naalaya Iyakkunar - Finals 3rd Part (Final Part) 11th July 2010

All right! The three part final of Naalaya iyakkunar wound to a close on July 11th 2010. Here is a rundown of the important moments.
The remaining two short films were screened. Awards were given for the best film, actor.actress,director from the preliminary rounds. Finally the awards of the finals itself was given.

Oru shot by Tamilarasan
genre: Drama
The claim to fame of the movie was that a long single shot sequence forms the major part of the movie where the fate of the four protagonists unfold.
You have four abductors on the run with the kidnapped girl. The long shot captures their run and their encounter with police. If you expect a nerve wracking Bourne identity kind of gripping sequence you will be disappointed. The long shot was underwhelming to be frank. All four characters were talking at the same time for an extended amount of time. If it was to convey tension, all it did was to convey confusion.
Anyway, Pratap remarked that it looked like the climax of a movie and not a movie by itself.

Kathi by Sengottai Mohan
genre: Drama
The movie opens in a rural fair. Through some long shots and good aerial shots the ambiance is set and then the camera closes up on the item of real interest. The hero is demonstrating his skills at throwing knife. He has his girl friend (and adulteress) tied against the board. He methodically impales the board just near wrist, hip, knee, and even the rose as it drops from her lips. But when it comes to aiming a spot just by her neck, he misses it.
The camera cuts to a court scene and they try him on murder charge. They acquit him as the court concludes it was an accident.

This movie had its brilliant and not so brilliant parts. The opening shot and aerial shots set the ambiance very well. But it was tad too long. The knife throwing scene didn't get to the pulse-racing stage as soon as possible. It did manage to reach there eventually. But it was too little too late and the audience ( at least I) felt that I have been watching the movie for a long time without anything happening.
The court scene was the biggest letdown. You have witnesses coming and vomitting all the background information. If this scene had been improved a bit the movie could have done much better.

Naalaya Iyakkunar Awards
Best supporting Actor - Senrai of Color (a worthy award, I believe)
Best Supporting Actress - Baby of color
Best Actor - Bobby
Best Actress - Neelima
Best Film - Thabela vaasitha kazhuthai
Best Director - Karthik and Balaji ( A tie)

Naalaya iyakkunar Finals - Best short film awards
Third place - Oru shot by Tamilarasan
Second Place - neer by karthik
First Place - nenjukku needhi - nalan

I thought Balaji deserved an award despite his film in the finals being a little repetitive. But I was in full agreement on Nenjukku needhi being awarded the first prize.

Naalaya iyakunar Finals 2nd part July 4th

The finals continued with its second set of three movies today. Here is a brief description of each movie and my take on them

Aadu puli aatam by samuel mathew
Genre: Drama
You see a aged couple coming into the hospital. The wife is in labor. The couple is accompanied by their first kid - a girl of ten years old. The husband says to the wife , as she goes into the operation theater, that he does not mind the kid being being boy or girl. He just wants her to come out safe.

The scene cuts to two middle aged ladies coming to the hospital. One of them is in labor too. They get admitted to the hospital. Both the deliveries go well. The man and woman has a boy child. The other party deliver a girl child. The man goes to the other party and inquires about the new arrival. He says that the kid will be like Goddess Lakshmi and protect them. 'Teach her well. And she will be the light of your life.' The lady replies, we want girls only in our profession. Once she attains the age she will start earning.'

The scene cuts back to few hours earlier. And a twist is revealed.

Personally, I felt the movie was not well paced. Filler shots like operation procedure took up a good amount of time. Bad screenplay??

Neer by karthik
Genre: Drama

The movie has been shot in sea and actually in a boat. Two fishermen brothers, not in very good terms, and their elder relative set out for day's work. The younger brother resents the bossy attitude of the elder. Radio delivers the news of a depression in south and a general advise to the fishermen not to go south.

The younger brother chooses that day to assert his independence. He steers the boat to south against the elder brother's wishes.

Initially it proves a good decision. They net a lot of fish. Then they run into rough weather. Not literally though. The Sri lankan patrol force fires at them. The old man dies in the skirmish and the younger brother is wounded. The rivalry is forgot and the elder brother comes to the aid. He soothes the younger brother and goes up to get the first aid kit. We hear gun shots again.

The day dawns and we see the younger brother, severely wounded and probably dying, with the dead elder brother on his lap. The unmanned boat is drifting in the sea.

