Writer Archives

My writing is a play of emotional connection with my characters

May 10, 2024October 18, 2021 by Stephanie Parent

Writing is a slow and steady skill that develops from extensive reading and an emotional connection. These below listed down are my thoughts on how writing shaped me and I will tell you how I craft the one.

Sustainability is important in writing.

Above all, life experience makes me a better writer! While I have always loved to read, I struggled with writing until I had been through several life experiences, both positive and negative, that left me holding on to a lot of emotion. There was no place for this emotion to go except onto the page, so onto the page (and another page, and another…) it went!

Being part of a writing community really encourages me to be a better writer—these days, that mostly happens through Twitter. When I publish short pieces, share them on Twitter and get responses from other writers and readers, it emphasizes the fact that I’m not dropping words into a vacuum—there are actual humans reading and responding to my work! This encourages me to always push myself to write better, to live up to the very high standards set by my fellow authors.

Reading, my first love, is the root of any talent I possess as a writer. I spent so much of my childhood and teen years lost in literary worlds, and all that reading helped me understand how to use language to tell a compelling story and to evoke emotion from readers. It also taught me to see everything—a myth or fairy tale, a crazy news story, a beautiful flower or a piece of trash on the street—as the potential inspiration for a story of my own. Reading teaches us to observe the world carefully, to see things through different perspectives, and if we become writers ourselves, to share these perspectives with readers.

I was more of a reader in my childhood

Compared to many writers, I probably did very little creative writing as a child. I always wanted to write stories, but I was also a perfectionist, so I would write a sentence or two, decide it wasn’t good enough and abandon it. Truth be told, I preferred reading to writing. I liked getting lost in other people’s worlds. Even in high school and college, I wrote stories for classes, but couldn’t motivate myself to write too much on my own time. I went on to attend graduate school for writing and wrote a few young adult novels—so my first stage of writing very intensely was in my mid to late twenties.

However, I still didn’t enjoy the process of writing, and I ended up taking a long break from writing while pursuing other jobs. As I mentioned above, it was going through a lot of emotional upheaval, including a difficult breakup and a lot of career changes, that made me want to return to writing. So in my thirties, I began writing again—first with a novel, and then with an explosion of poetry and creative nonfiction pieces. This was the first time I really felt like a writer—writing had become a cathartic experience for me, something I was compelled to do, a way to share my voice with the world.

As for my writing secrets? Well, the biggest secret of all may be that there are no secrets—writing is hard for everyone, and you have to find what works for you. But based on my own experience, I would say that the more emotional connection you feel to your writing, the more meaningful it will be for you and ultimately for readers.

At the beginning of the day, I write with a fresh mind

When I’m working on a longer writing piece, like a novel, or when I’m trying to finish a piece for a deadline, I always start writing as soon as I open my computer in the morning, before I do any other work. This way my freshest, most creative thoughts make it onto the page. Of course, often the real world and my freelance work intrudes, and I don’t have as much time to devote to writing as I would like. For me, what’s more helpful than having a fixed writing schedule is reminding myself that writing is just as important as work I’m getting a paycheck for. Occasionally, I have to give up sleep for writing, and I definitely give up a lot of movie or TV-watching time. But ultimately, I have to believe that my efforts will pay off (emotional connection).

Fairy tales are more than true—not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.
G.K. Chesterton

My advice to my fellow writers

When I was younger, I let perfectionism get in the way of my writing and didn’t allow myself to enjoy the process. I was focused on creating an end product that was worthy of publication, and as a result, my writing was often stiff and didn’t get to the messy emotional heart of a topic. So, I would suggest giving yourself room to experiment and try things that fail. Think of writing as a process rather than a product, and give yourself the chance to grow. And, of course, allow yourself time to live and have experiences as well—they will ultimately enrich your writing so much.

