Challenges in Writing - Essay Example

Challenges in Writing Words, and the ideas dressed up in them, have a life of their own and also an organic way of happening. Every time I sit down at my table with a pen or before my computer to write something, I am gripped with the same fear of failure that I have experienced when I wrote my first English composition. It is an intense fear lined with excitement. I think the biggest challenge that I faced in the process of learning to write was not being able to break free from the stereotyped expressions and cliche’s into which I fall into, unwarily.

To grab finally at a fresh expression is like finding a host of blossoms unexpectedly inside a thorny bush. For example, after writing about the ‘moment of truth’ in my protagonist’s life (in a short story I wrote), I pondered for a long time for an alternative word but had to be satisfied with ‘the yes moment’ and then still unhappily replaced it with ‘the cool moment’. Similarly I had to spend a sleepless night being unable to break free from the ‘having said that’ and ‘at the end of the day’ syndromes in my writing.

To disentangle one’s thought process from the mundane discourses of one’s own mind is another great challenge, as far as I am concerned. This demands great amount of concentration and clarity. This approach to writing is rooted in attaining a crystal clear consciousness when one starts writing, which can surely be cultivated. It is an unconditional opening up of one’s senses to the surroundings so that you can hear a cuckoo’s song heard from far away (which otherwise you may not even notice), you can hear the feeble murmurings of wind, and also you can feel forgotten experiences and memories from distant recesses of the past.

In such a moment of deep contemplation, I always had the experience of new words, new sensations and new ideas pouring in. While writing on the loneliness of an actor on stage, this is how I could come up with, ‘a silent ocean of eyes transformed into a pregnant wave and closed in slowly around him, and he already felt water inside his lungs’. I was reclining on an armchair in my sit out which overlooked a long pathway through the rose garden. There was fragrance of roses in the air. I closed my eyes and for a moment internally metamorphosed into the actor, lonely on a dark stage with one single spot light and a house full of audience.

And the expression came to me naturally. I think it was the contemplative mood enhanced by nature, its sounds, smells and even its silence, that enabled me to write those words. Finding new metaphors have always been a difficult task for me. The common metaphors in use, are easy to come by and difficult to shed. Usages like ‘cool as cucumber’ are difficult to replace. But I think this problem can be overcome by asking oneself, ‘what else have given you a real cool impression?’ There is no need to be afraid of making up and using totally new expressions.

I still remember the profound satisfaction that I felt when I wrote, ‘the pretty skirt yawned like a tired runner up in a beauty contest.” ‘Writer’s block’, is another difficulty, which can catch you at all stages of your writing. You might feel painfully not being able to write down even a single word on the blank paper or computer screen before you. In such a situation, it is better to leave the task for a moment, engage in some other activity and then go back to it after some time.

My experience is that trying to squeeze things out of your brain desperately will only kill the joy of writing and damage the work irreparably. To let the mind float free and still keep the reins in your hands is the balancing act that sustains your writing skills. Reading some inspiring writings by other authors can also be an effective solution to overcome ‘writer’s block’. But care has to be taken that we do not copy him /her in the process. I understand that my career as a writer has many challenges ahead.

The greatest of them will be the possibility of repeating oneself, getting caught into the quagmire of self-imitation. This is a trap from which not even the most exceptional writer can keep totally away. But by trying to find out a language and narrative style that suits your theme, this tendency can be overcome to a great extent. Another challenge that I have faced is regarding how to present an old topic in a new way. If not presented in a new way, the old topic will bore the readers, even if it has a certain level of contextual significance.

Detailing is the method, which I have found to be very useful in giving my writing a new edge. For this, the writer needs to do certain amount of off beat research from her main theme. For example, when I was writing the story of a mountaineer, I did lot of geographical and wind velocity research so that I can incorporate some interesting and relevant scientific information into the story, thereby imparting credibility to the life being depicted. And also I could use the wind as a thematic metaphor to the life of the explorer of heights, that is, my protagonist, more effectively, once I knew the character of wind.

Avoiding overstatement is yet another challenge. This will kill the interest of the reader. This is a tendency born out of underestimating the readers’ powers of comprehension. To exercise an economy of words is an important aspect of the solution to this. I always re-read each paragraph that I write and strike out all unnecessary and repetitive words and sentences that I have used. For example, initially I wrote, ‘she was so shocked that she could not speak for a while; she was dumbfounded’, and then I deleted the second part of this sentance, as it was sheer repetition.

As I learned to write, I have also learned how important it is to be effective in one’s writing. Written word has an authenticity that no speech can claim to equal. To have the ability to put an idea in words, with clarity and beauty, is the key to achievement in creative and professional life. In future also, I have to continue to enrich my writing style by enhancing my vocabulary, by reading what others have written, all the same resisting the tendency to imitate successful models, and also by learning to write honestly, right from my heart.