Personally, I felt that this movie was well shot. But unfortunately the tension never reached its crescendo. But a good movie, I thought.

Mittai Veedu by Balaji
Genre: Comedy

Balaji had directed 'kaathalil sothapuvathu eppadi' - a primer on love in colleges in the preliminary round. In finals, he came up with what looked like its second installment to the judges (at least to Pratap) and me.

The hero tells about his parents to the girl friend so that she can be prepared for meeting them. She confides to the camera that she is nervous as ma-in-law usually see the girl friends as usurpers of their rights.

The meeting takes place and we see that the ma-in-law is nervous too. She is afraid that if everything does not go well then the young couple will move away and she will loose her son and even the grand child when it is born. So she tries to go out of her way to make the girl welcome.

The underlying tension is resolved in the climax when the ma-in-law and the girl friend find themselves to be more alike than different.

I thought that this was a sweet movie. Hollywood movies seem to have left a big impact on Balaji. His movies are Hollywood like. Even in this movie you can see traces of 'When Harry met Sally'. There is a scene where you see a series of just-become-father's first reactions. And ditto when you see the kids resembling their parents. But I must admit that he has got style.

Naalaya iyaunar Awards
More awards were announced this week.
music composer - Vishal
graphics - The movie 'Ants'
best screenplay - Balaji (kaathalil sothappuvathu eppadi)

Which movie did you like? Leave a comment.

Naalaya iyakunar June 27 Finals 1st part

The finals took on the razzle dazzle and trappings of the entertainment programs lie maanaada mayilaada. I dont know whose idea was that.

There was even a item number like dance. And with the compere asking every aspirant finalist how they are feeling it was no wonder they did not show more than three short films in one hour.

But it looked like many bigwigs of kollywood had turned up for the finals including AVM Saravanan sir, K Balachander and Shankar.

So here is the round up of the first three short films that were shown on Naalaya Iyakunar Finals on June 27th.

Suyambu by suryapratap
Genre: Historical
A periodic film which takes a bit of effort from viewers to follow. The movie started out in dark and stayed chasing shadows for a long time. The story was simple. A brave soldier raises up in revolt against a tyrant. They make a surprise assualt on the tyrant's fort but is repulsed. The soldier is betrayed by his partners. His wife sis captured. The soldier frees her and then engages with the tyrant in a sword fight. The soldier is killed in the battle.

The movie cuts to a long shot showing the soldier's small son practicing sword fight. He is being taught by none other than his mother and the slain soldier's wife.

Madhan said that the biggest obstacle of making a periodical movie is that you have got to erect sets at huge cost. There is no way you can shoot a believable movie in dilapidated structures of today as suryapratap's short film was. He is probably right. But for me, the major irritant was the semi dark surrounding for the most part of time and the fact that the jumpy narrative. But it was a good effort overall.

anu annuvaai by ajay gnanamuthu of White magic pictures
Genre: Romance
The story starts with the hero in a reminiscing mood. He and his daughter are on the road in a car. In voice over we get to know of his love interest , anu, in school days. A blind school comes in focus and we get to see the hero and Anu, both blind. They fall in love. There is a small problem. The hero has a chance of getting back his eyesight by an operation. Few days before the operation, Anu falls ill. Hero gets his eyesight back but gets the news that Anu has passed away.

Cut to the present and the hero is back in the blind school and is able to see the nun, the class,the school. He asks for a photo pf Anu. But the nun says there isn't any. As he is going out the nun asks a woman on the sewing machine, 'Do you think what you did is right, Anu?' She nods.

The movie received a good round of applause from the crowd. Personally I felt that the romantic scenes didn't have spark. But the twist in the end made up for it. Again another decent film.

nenjukku needhi by nalan
Genre: Comedy
A poor guy is selling toys on roadside. Gangsters come and pick him up on the pretext that his blood donation saved their boss and hence they have come to repay for his help. They do everything to make his day a great one. Then comes the twist. He is taken to the hospital where the boss is and put in the bed next to him. He is told that the boss's heart is weak and his heart is going to be transplanted to boss. Then comes the climax. It is hilarious. You all should watch it in YouTube or wherever they host the clippings of the episodes.

Personally I liked this of the three movies screened today. Though it could have been shorter and sweeter the twist in the climax made that film worth watching.


