”So ”what you know” should get replaced by ”what you have felt” if we are interested in talking about making of a real writer.”

Arvind, with all the respect I owe you, does EVERYTHING have to be a battleground? Does it ALL have to be about the ”Right” way to define a word?

Hey man,

why don’t you relax a little and take a break.

My post is about no more than the juvenile and young-adulthood pains we go through in order to find our INDIVIDUAL ways of expressing ourselves.

Do you HONESTLY think you KNOW what ”real” or ”unconfused” writing is? Are you SERIOUSLY saying that you know and that I don’t?

Good for you, because I, for one, would never have that pretention....

The irony of it all is that the post is about writing what you feel, and YOU turn it into an INTELLECTUAL debate...

I’m always glad to hear your opinions Arvind, but I don’t need ANY lessons in what should motivate me to write or not.....

Seeya!!

ARVIND K.PANDEY

ARVIND K.PANDEY — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Michael!

Thanx I came to know more about ”Know”!!

Breathe easy Micheal.I had no intention to give you any ”lesson”.

I was serious in a lighter way...ha..ha

Do you HONESTLY think you KNOW what ”real” or ”unconfused” writing is?

- Forget about these issues.I think it’s not a right time to say anything about these subtle considerations.

”Are you SERIOUSLY saying that you know and that I don’t?”

However, as far as second query is concerned,I should make it clear that I have no intention of putting a question mark over the abilities of Michael both as a writer and reader.

On the contrary, i feel happy that we come to discuss so many things in so many ways and it’s really heartening that even when appear to be ignorant we can say better things in a better way than many real intellectuals and real writers of our times!!! ...LOL

Yours,

Arvind K.Pandey

P.S.: Once again presenting my comment as an article.If you have time then do comment from a new angle.

Wa'd

Wa'd — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Michael,

I’m glad you found out the ”How to become a writer” so that we’d get the chance to read little pieces of you every once in a while... :)

Michael C

Michael C — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

”To read Little Pieces of You”.

That is SO pretty Wa’d!!

They could be the words of a rejected lover going over his/her love letters, the letters from he who died on the battlefield, the letters from someone who left us, and, (happily for me!!!LOL)

Words from those we know now.

That’s why people like to read ”Pieces of Each Other” I think. It creates links and understanding and dialogue....

...and being horribly embarrassed a couple of times beforehand is a small price to pay for the reward.....

Oscar

Oscar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

You nailed it...

So many think about writing, when the contrary (at least for me) I think it’s best when an author writes about thinking. That’s what makes it unique, real..That’s where the passion comes from...

I have no writing background like you, nor literature, poetry, etc...I just try to straighten out a bunch of garbled thoughts by putting them on paper, helps me organize my cluttered skull....

Luckily, for us, you kept writing..

Hassan Rizvi

Hassan Rizvi — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

You do it real well though

Oscar

Oscar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks Hassan...

I greatly appreciate your comment. I`m not sure if what I do is writing or the breakthrough of a multiple personality order.. LOL... whatever it is, like Michael said, I do it for me, it’s from me, about me..I, MYSELF and my experiences, thoughts, opinions, and feelings are the only subjects in this world I REALLY have a ”masters degree” of knowledge..and most the time,to be honest, I’m not even 100% sure about those, either..

I guess the uncertainty just leaves me more to write about.. Eventually I’ve got to unclutter the skull to let more uncertainty and clutter in :)

Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

”Passion”.

That, everyone, is Oscar’s one word essay on what writing is. Super.

I personally think that literature is of no importance whatsoever to a writer. I read books, sure, but to learn, laugh, cry. Not because thay can help my writing. On the contrary, trying to imitate others was what stopped me writing for so many years........that’s why I too try to straighten out a bunch of..etc.

With passion.

Seeya

Hassan Rizvi

Hassan Rizvi — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Michael,

Great blog.It got my muse working.So this time a normal poem(instead of a Ghazal) for all writers.

Tell Me

To All writers

When you sit down to write what you must!

What whim impels the whirlpool of your mind?

A simple word to chisel or refine,

A fleeting thought to feelingly define,

Some issue facing mankind,

A mystery or thing divine,

Maybe a simple truth that shines,

Perhaps a cup of the lovers wine,

A laugh, a tear a bitter auld langsyne,

What makes you pan your Gold from dust?

Distilling for how long in your fragile crust?

With emotions intertwined,

Words before all else,

The seeds of your creative process,

With form, rhythm and rhyme combine ,

As some fragrant heady grapevine,

Bursting from your innermost recess!

How by what magical process,

Into priceless gems progress?

