Just like singing, dancing or playing an instrument, writing is a skill that can be honed and sharpened.
As lonely as the task of writing is, the rate at which new books continue to be published is a clear sign that the ambition to become a writer fascinates everyone -from the IIT-IIM educated investment banker to the start-up entrepreneur; from the 18-year-old college dropout to the retired government employee who lives down your road.While the rocky pathway to `celebrity writer’ status may be a deterrent to most, it is gratifying to note how writers in the city are willingly taking on the onus of mentoring and guiding wannabe wordsmiths through creative writing programs, courses and meet-ups. For Anita Nair, it was the spate of requests she would receive from readers to review their work that compelled her to start Anita’s Attic, a comprehensive writing and mentorship programme, earlier this year. Before the latest batch of students was accepted, more than 700 applicants tried their luck to pass Nair’s strict selection process and find a place in the 12-week-long course, which has already seen two batches of writers graduate.
“I enjoy the interactions with a set of fresh minds. It is also gratifying to be able to shape talent and elicit the best out of each writer who becomes part of Anita’s Attic. It also makes me revisit the basics of writing in various genres again and again. I think what I delight in mostly is the nimbleness it brings to my own thinking and being able to nurture talent,” says Nair.
When Bhumika Anand co-founded Bangalore Writers Workshop four years back, she says there was a lot of uncertainty about how serious Bengaluru’s writers were about their writing. But she really didn’t have to worry too much. “We haven’t looked back since we started,” says Anand. “We have over 250 community members and offer courses for children and adults now. The focus has moved from just creative writing to include all sorts of writing. From a two-member team we now have 12 facilitators. We are also entirely green at BWW. We work on our own online platform and don’t waste paper, so that’s a big plus for us.”
At BWW, aspiring writers belong to several age groups and backgrounds.”Our adult courses are from age 18 onwards, so we really see very diverse sets of people ranging from students to IT professionals. When they sign up, they usually just want to see where they stand with respect to their own writing. Mostly, they only want an immediate and sincere readership,” says Anand what pushes people to ‘pay to learn writing’.
Rahul Warrier, product manager at a digital marketing firm, always wanted to write but the reason he decided to apply to Anita’s Attic had to do with “wanting to do something about this desire to write than getting selected for the course itself.” “Frankly, I didn’t think I’d get through the programme especially considering the fact that she’d received about 600 to 700 applications,” says Warrier, a student from the second batch of the programme. The course has been helpful, he says: “It has given me a sense of direction and helped me understand the difference between writing a book, and writing a book that will be published. Anita is not didactic or restrictive. She does not tells us how to write in a certain way. Instead, she gives us directions and helps us figure out our voice.”
“Everyone knows that a good singer or dancer would have learnt her craft and honed it over time. Writing is also a skill. Exposure to various writing styles, knowing how to read and critique fiction, understanding that writing necessarily includes editing and revising (which is sheer drudgery) -that’s the prodding one gets at a workshop. For a writer who is just beginning, having a supportive community is also invaluable,” explains Anand.
Talking about the personal attention bit, writer Shinie Antony cannot begin to underline the seriousness that mentoring new talent entails. “It is an emotional experience because you are engaging with so many minds. And the way I see it, it’s not just some 9 to 5 job, but a 247 commitment that you are personally invested in,” says Antony about why she hasn’t started a formal programme yet despite having conducted workshops in Bengaluru, Delhi and Kerala. “Teaching writing is an extremely creative process and it takes everything out of you, leaving very little energy for you to do anything else.”
Nair, who considers every student as her protégée -“to guide, nurture, goad and love” -describes the role of a mentor “as a sculptor bringing to life the shape hidden in a block of marble.”
WORKSHOPS AT BLF
The popularity of workshops may be why the Bangalore Literature Festival this year will be hosting three workshops on writing. Shinie Antony, who is cofounder of the festival, says, “Writer Zac O’Yeah will be conducting one on detective writing called ‘How to write great Chillers and Thrillers’, and Indira Chandrashekhar, founder and principal editor of Out of Print, will be conducting one on short story writing. There will also be a Q&A session with writers Durjoy Dutta and Ravinder Singh where they will answer readers’ queries on the art of writing popular romances.”
THEY ARE ALL PEN PALS
There are writing bookshops and there are book-clubs.And then there are a few that are both. Write Club, run by author Sharath Komarraju, is one. Members of the four-yearold club meet every Saturday with a serious agenda -discussing every topic related to writing, be it genres, styles, books or authors. “Unlike workshops, Write Club is more like a meet-up. We have had over 210 meetings and each one is hosted by one of the members.We also have guest writer sessions where well-known writers come in to address the group,” says Komarraju. While there are plans to conduct formal classes, Komarraju says that the meet-up itself has been useful to quite a few members who are aspiring writers. “One of them has moved to Mumbai to write for the screen and a couple of members have got publishing deals,” says the author.