Naalaya iyaunar Awards
They also handed out few awards in other categories. I think the decision was made on the basis of the movies of the previous rounds.
Best editor - alphonse puthiran
Best cinematography - manikandan

Which movie did you like? Feel free to talk about it here.

naalaya iyakkunar 2 - contact address for short film submission

Those of you who want to participate in Naalaya iyakkunar 2. Here is the contact address

JV Media Dreams
194, G3 Golden Nest Apartments.
3rd pradhaana saalai, sri sai nagar
virugambakkam,chennai 600 092
Mobile 9884250666

This is what I quickly noted down as the credits rolled. Please drop me a comment if this address is not correct.

naalaya Iyakkunar - 13th June 2010 episode synopsis

I sat before the T.V hoping they would show the short films for finals. Instead they just introduced three more finalists. What a disappointment! But each finalist had a story to tell. I got drawn intot the program as they introduced each finalist. I was surprised to the extent some of these people have gone to pursue their dreams. I wish them all the best. And here is a quick round up of the finalists who were introduced on June 13 episode.

Karthik
He was an engineer in software company in Bangalore. He had planned to quit the job sometime in 2010 and pursue a career in films. When he saw the ad of 'Naalaya iyakkunar' in T.V, he switched the career. Apparently he had gone on some assignment to France and he refuesed to go again so that he can participate in this program

Nalan
He directed the short films 'nadanthathu yenna' and 'thurumbilum iruppar'. Both films were well received by the jury. The former is a comedy movie. The dismissed student brings a fake father to manipulate the principal into taking him back. The real father turns up just in the climax. Not a original plot, I know.. But it was funny enough. The later one is a humorous take of 'Devil's advocate', I think. I didn't get to see the movie actually.
Comedy is his forte.

Ajay
He is a wild card entrant. I believe he is a visual communications graduate. He looked the weakest of the three contestants. Let's see.

Who is your favorite finalist? Leave a comment.

kalaignar TV naalaya iyakunar finals on sunday, June 13, 2010

Yes, the finals of my favorite event is here. It was supposed to start last week itself. But they just showed the bio of the contestants who made it to the finals and then left the actual contest for the next week.

Watch this space. I will post the movies, details and my take on the short films as it unravels.

naalaya iyakunar (or naalaiya iyakunar??)

naalaya iyakunar is a talent show that comes on kalaignar TV. (a tamil channel). This is one talent show I watch. A show for the budding directors to showcase their talent, this resembles On the Lot. A theme is given every week and the contestants have to shoot a short film. The films are judged and the winner is declared. And every week a contestant is eliminated (or so they say. But usually it happens once a month :-))

The title of the show, naalaya iyakunar, means 'Tomorrow's Director'. Next years director might be a more apt title. The short films are really amatuerish. But once in a while you get to see reasonable movies. So it is worth the watch...

The person who makes naalaya iyakunar show worthwhile is Madhan. He is a well known figure in Tamil popular literature circles. Though he is not a director himself, I guess he is what someone can call as a discerning viewer. He gives very insightful comments about the short films. Sometimes you get to learn more from him than from watching the films.

But why dont they bring some well known directors like K Baalachandar, Mani rathnam or intellectual stalwarts like kamal haasan?

Structure - Beginning, Middle and End. Is that all to it?

Take any text book on creative writing. They talk about beginning, middle and end. Are there any other way a story could be laid out?

I think yes. As our tastes evolve and change newer structures might come in existence. But it is doubtful whether they will become the mainstream. However there will always be few examples of stories that do not fit in the beginning, middle, end paradigm. In fact, because they don't fit in that paradigm they become famous. But as I said they will be in minority.

Below are some examples I have come across.

Two or three parallel threads in a story - This is a popular structure in movies, at least. Babel, amerros perros (both from same director) exploit this structure. In general, these threads do have some connection. Needless to say, the connection must not be contrived. In stories, you can see this idea being exploited in The other side of midnight by Sydney sheldon. I think Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer also exploits this.

Series of Notes (emails): I dont remember any particular story name. But I have come across many short stories that are written as just series of emails to each other or as notes to self.

Going back in time: This technique completely inverts the causality. It tells the climax first and then goes back in time constructing the reason(s) for the eventual end.

Structure of Story - Ramayana And Mahabaratha as example

One thing about the structure that we discussed in the previous post is that it applies to short story to a great extent. In novels, because of the size, they can deviate to a good extent.

Ramayana and Mahabaratha are two great epics and are as large as they can go. So it does not come as a surprise that they stick in a loose manner to the structure we discussed in the previous post.