When you sit down to write what you must!

@Copyright Syed Hassan Abbas Rizvi 2008

Maya

Maya — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Beautiful poem...Beautiful words....

Well written Hassan....

You all are so talented..

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

@Mr.Hassan!

What makes you pan your Gold from dust

this sums up the essence of all creative endeavours all around the world!

beautiful line!

Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Splendid poem, Hassan!! Splendid!

Thank you very much for putting it up.

”What makes you pan your gold from dust?

When you sit down to write what you must”.

Wow!!!

(LOL, except for the ”issue facing mankind” part, which I shall continue doing, just on another site from now on).

Veena said she wishes she could write like I do, I wish I could write poetry like you do, and I know we both wish we had written some of the posts she has....

Isn’t it cool to be spoilt for choice LOL!!

Seeya!

veena

Veena — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Micheal,

A post in a very lighthearted, casual manner,my favourite way.Wish i could write like this.

@Arvind’

As Micheal rightly pointed out you do not have to turn every post into an intellectual debate,Writing is something done at the spur of the moment, you can write pages in an hour or nothing even in a week.Not everything has to analysed,cut and dried and set into prefabricated comparments. One can be fluid in his thoughts.

@Shahwar,

Nice to have your chirpy self back.

ARVIND K.PANDEY

ARVIND K.PANDEY — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Veena,

I agree with U .If you had a look at the follow-up comment and even at the first comment you will realize that I did not intend to turn it into an intellectual debate.

Yes, writing is done something ”at the spur of moment” or, in other words, you have to be in spontaneous writing condition to write straight from the heart. However, while writing about an issue you need to bring in application both intellect and mind in league with essential facts.

Lastly, I am trying to learn the art of giving professional inputs like well said, excellent, nice post ,keep writing etc....This will save lot of time and also will not give rise to many other situations...haha....

Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Veena!!

Nice to hear from you....

You know, your comment comes as a coincidence (another?!!).

It was written in a lighthearted manner, as you say, and my last few (short) posts have not been about contentious issues either.

The coincidence is that, after reading the horribly aggressive articles and comments about Mumbai and connected things, I have decided not to write or comment political articles by anyone any more.

I used to like doing political analysis articles, but I honestly don’t think they’re suited to the site, which carries a lot of polemical stuff designed to cause controversy and is vehemently ”Anti” something-or-someone-or-somewhere-or-other. That’s fair enough.....But just not my style.

(It will also have the added benefit of my not being made, against my wishes, a part of the ”star wars” debate going on....Because I won’t get many from now on LOL!!)

So if you like non-inflammatory fun articles to kick back to,

You shall be served....because that’s all there’s gonna be startin’ now!:)

Byeeee!

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

@VEENA MAAM only!

:) :) :) :) :) :)....

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I personally think that literature is of no importance whatsoever to a writer. I read books, sure, but to learn, laugh, cry. Not because thay can help my writing.

BANG ON!!!

BULL’S EYE!

Great!

Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Just seems so simple.

I admire many people, but I would NEVER want to be influenced by their writing style (plagiarism), and I would want EVEN LESS to want to be them, or to be like them (Idol-worshipping and a lack of personality).

And, besides, that could never work, thank heavens.....

Shahwar K

Shahwar K — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

yes, so true, and oh what mutiny i pose to my own thoughts...

...you know for instance, it’s an advised practice here, with our college profs. and infact all profs. everywhere, that they specifically ask you to ”quote” from writers in your answers, lines, para’s whatever, to get weighty marks, and infact downright duds who haven’t an ounce of originality or creativity get off with tonnes of marks with cramming existing stuff...i am having a hard time resisting my originality, even in my answers!

Yes i agree we can learn from writers, but do we have to quote them or rephrase them to show that we have understood them!

I really don’t seem to acclimatise with this norm...sort of encroaches one’s intellectual freedom...

Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Yep!

There is a lot of insidious pressure on people to swallow accepted wisdom and think the same way and say the same words.

It’s what has made French literature become almost non-existant and it is what stops people thinking.

Hassan Rizvi

Hassan Rizvi — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Maya,Shahwar,Michael,

Three beautiful bouquets ,from three beautiful souls in three diffent heavens.What more could I ask for.Thank you so much.

And Michael do let me know which site you go to for discussing the ”issue facing mankind”.i would like to look you up there too!

Michael C

Michael C — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Thank you Hassan, for your very kind words.

Beautifully written words too, may I say. (Three different heavens.....)

As for my opinions on politics, with pleasure. I’ll write to you elsewhere to let you know where I am....

Seeya!