YOU TOO CAN WRITE

8/14/2019 YOU TOO CAN WRITE

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YOU TOO CAN WRITE

Is writing an inborn talent, which cannot be learnt? Many will say yes, but notI. Like all pleasant things in life we achieve through resolve and grit, we canlearn to write, and write well, only if we have it strongly in us and are willingto give it a go.

GETTING STARTED – READ INDISCRIMINATELYLet’s hit it straightaway. Writing is an art that is impossible unless we aredeeply in love with the language, especially with its subtle aspects. All our so-called fertile imagination and creative bend of mind is of little use if wecannot say what we simply want to.The moot question then is how to command language, especially if we wantto write in English. There is no simplistic answer, although suggestions, oftenhopeless, are galore.We learn language as a prolonged process extending over lifetime; and,

despite all gigantic efforts, we can never become fully perfect in it. Keeprefining it through continuous practice is all we can do with the language. Thebest way is to go on reading whatever we can lay our hands on. Novels,poetry, criticism, philosophy, history, science, religion, literally anythingshould be welcome. Read indiscriminately and emotionally. But keep thewindows of understanding wide open. Better we understand the language, agreater thrill will we experience and farther will it push us into the readingmode.Such an exercise can translate over a period into a motivation to write. Prolificwriters customarily start as voracious readers.

AVOID BEING JUDGEMENTAL TO BEGIN WITHDon’t start off as a cynic, for God’s sake! Literature is primarily meant for thepleasure. Writers write and readers read because they get pleasure out of it.So, start with enjoying the books without being overenthusiastic to find faultwith the plot, style, form or structure of the book. To be able to walk into theshoe of a critic calls for a huge amount of experience whereby haphazardknowledge gradually peaks into a methodical wisdom. It’s a stage that comesat a much later period, maybe when we’ve finally mastered the tricks of thetrade. Trying to rush into it in the preliminary phase will lead you nowhere.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE LANGUAGE BASICSLet your mental spotlight be on ‘SENTENCE STRUCTURE’ or syntax – themost crucial bedrock of language basics. Get to know what words to use andto how arrange them in order to give a clear-cut meaning and sparkle to thesentence. Play with words the way you choose, but value precision. Makesure you use the words more for their meaning than for their physicalappearance. A glaring problem we often have with the sentence is failure todeliver it correctly either in writing or speaking. Have a feel of introductory(not elaborate) part of grammar, especially tenses, verbs and prepositions.

And better to have it from the exciting novels, essays and poems than fromthe deadpan grammar textbooks.



Cognising language, nevertheless, remains a tricky issue. To learn itsbasics from the books is one thing; to make any sense of its funny logic inpractice is quite another. There is a big slippery side to the English languagethat remains elusive even to its most hard-core users. Richard Ledererexplores it beautifully in his famous book ‘Crazy English’. An excerpt:

There is no egg in the eggplant, no ham in the hamburger andneither pine nor apple in the pineapple.

French fries were not invented in France.

A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why the plural of booth is not beeth?

If the teacher taught, why didn’t the preacher praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, why a humanitarian doesn’t eat

humans!!!?

When the stars are out, they are visible, but when lights are out,

they are invisible.

If writers write, fighters fight and ringers ring, why don’t the fin-

gers fing?

A person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who

drives a race is not called racist.

If look and see mean the same things, why do overlook and oversee

mean opposite of each other?

If horrific means to make horrible, why doesn’t terrific mean to

make terrible?

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people fromHolland called Holes?

And why is it that when I “wind up” my watch, it starts, but when

I “wind up” this story, it ends?

KEEP AWAY FROM MEMORISING WORDS FROM DICTIONARYOur writing skills are certainly better honed if we have more words at ourdisposal. How do we do that? Learn them by rote from a dictionary?Commonplace advice is exactly that – learn ten or twenty words a day from

any standard dictionary – as a sure-fire way to bettering vocabulary. This isabsolute trash.



Dictionary just tells you the denotative meaning of a word. It cannot tellyou whether or not a particular word will integrate harmoniously with thesentence you want to use it in. Nor can it tell you whether a word of yourchoice will have that kind of impact on the overall context you so much wantit to have. Outside the sentence, words have no life; they come alive onlywhen they assimilate appropriately into the flow of a sentence, much like

individual nuts and bolts that become functional only when they properly fitinto the mechanism of a machine.Lots of words in the dictionary are terribly outdated, hence undesirable in ourwritten or oral communication. A better way is to locate the hard words in apiece of writing, and figure out how and why they occurred in a particularcircumstance. Extensive reading, and nowadays surfing relevant sites on theWeb, is by far a more useful exercise for exploring the usage of the differenttypes of words in sentences – surely a much better alternative to ramp up theword power.

LET THE IDEAS BE CLEARGood writing comes about when the writer is absolutely clear about subjectmatter. How often do we have a solid idea, sufficient study and adequate dataof a subject to write confidently about it?With our focus more on the language and its cosmetic facelift, the subject getspushed onto backburner. Net result is poor quality writing. What else can youexpect of a work-out that puts the cart before the horse?A pen put to paper with ideas blurred will only stagger until a few linesbefore sagging down altogether. In situations like these, the beginners blamethemselves for not knowing the use of language, when actually the problem

area is their fractured thought and jumbled idea. A good writer will alwaysinvariably have a clear idea of the subject he intends to write on.It is said of Tolstoy that while working on his masterpiece novel “The Warand Peace”, he researched the subject of the novel – the Napoleon’s invasionof Russia and its consequences – for almost ten years, and hardly took a fewmonths to compose the entire novel that stretches well into 2000 odd pages.