If you take the beginning, You can see Mahabaratha does not introduce Pandavas and Kauravas in the first few chapters. Instead it sets up the scene with Devadutta becoming Bhishma. Ramayana also starts somewhat early in the time. In fact, it does not bring Ravana well into the middle of the story. So it is a slow read in that sense.

How do the epics fare in the middle? Mahabaratha is probably better than Ramayana. You can see the enmity between Pandavas and Kauravas being set up. Kauravas try to
outsmart Pandavas many times (not always legal or moral). But Pandavas manage to come out better and gaining strentgth in that process. Ramayana is a bit of letdown, if I may say so. Rama and Bharatha go on vanvaas and the reader (along with story) is lost in the jungle till Ravana comes along.

End - Both epics have war as the climax. Well, not exactly. Mahabaratha devotes some chapters to rounding off the characters (including krishna) after the war. So does Ramayana in the coronation of Rama. You can see that the end is somewhat stretched.

One reason that our epics dont exactly fit to the structure that we have discussed earlier is that these epics are probably not written by one author but has formed and changed as it passed from generations to generations. Another reason could be that these stories are so old, that people didn't have any idea about the rules of the stories at all. Quiet obvious,right? Looking from that perspective, you can see how amazing stories these epics are. They have all the characteristics of great stories. And they were written before people understood what makes great stories.

Structure of Story - Beginning, Middle and End of it

Structure of a story is the template in which you fit all the elements of the story. Like for instance, an email has a structure. (To, subject, and content fields). A chess game also has a

structure.(opening, middle, ending) Not surprisingly the most popular structure of a story is where it has a three parts - beginning, middle and end. It sounds like a letdown, right?

Giving a template for your story and calling the parts as beginning, middle and end. Hopefully you will not feel so once I explain what you do in each part.

Basically, in Beginning, you set up the character(s), you point to the desire that beats in the heart of all the main characters. You set the story in motion by starting the main character on

an action. Keep this to the point. Don't go on a tour about the weather.

Then comes the middle. Here you should foil the attempts of the main character who is on a pursuit of his quest. The main character should be learning from his failures. In that sense he should be growing. This is the longest part in the story.

Then comes the end. Short and sweet. Preferably with a twist. But always an Aha moment. Limit it to a para or two in short story. Keep it about the main character and his quest. Not about your philosophy on life.

Desire, Action and Conflict - The essence of story

Why did I find the incident mentioned in the previous post a germ of the story?

Because it had action. And by action, I don't mean something like a person walking on the road or a bird flying. It has a boy fleeing from his pursuer. It has a police trying to catch an offender. You see a conflict of interests. The action of the boy hawking vegetables in train (an illegal thing) has put him in conflict with the police. The desire of the police to enforce the law has put him in conflict with the boy.

So that is the essence of story.
1)Your protagonists should want something. Anything. -Desire.
2)Your protagonists should try to realize their dream by working towards it. -Action
3)His action should put him in confrontation with another entity (another character) - Conflict.

Now it is up to you as an author to decide how to keep escalating the conflict through the middle of the story and then finally resolve it by the end of the story.
You let your protagonist win in his mission - happy ending.
You make him loose - sad ending.
You maintain a status quo - ambivalent ending. (By the way, this is not preferred. You should at least convince the reader that he has come out wiser of the experience. Who likes status quo in a story. They have plenty of it in real life already.)

Story - How to find one?

I have found the seed of many stories that I have written in
1)a dramatic incident that I came across
2)a situation where I don't see eye to eye with others
3)a character that I found interesting

But these give just a seed of the story. Not the entire story. You have to use your imagination to flesh out the story.

Let me cite an example. This happened quiet a long time back, when I was in school. It was in chennai.

I was waiting for the train to go to my school. The train , when it came,was crowded. A boy, vegetable basket in his head, was the first one to alight. He jumped out even before the train stopped. He ran swiftly to the other side of the platform, to catch the other train that was about in the opposite direction. Half way through, he suddenly swerved trying to avoid the invisible pursuer. But it was too late. The police man, out of nowhere, swooped on him and caught him by the collar. It is illegal to hawk in railway station. The boy tried to free himself in vain. But he couldn't shake off the police.

I didn't see anymore. I had to catch my train. But what I saw, it has stayed with me still.

I am convinced that what I saw can give rise to a story. But I am yet to find one.