This is how my characters inspire me

I recently saw an author comment on Twitter that her characters experience more growth than she does, and I would say that the same is true in my writing. My characters often start off with many of the same struggles I have—including staying stuck in bad relationships, punishing themselves, isolating—but in a book you want to see characters grow and change. So, my characters actually reach a level of self-acceptance that I have not, and writing these character journeys is a powerful act for me. It shows me that this level of change and self-acceptance is possible, and gives me hope that I will reach it in real life as well.

When I write, I am telling myself a story as much as I’m telling readers one—I’m giving myself hope, creating a world in which characters can slay their dragons, can defeat their problems both internal and external. I believe that stories and language truly are magic—they allow us to transform and to share our experience with people we’ve never met. Writing may be the closest I ever come to performing magic, and I’m happy with that!

Also, read Ethan on his secret to writing and Theophanes Avery's strength and inspirations in her writings.

Characters in fiction, My secret to writing is to fall in love with my characters

May 7, 2024October 17, 2021 by Ethan Kenyon Tate

Characters in Fiction are a game changer. Writing is never easy, and it can take years to craft a novel. You also have to set a proper schedule, keep yourself focused, and daily inspirations are a huge help.

Being a good writer involves allowing your reader to take charge

Evolving as a writer involves the understanding that there is a barrier in your story between you and the reader. You create the pictures in your head, and then you use words to describe them. The words are then read by the reader, and the pictures form … but the pictures in their heads are going to be completely different to the pictures in yours, no matter how adequately you describe what is happening to your characters.

The best writers are those who understand this, and do not insist that the pictures in both heads should be identical. Who knows how many versions of Harry Potter there were before Daniel Radcliffe portrayed him in film, or Frodo Baggins before Elijah Wood, or Anton Chigurh before Javier Bardem? A good writer lets go and allows their readers to create their own pictures.

So, a good writer concentrates on breaking down the barrier that every reader faces – getting the words into their heads effortlessly so that their pictures can be created. The more barriers you put up – clunky, cliché-riche prose, flowery, pseudo-intellectual language, intrinsically detailed descriptions – the harder it becomes for the readers. The best writers know how to let go and allow their readers to take charge.

My secret to writing is to fall in love with my characters

If you write a book with a fantastic, twisting plot that keeps people guessing from one page to the next, but the characters in that plot are nothing more than uninteresting archetypes, then no matter how good your plot is, your book will fail.

In real life, people enjoy creating and maintaining emotional bonds with others, and the same should be true in fiction. People must like, love, admire, connect with or be in awe of your characters in order for them to form that crucial bond. It doesn’t matter if halfway through your book you sentence your most important character to a firing squad death; if your reader has not engaged with them, they will simply shrug their shoulders and mutter ‘so what?’

That’s why I make sure I fall in love with the characters I create. None of them are perfect, and indeed all will have flaws such as selfishness, a quick temper or the need to always be right. But real people have flaws too, and just like the flaws of our friends we forgive them as the relationship we have with them is too strong for such flaws to break it.

Early mornings and late evenings are my time to shine

I am actually a full-time writer, but as much as I would love it to, my fiction does not pay me enough to pay all my bills! I’m a single man with no family and I own my own home, and I like to live frugally. For example, not only do I not own a flashy car, I do not own a car at all.
Therefore, I supplement the income I get from my fiction by copywriting and ghost writing. I have actually lost track of the number of books I have had published. It must be over twenty now, over the course of the last thirty years.

Read another writer, Stephanie Parent, and her thoughts on writing and crafting a novel.

I have one rule for writing – work in the morning, pleasure in the evening. If I have writing that I have to do rather than writing than what I want to do, I start it as soon as I get up so that I can get it out of the way, and out of my head.

For the writing I love to do, it’s the evenings for me. Evenings are peaceful and I am in control of them.

If you want to be a footballer, play football. If you want to be a writer, write.

Some writers (especially young writers) contact me and explain how they find writing exasperating. They seem to think that their finished, polished novel has to spill from their pen the moment they set pen to paper or rather, fingers to keyboard.