As lonely as the task of writing is, the rate at which new books continue to be published is a clear sign that the ambition to become a writer fascinates everyone -from the IIT-IIM educated investment banker to the start-up entrepreneur; from the 18-year-old college dropout to the retired government employee who lives down your road.While the rocky pathway to `celebrity writer’ status may be a deterrent to most, it is gratifying to note how writers in the city are willingly taking on the onus of mentoring and guiding wannabe wordsmiths through creative writing programs, courses and meet-ups. For Anita Nair, it was the spate of requests she would receive from readers to review their work that compelled her to start Anita’s Attic, a comprehensive writing and mentorship programme, earlier this year. Before the latest batch of students was accepted, more than 700 applicants tried their luck to pass Nair’s strict selection process and find a place in the 12-week-long course, which has already seen two batches of writers graduate.
“I enjoy the interactions with a set of fresh minds. It is also gratifying to be able to shape talent and elicit the best out of each writer who becomes part of Anita’s Attic. It also makes me revisit the basics of writing in various genres again and again. I think what I delight in mostly is the nimbleness it brings to my own thinking and being able to nurture talent,” says Nair.
When Bhumika Anand co-founded Bangalore Writers Workshop four years back, she says there was a lot of uncertainty about how serious Bengaluru’s writers were about their writing. But she really didn’t have to worry too much. “We haven’t looked back since we started,” says Anand. “We have over 250 community members and offer courses for children and adults now. The focus has moved from just creative writing to include all sorts of writing. From a two-member team we now have 12 facilitators. We are also entirely green at BWW. We work on our own online platform and don’t waste paper, so that’s a big plus for us.”
At BWW, aspiring writers belong to several age groups and backgrounds.”Our adult courses are from age 18 onwards, so we really see very diverse sets of people ranging from students to IT professionals. When they sign up, they usually just want to see where they stand with respect to their own writing. Mostly, they only want an immediate and sincere readership,” says Anand what pushes people to ‘pay to learn writing’.
Rahul Warrier, product manager at a digital marketing firm, always wanted to write but the reason he decided to apply to Anita’s Attic had to do with “wanting to do something about this desire to write than getting selected for the course itself.” “Frankly, I didn’t think I’d get through the programme especially considering the fact that she’d received about 600 to 700 applications,” says Warrier, a student from the second batch of the programme. The course has been helpful, he says: “It has given me a sense of direction and helped me understand the difference between writing a book, and writing a book that will be published. Anita is not didactic or restrictive. She does not tells us how to write in a certain way. Instead, she gives us directions and helps us figure out our voice.”
“Everyone knows that a good singer or dancer would have learnt her craft and honed it over time. Writing is also a skill. Exposure to various writing styles, knowing how to read and critique fiction, understanding that writing necessarily includes editing and revising (which is sheer drudgery) -that’s the prodding one gets at a workshop. For a writer who is just beginning, having a supportive community is also invaluable,” explains Anand.
Talking about the personal attention bit, writer Shinie Antony cannot begin to underline the seriousness that mentoring new talent entails. “It is an emotional experience because you are engaging with so many minds. And the way I see it, it’s not just some 9 to 5 job, but a 247 commitment that you are personally invested in,” says Antony about why she hasn’t started a formal programme yet despite having conducted workshops in Bengaluru, Delhi and Kerala. “Teaching writing is an extremely creative process and it takes everything out of you, leaving very little energy for you to do anything else.”
Nair, who considers every student as her protégée -“to guide, nurture, goad and love” -describes the role of a mentor “as a sculptor bringing to life the shape hidden in a block of marble.”
WORKSHOPS AT BLF
The popularity of workshops may be why the Bangalore Literature Festival this year will be hosting three workshops on writing. Shinie Antony, who is cofounder of the festival, says, “Writer Zac O’Yeah will be conducting one on detective writing called ‘How to write great Chillers and Thrillers’, and Indira Chandrashekhar, founder and principal editor of Out of Print, will be conducting one on short story writing. There will also be a Q&A session with writers Durjoy Dutta and Ravinder Singh where they will answer readers’ queries on the art of writing popular romances.”
THEY ARE ALL PEN PALS
There are writing bookshops and there are book-clubs.And then there are a few that are both. Write Club, run by author Sharath Komarraju, is one. Members of the four-yearold club meet every Saturday with a serious agenda -discussing every topic related to writing, be it genres, styles, books or authors. “Unlike workshops, Write Club is more like a meet-up. We have had over 210 meetings and each one is hosted by one of the members.We also have guest writer sessions where well-known writers come in to address the group,” says Komarraju. While there are plans to conduct formal classes, Komarraju says that the meet-up itself has been useful to quite a few members who are aspiring writers. “One of them has moved to Mumbai to write for the screen and a couple of members have got publishing deals,” says the author.