I can make the boy flee the police and board the running train. That would be a happy ending.
The boy can flee and board the train. But in the melee the vegetable basket falls on the platform ruining all his investment. That would be a tragic ending.
The boy flees and boards the train. He throws couple of cabbages at the police on the platform. 'Wasn't this what you wanted?' he shouts as the train speeds away. That would be a bitter sweet ending.

I am not happy with any of the above. But I am confident I will find the right story.

Plot and Story - What's the difference?

This is my understanding of what I gleaned from the various confusing resources on internet. You are free to form your own conclusion.

Let me give an example from 'Aspects of the novel' by Somerset Maugham to explain it. (I have not read the book. I have just read from a site which cites the book)

The king died. Then the queen died. --example of story
The king died and then the queen died of grief -- example of plot.

An Indian example would be

Ravana abducted Sita. Rama took the help of Sugriva and invaded Lanka. They killed Ravana and brought back Sita -- Example of Story.
Ravana abducted Sita because he fell for her beauty. Rama while searching for Sita met Sugriva. He pledged his support to sugriva against his brother Vaali if he would help in finding Sita. Rama killed Vaali and Sugriva became the king. Sugriva's army fanned across the country in search of Sita. Hanuman found Sita. Rama and the monkey army invaded Lanka and killed Ravana and brought home Sita. -- Example of plot.

Well, what is the difference between plot and story.
In a story, we talk about the events that happen in chronological order. We focus on what happens after what.
In a plot, we talk about why the events happen. Why did Ravana abduct Sita? Why did Rama help Sugriva? We focus on what thrusts the story forward.
This is the basic difference.

Story comes first. Then comes plot. Always.
An absorbing plot will make an ordinary story a good read. But not a great read. For that, you need to work on the story.

Short Story - Tips to an aspiring writer:Start with your story.

I vaguely remember starting my first story with the below lines
"It was midnight on a new moon day. She was alone in the street."

I was probably twelve or thirteen then. I didn't like the opposites, night and day, coming in the same sentence. Apart from that, I was convinced that it is how my story should start. In

fact, I spent quiet a time trying to figure out the intelligent clues that the detective would have to eventually find. I don't know how far I proceeded. But suffice it to say, I don't remember

anything of the story but for the first line I penned in my notebook.

The mistake I made is, instead of finding a story I could tell, I started out with a story I wish I could tell.
Many of us do that mistake. City dweller writing about the pleasures of living in a village. Software engineer in Bangalore writing about the harsh life of the people in the fringe of the

society. Powered by their imagination, they do depict a true picture. But limited by their experience, they fail in producing a true insight.

At the other end of spectrum, many people positively believe that there is nothing in their life that is worth telling.
You should read Chetan Bhagat. He started his literary life with a story on college life in IIT. It was so successful that it spawned an even more successful movie! Now there is a

commercially viable genre called IIT/IIM/college campus story as can be seen in the slew of novels that have come out since chetan bhagat.

This is one reason why I don't like many of the exercises they give in the creative writing workshops or creative writing groups. They give a starting line of the story. Or they give a

situation or a theme and then to ask you to write about. It has its merits: It would get everyone started, it would give a homogeneous platform for comparison, contrasting and feedback.
But I always find it constraining and and invariably find tweaking the story that occupies my mind right then to the stated line or theme.

My tip to aspiring writer is: Let the story, at least the first few ones, be rooted in your experience.

Short Story - Read this before you write one OR Three rules of great writing

For Sale: Baby shoes. Never Worn.

As short story goes this is one of the shortest. And one of the best. Don't go by my word. Ernst Hemingway, who penned it by the way, claimed to be his best. So, there you go.

The first rule in short story is - Make it as short as possible. But not any shorter.
The above story follows it to the hilt. It does not waste any words in describing the shoes or the seller or anything else. It goes for the jugular straight. You should try to keep the words to

a minimum as well.

The second one in short story is - Begin right at the beginning. Not a tad earlier
The story starts with the information about a sale. Not when the shoes were bought. Not when the unfortunate mishap hapenned, if it did happen. They are not the correct beginnings.

They may be, for some other story. But not this one. You should put the reader in the in the middle of the things right in the beginning. Don't go for a prologue where you ramble about

the weather.