But that’s not how writing works at all, and if that is how you write, then you are not becoming a better writer. Your first draught of any piece of writing does not matter. It is simply a framework, or a suggestion to what your finished piece, short story or novel will be.
The first version of any piece of writing is all about plot. Just write down what is happening and do not worry about anything else. At first, your characters will do what you tell them to do, because they are not yet formed enough to have opinions for themselves.

Once you’ve completed that first draught, print it out then open a new document. You now have your framework, and subsequent draughts are about your characters. They will come alive, and they may not do what you want them to do or say the things that you want them to say. Once you encounter your first non-cooperative character, you know you are on the correct path.

Writing is like being repeatedly punched in the face, and then given a kiss. The most characters in fiction do.

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind as to what is the most difficult aspect of writing, and that is getting readers. Writing without readers is like playing music that nobody hears or cooking a fine meal that nobody eats. I write because I want to be read, and I write because I want some people to meet the characters I have created; characters who deserve to exist beyond the confines of my skull.

But getting readers is easier said than done. Imagine how many manuscripts lie on computer or laptops unread and therefore unloved? There’s the chance that the greatest novel ever written is one that will never be read.

The publishing world is one about making money, and agents and publishers are the steely-eyed gatekeepers. It’s an impossible nut to crack, or so it seems, but people still get books published.

Keeping going at times seems pointless, especially when those rejection emails begin to pile up. I keep going because it would seem completely alien for me not to do so. My head is full of stories. Some of them deserve to be told, and some of those deserve to be read.

Hikariuchuu: The Realm of the Lights took me eleven years to write

I had the idea for Hikariuchuu: The Realm of the Lights in 2010. I wrote the final word of the final chapter of the final revision in 2019. It was published in 2021.

It’s been a long journey, sometimes across raging seas filled with Lovecraftian beasts, sometimes across sweet-smelling meadows accompanied by my favourite people, but it’s a journey I would do all over again if I had to. Expanding a simple, one-note idea into a 135,000-word YA fantasy novel is an achievement I take a sense of pride in.
The protagonist, Adam, will always be my favourite character even though many of my readers have said they find him unlikeable. I do not like ‘goody two shoes’ characters who seem not to have a single negative thought in their heads – nobody is like that. Adam can be moody, self-centred, immature, and cowardly, but are we all not guilty of that in some degree? If such traits are our central ones, then that becomes a problem, but if we work so our positive traits eclipse our negative ones, then we deserve to be liked, respected, and perhaps even loved, and that describes Adam perfectly.

I also like Jamie. He’s the me I’d be if I could let my guard down all the time.

My favorite quote

First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him.
Ray Bradbury.

This, to me, outlines perfectly how I write. I have an idea, and there is usually a goal involved. I set my hero off to try and achieve that goal. Sometimes it is achieved, sometimes it is not, but that is not what is important. What is important is what happens along the way.

So, like Mr Bradbury says, you just follow along and see what happens. What does happen will probably surprise you a very great deal.

What Are Your greatest Strengths? Two things drive me, read those

November 12, 2022October 14, 2021 by theophanes avery

Very simply put—life experience. You can be the most reclusive of hermits and still write wonderful fiction. But the inspiration will run dry unless you keep giving your mind something to think about. What are your greatest strengths? This could be going out into the world and trying new things; going to new places, or meeting new people.

However, it can also mean taking the time to learn a new skill or read up on a favorite niche topic. Really, anything that keeps the brain thinking about things will work its way into your creative life. Usually, it’s in the most unexpected ways. Also, keeping muses around, that is, people who inspire you or whom you can bounce ideas off, is really helpful eventually.

No matter how rampant that stereotype is, writing doesn’t have to be a miserable hobby for a solitary individual. Besides that, the most important thing is to let go of perfection and just let whatever is coming through do so without judgement. Not everything you write will be a bestseller, and some of the things you come up with might be. So bad they end up in the trash pile, but if you allow yourself to be paralyzed by perfection, you’ll never write at all and whatever gems you are capable of will die before they’re even born.

