Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Long story short...

Ok, the stories. How do they come? How do they form inside of my head and spill forth here? Who was it...? Yeah, it was Shub who asked me this in one of her comments..These are questions that don't have easy answers, even from me. I mean...but I sat back and mulled over it for a moment. And looking back, it all begins with an idea that just springs up and I build a story round it, with characters, some a figment of my own imagination, some inspired by people around me. And funnily, the stories are much better when I just caught on to a germ of an idea and put it down, then and there. Not much thought, not much mulling, no editing whatsoever. Straight from the heart, as they say. And whenever I've played around with an idea for a few days and then written it, it's got diluted. And I end up feeling, 'sheesh, this could've been better'. And I always wonder about this. Does the impact lie in the spontaneity of the thought? The freshness? Maybe...that's when the characters are still onstage in your mind. But isn't your story supposed to be well etched if you write it after much thought? I guess that's just a problem with my mind. :)

I guess the difference is in the thought process. The shorties are best for...well, shorties. They come in spurts. The slower ideas need more processing time. Maybe I should try writing longer versions of those. Maybe some idea will find it's way into a bigger book someday.

It's like the difference between a 100m dash runner and a marathon runner. Well...

6 comments:

Prerona said...

for me all ideas come as one scene or an ending or one sparkly sentence (like that one - is it dove? no its dust) and then make the rest up :)

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

The impact does lie in the spontaneity of the thought. First impressions are the best impressions, remember?

phatichar said...

Prerona: dove or dust... :)

Sudipta: I guess you're right, friend... :)

Full2 Faltu said...

I have read many of you short stories.

You can say a lot in so little and That's great

Punds

d4u said...

The difference is in the thought process indeed!!

Preethi said...

Whatever it is, I must say that you are gifted with an art - creativity added to imagination and to top it all, an ability to put it down in words...:)

Hey, why dont you think of compiling all these short stories and publishing it into a book?? I promise, I will buy one...:)