The third one in short story is - Hold that punch till the end.
There is no story after 'Never worn'. A mediocre writer would have added some dead words at the end. But not hemingway. He knows when he has given all the details needed. From

then on he leaves the reader to wonder, to figure out. Try not to give away too much too early in your story. The reader will feel disappointed when he finishes the story. At the same

time be careful not to introduce an unexpected twist in the end just because you have to. Then the reader will feel insulted! The ending should take the reader by surprise, but at the

same time he should also feel that it was a probable ending. Not easy, isn't it? Who said it is?

Creative writing Courses that I have come across

Writing classes (www.writingclasses.com) is an online course and is also based on NY. Their website claims they teach more than 6000 students a year. I have not attended this class. But I have bought the book brought out by this class. It should be a great class, if the book is anything to go by.

IGNOU course is another one. It is a correspondence course offered by Indra Gandhi Open University. I did not find it helpful at all and would not recommend to anyone.

Still Waters is another course I have come across in Bangalore.(not correspondence or virtual classroom but a physical one, if I may say so) I have no idea about the quality of the course. I have come across their name a couple of times in the city hapennings section of news paper. I believe there are few courses like these in other metros like Mumbai and Delhi too. But I don't know any of them.

Finally, it may not be a bad idea to online community portals like www.writing.com where you can find good company while you write.

Have you come across any courses that you think should be on the above list. Write to me or add a comment.

Creative writing Books that I have come across

Writing Fiction, by Gotham Writers' Workshop is a book that I have personally used. It is an amazing book. They explain about all the ingredients of creative writing like character, plot, dialogue, setting, description and theme. To use a cliche, It is one book that you must have.

Creative writing, by George G Williams is another book I have found very enlightening. It was a book I downloaded for free in internet. Just search for "Creative writing George G Williams".

A Creative Approach to Writing by ROGER H. GARRISON is another book I found on the internet. It is good. But not so good as the above two.

By the way, the last two books have a degree of formalism (probably because they are written as text books for colleges ) which the first one does not have. I really think you should get the first one, if you can.

Have you come across any book that you think should be on the above list. Write to me or add a comment.

Four tips that will keep you in good stead

Tip 1: Write. Write regularly.

Lots of people say that they have some good ideas and want to write about it too. Atleast, as a blog. But they don't have time, they lamely add. Well, How many times have you heard of the phrase, 'Ideas are dime a dozen'. You figure it out.

You go to work 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month and 12 months a year. You need to if you have to hold a job. And so should you write regularly if you intend to make anything out of it.

Writing is lot like working in that sense.


Tip 2: Have a ball.

Few have written a couple of short stories and then have stopped because they dont see it going anywhere. 'Well, what is the point? Its not that publishers are queueing up in front of my house, anyway.' is their logic.

You have played street cricket as a kid, right? Do you remember the day the when the older boys took you in to their team the first time? As the last player to bat. Do you? Did you quit playing cricket that night because you were not called for Indian cricket team? No. You just went out and enjoyed cricket. Only few land up in the Indian team. But all enjoy playing cricket. Now why should writing be any different?

Writing is like playing too.

Tip 3: Learn the craft.

OK. You write regularly. You enjoy it too and dont bother about getting published. What next? You have got to learn to write the correct way. Is there a correct way? Of course, yes. Few people will instinctly get it. But all can learn it. Hard to believe?
Or are you the type who prefers breaking the rule? Well, even to break you should learn the rules.

If you are a programmer, you will learn the importance of the craft. Remember your first program. The crash because of the null pointer. You took hours to write a ten line program. How do you fare now? Is it because you wrote programs everyday or is it because you decided you will learn about pointers. If you are not a programmer, try the example of swimming. Did you thrash the pool the first day unable to breathe in the water. How did you start gliding in the water? Did it happen just because you went to the pool daily. Or is it because you concentrated on learning the breathing technique.

Writing is just like any other skill that way.

Tip 4: Open up.

Eventually there come a point where you would like opinions from others. We all seek to be noticed, preferably in favourable light, right? Well, the reaction of somebody to your first literary creation will more often than not reflect how much they love you than how good the output is. 'Wow! It is great' means the person is your spouse. 'I like it. It is very good.' means the peson is your friend. 'Well, I read the first paragraph. But then something came up.' is probably the comment from that not so close acquaintance.

So it is better to find someone who does not care about your fragile ego. And someone who loves reading and reads a lot. Eventually, how popular your writing becomes will be decided by how good your writing is. No short cuts there.

Writing is lot like life that way.