DO AWAY WITH “I-CAN’T-DO-IT” ATTITUDECan we start writing like a well-known writer the moment we begin to havesome control of the language? We cannot. Regular practice coupled with a

degree of self-confidence is an absolute must.Usually, ‘I-CAN’T-DO-IT’ attitude is a major stumbling block. It can leavemost of us completely overpowered whenever the venture we feel like takingup demands exceptional effort. Easy way out then becomes our naturalchoice. When the going gets tough, a very few tough get going; most wouldsimply recoil to their comfort zones, basking in their trouble-free possessionsthat come without a great deal of labour and sweat. Art of writing is certainlynot one of them, and hence the timid would rather call it a day with one plainword: I-CAN’T-DO-IT.And thus ends the story of a feeble mind. Doubt yourself and you are back to

square one.



Surely, even if a fast running train thought: “I-CAN’T-DO-IT”, it wouldinstantly stop dead in the tracks without the need to apply brakes!! That is thepower of self-doubt.That’s why Michael Lee, the famous motivational guru, always says, “Neverdoubt your beliefs and never believe your doubts.”Go back and get rid of I-CAN’T-DO-IT word from your life. If you think you

can, you sure can.

PREPARE TO PERSEVEREWriting is a passion and a person aspiring to be a writer must pursue thispassion no matter where it leads.At times, as a beginner, you might feel it’s a task far too complex to handle.But the winner in the end is the one who keeps going on whatever the odds.Life story of renowned writers, if you care to read, will tell you how hard theypersevered, sometimes throughout their lives, trying to perfect the method ofstudying the subject and the art of narrating it.

All spectacular achievements, indeed, come at a price.In the initial phase of leaning to write, we are likely to have a few bouts ofnervous feeling that it is no using trying since we cannot write like masters.The fact is we need not. A good writer is not the one who tries to imitate thestyle of another good writer. A good writer is one who evolves his own idiomand has the guts to try it out. Let your pen find its own style. Choose differentsubjects and practise narrating them daily in your notebook. No shortcutsrecommended, for there aren’t any.

BYE-BYE TO DIFFICULT LANGUAGE

Every age has its own style of expression. It was fashionable for the people inthe good old days to communicate in a flowery language. Classical writingswere theatrical in nature, intending to produce a dramatic ‘prose with a poeticfinish’ both in fiction as well as non-fiction. Whether it is Balzac’s ‘HumanComedy’, Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan’ or Fyodor Dostoevsky’s moving novelette,‘White Nights’, (coincidentally subtitled as ‘A Petersburg Poem’) theexpression remains highly stylised and poetic. The past masters had aweakness for blurring what for us should be a clear-cut difference betweenstraightforward prose and twisty poetry.The readers were receptive probably because the lifestyle was pretty relaxed

then, and they had enough leisure to cheer the intricacies of narration thatunleashed a wild gush of uncontrolled emotions.Such laid-back approach has no place in this Internet Age. A modern Readerhas neither time nor tolerance for the nuances of language. A biggestchallenge before a budding writer is to write in a language, which is simple inoutline, but rich in its implicit details.Read Amitav Ghosh, for instance, to know what the modern English writingis all about.

USE EASY LANGUAGE

The problem with writing in simple language is it is not that simple. You needa solid command of subject that creates clear thought stream, which, in turn,enables you to convey a deeper meaning in an easy language. A person with a



garbled idea of subject will invariably use a hard and untidy language tohide the poverty of thought.When the thought, liking fading beauty, tends to slide downhill, many aretempted to apply a huge make-up of ornamental words and enhancivesentences to the language. Needless to say, too much make-up only serves tospoil the beauty. This is as true of language as it is of human beings.

The tips given below by language experts may come in handy to make youwriting more effective:

Use plain language.

Write the way you talk.

Write to express, not to impress.

Write clearly.

Avoid jargon and clichés.

Use the plain word instead of the fancy.

Use the familiar word instead of the unfamiliar.

Use concrete nouns and action verbs.

Never use a long word when a short one will do.

Use the simple declarative sentence.

Prefer the simple sentence to the complicated.

Change your sentence length.

Use the active voice as much as possible.

Use short paragraphs.

Cut needless words, sentences and paragraphs.

Revise and rewrite. Improvement is always possible.

Develop a natural style. Keep it simple.

JOURNEY IS TOUGH, BUT YOU CAN MAKE ITAn effectual writer is undoubtedly a cut above the rest who can talk aboutordinary things in an extraordinary way. You, too, can do it, provided you arefired with the passion for writing, can program your thought a bitsystematically, keep the things a tad simple and, most importantly, haveinflexible faith in yourself.What if the journey you are taking on is damn tough; what if initial failures

put your determination to severest of tests; and, what if the critics, ready ruleyou out, come to haunt you every time you’re out to experiment? You canmake it and make it for certain. Just have self-belief – a big chunk of it – tofind light within the tunnel much before you reach its end.

Shuja Shakir Head, Dept of Political Science

Sir Sayyed College, AurangabadMaharashtra, India

YOU TOO CAN WRITE

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