I was a very creative since my childhood

I was always a very creative child. I loved to tell stories and jokes to the other kids, but I never really wrote anything because my spelling was terrible at the time. I had this belief that being able to grasp proper grammar and spelling was what writing was about, so I didn’t feel like I was good enough to try my hand at it, even when I had several teachers disagree with me. The thing that changed all this was my sixteenth birthday. It was a really depressing event. I’d been out of school for two years (due to illness) and I invited all my school friends over, who I hadn’t seen in all that time. I was so excited. It was going to be the biggest, happiest party of my life.

But then the only people who showed up were my best friend and two boys who had a crush on me. I was devastated. Apparently, my school chums meant a lot more to me than I did to them. I didn’t know where to take my heartbreak, so I sat down and started to write. In doing so I didn’t wallow in my pain but instead rewrote the narrative to make the whole scenario funny — the sort of thing a stand-up comedian might do. And when I did that, I not only felt better about the whole thing, but I also spread a little joy in the form of laughter from the people who did read it. It wasn’t long before I was writing about other events in the same fashion and getting all sorts of positive attention.

People from all over were telling me my life was interesting, and although I had a hard time believing them, I kept on writing. Over the years, I perfected my art until I was able to cross the final threshold into fiction. Now I was free from the restrictions of reality and lived experiences. I could write about anything and anyone. In my adulthood, I have found this just as cathartic. And there’s something so life affirming about spreading joy, or hope, or little glimpses of wisdom. It’s really that fulfilment that keeps bringing me back despite all the other difficulties in my life.

This hardship does not let me sleep

I hate to admit this, but the best time to write is usually in the dead of night, when no one else is awake to disturb the creative flow. Plus, there’s something a bit magical about being up when no one else is. You get a whole new perspective on things when everything is quiet, people are asleep, and there isn’t anything but you and the relative silence around you. It makes it a lot easier to reflect, be one with yourself, and hopefully touch the creative source that inspires you. With that being said, it’s also a terrible schedule to be on if you want to get anything else at all done in your life.

So even a night owl like me had to eventually learn how to just operate on a more normal schedule. Currently, I try to do most of my writing whenever my brain is at full capacity — which is after I’ve eaten breakfast and dealt with anything that might distract my thoughts. It might be as late as dinner before I sit down and focus. It’s less about the timing and more about forcing me to write and hit my daily goals. As long as I have that daily goal lingering in the background, I will not be able to go to sleep that night without accomplishing it. For me, this is what has worked better than anything else. I even write on days when I feel like I have nothing worth writing — just to stay in the habit. And when I do take little breaks, I always find it hard to get back into the routine.

In my opinion, young writers is a need of today

Young writers are very much needed these days, our world is changing so fast that it’s really hard to keep up, and someone needs to be taking note of these changes. When I was rowing up, I had to read all the classics — the vast majority of which were written by affluent older white men — the same stories that had been taught to my parents and grandparents. Therefore, this was somewhat OK for the time because so little had changed in society that they were still relatable, but there was also a lot missing in these narratives. There was such a large chunk of earth’s population that just did not see themselves in these stories, and that’s important.

Not just for the people who are longing for representation, but also for everyone else who is losing out on the opportunity to learn about people unlike themselves. And if there is anyone out there that is writing about these big issues of culture, gender, race, and identity, it’s going to be the younger generations. I hate to say it, but older authors have all been at least somewhat beaten down by life. Each one of us can point to a time when we’ve been silenced or dismissed, and this ongoing struggle can really make us a lot meeker than we used to be.

A lot less likely to blast our personal truths for the world to see. But young people… they have yet to be broken and if the world is ever going to change for the better it’s going to be because they are screaming as an entire generation for progress. And I can’t tell you how much it warms my heart to see this happening — this upcoming generation knowing that their story is just as important as some old white dude and telling it like it is! Will they make mistakes? Of course, we all do! Will they at times be a little too much? Always. But all that means is we, the older generations of authors, should be guiding them and helping them become even better. They really are our future.