Indians-Course specially for us?

Do Indians need a creative writing course specially designed for them? Will not hurt, I would say.

I know, many of you would immediately get offended. Especially if you are not from India. Isn't music supposed to be universal? Aren't emotions and feelings universal? Hasn't great literature transcended the boundaries of geography and barriers of time?

My answer is, Yes. To all the above questions.

But here is my take.

Read Jane Austen. Read Ernest Hemingway. Read one of the early O Henry prize winner (or a O Henry short story itself.) Then compare it with a O Henry winner of last year. All of them are great. They show that great literature is universal. But you will also agree that there is a great difference between a Jane Austen and a Hemingway. Right from the ideas that form the basis to the way it is written. Our ideas, tastes have changed. So the courses to impart writing skill should also reflect those changes.

Just like the way our tastes have changed with time, it changes with geography and culture as well. In writing place and setting has got a vital importance. A story where the characteristics of the place intertwines with the story becomes that much better. Slumdog Millionaire could have happened only in the slums of Bombay.Whether it was a great movie or not is a separate discussion. Fargo could have happened only in the wilderness of mid west America. In fact literature is supposed to find the universality of emotions at the bottom of it all and celebrate it.

I am not advocating a course tailored for Indians because the principles that govern Indian writing is vastly different. I come from a more practical standpoint. The reference books that I have read from ( all published and bought in U.S) quote extensively from John Cheever, Raymond Carver and the likes. They are great authors. No doubt. But we dont get their books in India. Not in the neighbourhood book stores anyway. We get our Hemingway and JD Salinger. But the reference books want to go beyond that because enough has been said and written about them already.

But Hey, Why don't you include Ruskin Bond, Rushdie, Arundati Roy, Shashi Deshpande in the reference books. For that matter Mahabharata instead of that compulsory mention of Bible?? I am sure more Indians will find the course (or book) relevant then.

Let me close this with my pet peeve.
Right through my college, I have read all the books associating cloudy weather and the cold wind with a sombre mood. It was really strange. I am from tropic. And I have loved those days when the sun is hidden behind the clouds and the temperature drops. Only when I went to U.S did I understand what the authors meant when they went on and on about the sombre sky. It gets really cold and really grey out there. But here, we would love our skies not to be clear blue.

Same goes for 'tea with lot of milk and lot of sugar at the road side shop'. I have traveled to many places in India. Yes, tea is sweeter in some road side shops in some places. But surely, they dont put too much sugar. And definitely not milk. Common, they will go bankrupt. Then why do all these writers repeat it. (Trust me, it is a cliche) Where is that place in India where they serve tea with lot of milk and lot of sugar? I got the answer when I boarded my first flight to U.S ! (Some more cream please and some sugar too, I repeated half a dozen times to the air hostess) They serve tea with lots of sugar and milk all over India!!
But I still don't get one thing. Why do Indian authors talk about depressing grey sky, and tea with lots of milk? What next, writing about hero sneaking up on heroin during Halloween night?

IGNOU Course

It didn't work for me. It may not for you either, in all probability.

In a course for creative writing, you expect you will write something, discuss each other's creative output (without hanging your head in shame when your literary baby comes up, hopefully), improve upon your effort, learning all the while. Instead, what you get in IGNOU is a set of booklets. These booklets define creative writing, lists authors who have wielded this skill exceptionally well, sights a few paragraphs of their work here and there and forgets to tell, tell you till you get it, how they are great.

To be fair to IGNOU, it is a correspondence course. So One cant expect much of class room discussions anyway. There are supposed to be some contact sessions. And It also has a requirement that you write something and submit to the university which will be reviewed. But let's face it. I called the contact number in Bangalore a dozen times over a period of a month. Nobody picks up and if anybody did, I was told that a card will intimate me the timing of the contact classes. I actually joined IGNOU so that I will get a chance that my output will be reviewed critically by somebody who knows his stuff and help me improve it. If that is your aim too, you better drop the idea of joining IGNOU.

If you want to join IGNOU to learn the basics and get a list of reference books, why dont you start with Google the fountain of all information. Just type Creative writing in that google search bar and there you go, you have saved the money that you were about to spend on IGNOU. Also follow this blog as I do intend to get to write about what I have learnt since I typed that two words in google a good six years back!

A disclaimer, I signed up for IGNOU course five years back. This rant was based on my experience then. Things might have changed in IGNOU now. For the beter, I hope.