This is indeed a learning from my several failed attempts at finding
the writer’s paradise. You often meet people who tell you
that the writer’s paradise doesn’t exist. I agree about
the existence bit. My paradise doesn’t exist out there. I
can’t just get into a plane and reach it. But I can create
my paradise wherever I am. The Writer’s paradise is an immensely
personal concept. My paradise is different from yours, and it shall
remain so – I can’t create one for you, but I can share
my methods with you.
Here are some tips that will help you become a more at-peace and
less at-war writer!
Focus
Focus is the key to this paradise. If you can’t focus, you
won’t be able to enter the writer’s paradise. Focus
is characterized by your becoming enchanted by your love for writing.
In this state, you feel the world around you become a blur –
it doesn’t exist except in form of a play of lights and
sounds. The lights and sounds are no longer specific images or
voices – the people and their words jumble up, and you see
and hear something that no longer disturbs but aids your writing.
You then, no longer feel that you are in a crowded room full of
people – rather, in your mind, you see yourself sitting
on a beach, with your laptop open – the movement of people
makes up the waves and their voices become the roar of the ocean.
You have focused. You have focused. You have now entered the writer’s
paradise. Stay there – stay with your story.
Opine
Write with confidence. Your opinion matters as much as anyone
else’s. Opinion is a wonderful word with tons of personality.
Unfortunately it has been maligned often, and not without reason.
Opinion has often been used as disguise for unethical criticism,
downright insults, and even abusive behavior. I don’t ask
you to develop that kind of creepy, mud-slinging attitude. What
I mean is – have a perspective and don’t be afraid
to share it. Remember that without opinions, you’d never
have a story. Your opinions are the pegs that support your stories
and your content. Without opinions, content is merely a collection
of facts – and a fact-collector is a researcher, not a writer.
So, to nurture your writer’s paradise, opine!
Research
Research, but research at the right time. Don’t research
while you write – it will kill the character of your writing
and make it listless and sloppy. Complete your research before
you begin to write. Plan your content before you begin writing
– and I recommend that you carry your plan in your head.
Know your story, your content, your characters, your plot, your
design, everything; before you settle down to write. If you continuously
refer to your notes while writing, you’d never find the
paradise – the beanstalk would continue to grow endlessly.
Of course, if you don’t research at all, you’d be
writing a line and then scampering and foraging all over the content
world to find your next line – so research, but research
wide, deep, and in advance.
Garner
That’s right. Be like a squirrel. Garner your ideas by catching
them the moment they are born. Don’t let them slide and
scat. Catch them in a small handbook that you carry with you all
the time. Go through your notebook once a day. You will realize
that you don’t have to consciously search for the ideas
for the content that you’d be writing that day – While
you’d be writing the idea would effortlessly make its way
into your content, enriching it further. Do you see how important
garnering is. It helps you stay within your paradise, while your
mind works towards making your content more interesting and effective.
Explore
Explore. Explore all that can be explored within your means. Travel,
ride buses, walk in the markets, read books, watch movies, meet
people – try to figure it all out. Opine and then record
your opinion in your little handbook. If you become a good explorer,
there’s a good chance that you would gracefully slide into
the role of a writer. Exploration will keep help you keep your
ideas fresh, your opinions grounded in reality, and your writing
supple.
The above five activities will help you create your personal writer’s
paradise around you – irrespective of where you are. Focus
is the most difficult of all, but if you practice often enough,
you’ll be able to achieve it – almost always. In fact,
there’s a bit of bad news associated with focus – you
might be written-off as a communication-disaster by your colleagues
and friends! A sacrifice that a writer is usually happy to make:)