My inspiration is not limited. It is for all the niches

Oh goodness, I don’t have a single niche. I write everything I feel compelled to — personal stories, travel blog entries, satirical takes on history, more scientific articles for laymen, and fiction that runs the gamut of genres. I will never be able to stick to one thing, and that’s

OK, because I can find a use for all of them. I think many writers encourage other writers to focus on one genre because it is far easier to market yourself if you have a singular voice. I won’t argue that point, but I just don’t think it works for me and my ADHD addled mind.

Furthermore, I go wherever the creative spirit takes me, and I don’t complain simultaneously! In fact, the whole process has been a wonderful avenue to learn and to practice catharsis. Whenever I come across, something that really bothers me. I find it helpful to write my characters into a different scenario, a better scenario. For instance, I got fed up with super dysfunctional (or downright abusive) relationships being shown as romantic, so now whenever I have love interests I try to write them as healthy, respectful, and loving. You might think this would make for a passive and boring read, but no! There are still lots of action and drama, it’s just not coming from the characters, it’s coming from the outside world they live in. It’s been a beautiful process and one that, I think, has over time made me a more kind and forgiving person.

My favorite book, “Achilles in Heels”

Wouldn’t that be nice to have a book that was genuinely popular! I’m afraid I haven’t gotten there yet, though I am certainly trying! Even so, I do harbor an intense affection for the last book I published: Achilles in Heels. It’s a modern retelling of the unusual teenage years of Achilles. Long before he was a Trojan war hero, his mother Thetis thought she’d protect him from his fated death in battle by dressing him up as a girl and hiding him in a harem of princesses. From here the book is about a very action-oriented Achilles dealing with all the usual trivialities of his teenage years but with the added complication of his secret identity. The simplest of things get twisted wildly out of control as he tries desperately to keep face. At his side is his closest friend Deidamia, a sharp-tongued and adventure prone princess who spends all her free time trying to thwart any possible marriage proposals thrown her way.

She provides a cynical yet endearingly funny perspective to every situation and sitting across from her, often in competition for Achilles’ attention, is his childhood best friend Patroclus. Patroclus can’t compete with the cutting with of his companions, but what he lacks in mental prowess, he makes up for in heart. He pulls this unlikely ragtag bunch together in a soft and loving way, smoothing out issues that need a gentle touch. Together, they face the world with courage and audacity, learning all of life’s greatest lessons in one adventure after another. All three of these vibrant characters lived in my mind for about twenty years before I committed them to a book. And now they’re ready to be loved by the world just as much as they were loved by myself.

Reading the first chapter from the book, “Achilles in Heels”

Lokesh Umak · Achilles In Heels Chapter One Audio

My strength and the source of inspiration is Jack Kerouac

… I shambled after [them] as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me. Because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time. The ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles…
Jack Kerouac

I read this quote when I was still a teenager, and it was only theoretical to me. I dreamed about a life where I would find fellow misfits and freaks. It would be a few years before I started meeting individuals who burned with the same intensity that is noted in this quote, and it took on a much greater significance to me. From there, I realized that there are a handful of individuals out there who are so completely their own person that literally everything else doesn’t matter. These have been my greatest muses, my deepest friends, my most beloved of romantic companions. They have inspired me just by existing and being themselves.

There’s a sort of chaotic, beautiful energy that comes from the excitement of reading them, whatever I am working on. It’s these people, the ones who get me, that are my most loyal of cheerleaders. They believe in my talent and vision even when I am at my lowest and just want to hide in the dark and pretend I don’t exist. And I hope I have, in return, encouraged them to be their best as well in whatever endeavors they chose. They have taught me that if I don’t fit in somewhere, or am unhappy with something, all I have to do is find others like me that can help me change the narrative. It’s been a remarkable journey this life of mine, and I am so grateful I have been able to express this in my writing.

