Why I am beginning to write

I know authors write for a living — and I am no author.

For many other celebrities— lots of people actually read what they write.

And when you know that a large dedicated base of audience cares enough to read what you are writing, you may not always stop to wonder why you bother to write. Endless audience engagement — through retweets, comments, likes etc. — probably further propels you on.

But, to start to write on a platform like Medium without much of a following, or say for a writer-whose-name-doesn’t-automatically-sell-books, writing a book that one doesn’t know how many (or if any) would read — is much harder.

So, why exactly should I bother to write?

I have had the desire to write for a very long time now. Say, some 7–8 years. I am only counting my adult life here.

But none of that desire fructified — albeit a few times. Why? There are a few reasons for this rather long and debilitating writer’s block —

1. The fear that my writing wasn’t good enough. And it was a valid fear. Though beyond that, I’m guilty of having been lazy to edit my way out of this fear.
2. The fear of never knowing enough on a subject matter to write anything meaningful or worthwhile. This isn’t an invalid fear and I still continue to struggle with it in some ways.
3. The unceasing voice in my head asking as to why anyone would want to read what I wanted to say on anything.
4. The apprehension that my interests are so varied that if I begin to write about it I will never be able to build a dedicated reader base.

Why write now? (onomatopoeic pun intended)

The easiest reason to cite is because I like to and I enjoy it — and have always liked it. So, I wouldn’t burden myself with the thoughts of an imagined or real, present or future reader. I would just — write. Of course for public consumption — but without the thought of it or expectations that arise from it weighing down upon me.

But there are other, maybe not-so-obvious, reasons as well—

• It forces me to think clearly. The vagueness of a nascent idea gives way to a more coherent line of reasoning. That bud of an idea blooms into its full glory when you start to enunciate it through words. Writing of course also helps me think of new ideas and arguments.
• Since my writing will be out there for public consumption, I’ll be called out if it is done shoddily. This awareness of an external check/scrutiny would force me to think harder and clearer, thus refining my existing ideas.
• It will help me truly articulate — for myself — what I really feel or think about something. Working on my articles will give me the opportunity to think deeply.

What can you expect from my writing?

It’s very easy to write things that are difficult to repudiate. I can always write statements that are completely true. But, the problem is they would end up being completely pointless. It may be “intellectually safe” to say such things because they can’t be refuted. But, they add no consequential value to a discussion.

• Take for example the following sentence: “Casteism is a multi-faceted deep-rooted issue that warrants a holistic analysis to arrive at a comprehensive solution. The process of solution-building should involve multi-stakeholder engagement and the solution must aim at changing social mindsets in order to effectuate a real change in society.”

The above sentence doesn’t say anything that most people don’t already know. The statement is completely true, “intellectually safe” to say and yet, or rather by virtue of it, rubbish.

Such statements are “decadent truths”: emptied of any consequential knowledge, even if they happen to be correct. The decadence arises from the lack of specificity — and courage.

Because it takes courage to give up the urge to write something completely correct, in the interest of specificity. Without the specificity you’ll never move a debate or a conversation forward. Making a specific argument or forwarding a strong opinion takes courage because you can always be refuted. I don’t, and can’t, promise to be right all the time — and that’s fine.

In my writing, one shouldn’t expect the “intellectually safe” things — arguments and opinions here would be slightly controversial and could espouse varied reactions from those who read it.

Now let me clarify, giving up some correctness for specificity-induced strength in your arguments does NOT mean giving up correctness altogether— you just become a bullshitter then. What I mean is you balance the two — to your best wisdom.

What is the motivation behind my writing?

The subject matter that I choose to write on is determined by the times I am (we are) living in — tumultuous, chasmed, parochialized and many a times, bigoted. I would of course be deeply emotionally or intellectually attached to the subject matter. What I write about will be things that I care about. That will also ensure that I have fun doing the thinking and writing.

And I will not try to break away from that attachment — because the moment I attempt doing that, I will have killed all of my impulse to write anything about it — or to write anything specific and strong about it.

George Orwell, one of my most favourite writers, has enumerated four different motives behind writing, that exist in varying degrees in every writer. They are —

1. Sheer egoism — this entails the desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, etc. etc.

Orwell says that it is “humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, a strong one”.

2. Aesthetic enthusiasm — this entails the perception and pursuit of beauty in words and their right arrangement.

“The aesthetic motive is very feeble in a lot of writers, but even a pamphleteer or a writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.” — George Orwell

3. Historical impulse — this entails the desire to seek truth, to find out and store up true facts for the brooding spirit and wisdom of the future.

4. Political purpose—using the word “political” in the widest possible sense. This entails the desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive for etc.

“No book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.” —George Orwell

While these various forces always war against one another, and their strengths may fluctuate from time to time — for me personally, the first, third and fourth motives collectively outweigh the second, with the fourth one being the strongest.

I am a keen observer of people, culture and society . A lot of my subject matter will thus be derived from the social milieu. Which means that a lot of my writing will inevitably be “socio-political” in its nature. Through my writing, I do harbor the desire, as Orwell says,

• to push the world in a certain direction,
• to persuade & alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive for, and
• to comment on social issues & move the needle forward on social debates (many a times in the Indian context and setting)

These motives demand that I write more exactly. And throughout my writing, I shall endeavour to achieve that. More on this in the next article.

Until then, ❤