Furthermore, read Ethan on his writing and daily habits

George Evans & his Creative nous who had gained national fame in poetry

February 27, 2024April 2, 2021 by Lokesh Umak

London born George to Welsh parents (Celtic culture that defines a coastal city with a nightlife scene) but his father soon died when George Essex Evans (18 Jun 1863 - 19 Nov 1909) was a few months old. He was raised by his mother Mary Ann who was a well-educated woman, fluent in both Latin and Greek. After his education, Evans immigrated to Australia at the age of 17 with his sibling.

George had injured heavily while horse ridding. However, could not do any physical activities. Evans was a dual characteristic sometimes impulsive, showing oppositeness. As well as, loyal and kind. In his life, he was a successful husband and father. Despite his sick ears, he was gifted with a good amount of memory.

His poetic verses are famous. One of his poem, “the secret key and the order verses” published in 1906. It travels us to magical land, stars and to a strange power. However, he was working in public service. George penned many articles, criticism, poetry for Australian as well as British newspapers and journals. During the year 1902 to 1905 Evans was a regular columnist, contributed to Darling Downs Gazette and Toowoomba Chronicle.

Poem: “The Secret Key” by George Evans

There is a magic kingdom of star powers,
through-hidden, lit by other stars than ours;
and, when a wanderer through its mazes brings
Word of things seen, men say: “A poet sings”.
Its gates are guarded in a sterile land -
Mountain and deep morass, and shifting sand;
Storm-barred are they, and may not opened be
Save by the hand that finds the secret key.
That key, some say, lies in the sunset glow,
Or the white arc of dawn, or where the flow
of some lone river stems the shoreward wave
In shuddering silver on its ocean grave.
Some say that when the wind wars with the sea,
In that stern music, one may find the key.
Or in green blooms of forests, where the pine
Splits her spear amid great wreaths of vines;
Or, where the streaming mid's white rollers climb.
The dark ravine and precipice sublime-
A filmy sea that twines and intertwines
Wreathes the low hills, and veils the mighty lines
Of sovran mountains, crimsoned and aglow
In crystal pomp, crested with jewelled snow;
But still, with souls afire, men seek that land,
And die in deep morass and shifting sand.
To those alone its iron gates are free,
Who find, within their hearts, the secret key;
For Earth, with all the colour of her day,
is not their country — that lies far away.

Later in 1905, Evans published his own weekly newspaper in south Queensland. However, it was lasted only for few editions. His life then was so simple like a common man. He had married to widow Blanche Hopkins (1899) with two children in bonus. He was a milk man who used to deliver milk as a part-time job.

Also, read Melancholy Life of Amy Levy the poet who couldn't survive “Double D” War. And Emphatic philosopher, John Mill who had strange confusion between poetry and philosophy. How difficult was it is for poet Bukowski living a lonely life. However, he couldn't live through poetry in his is life.

Science was the base behind the interest of Ernesto Sabato in writing

March 4, 2021 by Lokesh Umak

It is a hard truth that whatever comes in life, we must earn to accept, at the end it becomes the part of the ultimate path of successful journey. Hispanic literary price winner and the great essayist Ernesto Sabato (24 Jun 1911 – 30 April 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter, and physicist. His writing precipitated experimental in his lifetime work. Sabato had been behind the names of Latin America’s greatest writers, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Gorge Luis Borges.

The Novel “EL Tunel” (The Tunel) was the first published work of Ernesto in 1948 and the second successful work published in 1961 “On Heroes and Tomb”. However, both the novels received critical acclaim from critics and the other stabled fellow writers as well.

French writer, journalist and philosopher, Albert Camus who had won the novel price in 1957. As well as, German novelist, short story writer and literary critic Paul Thomas Mann who had won the Nobel Prize in 1929 critically acclaimed Sabato’s novels.

Although, Ernesto also had won the Buenos Aires Municipal prize for his essay “One and the Universe” in 1945. Furthermore, he had received the lifetime Miguel De Cervantes award in 1984

The last essay of Sabato “Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age” was published in 2004. Further, which it proved that his writing focused on the great moral dignity on constant timeless theme such as injustice, marginalized. However, it is a love some comparison between Spain and Argentina.

Spanish poet and translate, Père Gimferrer wrote on “Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age” of Ernesto Sabato:

Spain in the Diaries of My Old Age is a document of great dignity and a supremely artistic literary text. It sheds a singular light on a world in decomposition. His marriage of rounded expression, emotional force and ethical clear-sightedness makes it a testimony of extraordinary intellectual value.

Ernesto wrote almost more than 15 Essay books and his writing fascination that had been kept inspiring was ultimate crime fiction and at last it recognized as a noir widely.

The Reason Leaving Science behind was writing.

At the Curie Institute, one of the highest goals for a physicist, I found myself empty. Beaten up by disbelief, I kept going because of inertia, which my soul rejected.
Ernesto Sabato.

Ernesto Sabato as a scientist at the Curie Institute:

He was appointed as fellow atomic research in radiation in Paris. He spat out during those days how he used to spend his morning, afternoon, and evening. Spending all the day with Electrometers and cylinders and evening in relaxing mood in bars. However, loved watching surrealists and kept himself busy creating exquisite cadavers.

Indian writer, R K Narayan: “I am a treacherous writer”

July 25, 2024March 14, 2020 by Lokesh Umak

The novels and short stories of R K Narayan (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001) still inspire children and young generations. Characters from his fictitious town Malgudi and one of the characters, Swami and his friends. Swami, an ordinary boy who has a different mindset, well-matured than his other friends.

“Malgudi Days” (a fictional South India town)

He always showered his philosophy through his characters in his fiction world. Indian writer, Narayan, the man who imprinted his literary work not only in India but made its presence internationally. The great creator of a fictional south India town, “Malgudi Days” that marked history.

Stories Reflecting Indian Culture

He always lived as an ordinary man to explore the societies of Indian culture, innocently made his way toward writing and aroused many readers using his pen and powerful literary techniques and urged readers to come back for more.

The first Indian writer who had pursued a full-time writing career. His writing including Travelogue, Retelling of Indian epics and autobiography, My Days in 1974. Most of the Indian know him by his pen name, but reluctant R K Narayan’s real name was Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan, his home town, Mysore had become more dependent in his active year of writings.

Daydreaming and provoking thoughts of R K Narayan

Mr Narayan was always deep down into daydreaming, gaming with the thoughts of his characters and busy putting them well together. He grew up in a bilingual family, but more prone to Tamil rather than Kannada and English language. Once in an interview, he said that he failed the University entrance exams in English, but everything that happens, it happens for a reason.

Education

After discontinuing his education for more than two years, he had utilized his ample time for reading books, listening to his grandmother’s folk tales. And thus, those crucial days were for a spark and increased his interest, dedication to evoking writing skills in him.

Writing Techniques of R K Narayan developed from

The techniques of storytelling had been perceived by Mr Narayan from a kind grandmother. He had already spent 15 years of his precious life under his maternal grandmother in Madras (Chennai) who taught him many aspects of life, and engrossing culture of south India at a young age.
One of the best quotes from R K Narayan, who gives the profound meaning of life.

R K Narayan Quote

If you threw a stone into a gutter, it would only spurt filth in your face.
R K Narayan

Such a great meaning is hidden in this line that teaches us not to be cruel to anybody, given us calm feelings and lower down anger, jealousy, and cruel powers. If you are angry at anybody, in return you only get angry expressions or vice-versa. It also refers that if you think that the next person is stupid and making fool to that stupid means you also become stupid somewhat.

Novels and Books

So better not to say any negative or do wrong with anybody. Few books of Narayan are as below, they are evergreen good reads. Some of his books are in Hindi and Marathi. It has a hidden culture of India and powerful thoughts that evoke the real man in human. Most of his books give you a philosophical point of view.

Moreover, Read Gertrude Himmelfarb for learning “Idea of Poverty” the book which reveals the ancient culture of England. Don't forget to check a romantic poem, “I love You” by Alexander Pushkin. It still looks fresh, tender love that evoke consciousness of any lover.