here's how i became a writer and how you can too!

It started by reading...

Before I started writing stories, I was an avid reader. I am still an avid reader. I believe anyone can become a writer but only if you are an avid reader. It’s possible and writing is fun just like reading.

I inherited the habit of reading from my mother and my brothers. We are voracious readers. I grew up watching them read. When you are a little kid, you are a parrot. When your parents talk to you kindly, you do the same. When you see them laugh, you laugh. When they yell, you yell back. I did the same. I grew up watching my family read millions of books. I was a parrot then. I started reading. No rocket science, just parroting! Kids look at the actions of their elders and it results in fueling the spark of their own actions.

It began with Enid Blyton.
I still remember how I flew away from reality to go on an adventure, searching clues with the five-find-outers. That joy — that insurmountable joy of leaving the world in a hush within the confines of my room knows no bounds. I am magically transported to a world of mystery, surprise and laughter. The words of the writers brew the imagination in my mind.

Sigh! Reading...

Then I read TinTin and the Tinkle Comics. Later, I got my hands on Harry Potter. When I read it, I thought the world is now a much better place, thanks to its magic and the glory that leaps off its pages. Then I grew up and got matured enough to read Dan Brown's stories. At first, I found his narration a wee bit complex to understand, but hey, I am a reader. I can read anything! I was in my tenth grade running along with Robert Langdon. The Illuminati, the Freemasons, the New World Order... they gave me a tough time to figure out their motives. Are they offering knowledge to the world for the greater good or for personal gain? Phew!

Then I read the Lord of the Rings. I didn't enjoy the LOTR books much (I can hear your disapproving sighs!) but I have a lot of empathy for the characters I read. So I did assist Frodo until the end. You never break the fellowship. Then I read the works of James Patterson, Stephen King, Lee Child, Chetan Bhagat and Matthew Reilly. Bhagat and Cecelia Ahern taught me a thing or two about love. Patterson and Reilly gave birth to the visual effects of my mind.

Reading books gives me an access to a world of joy and wonder which I normally can’t find in the harshness of reality. If I am low; a bowl of biryani, my mum's consistent mollycoddle and a chapter of Harry Potter is my medicine. (Sometimes, Amazon Prime works too.) Books offer me an insight of how the world works. You get to know about power, about its capability to attract evil and yet the tinge amount we need it for survival. You get to know that love endures even after the death of your loved ones. Memories make the past worth remembering. Laughter is the best medicine cost and tax free medicine of the planet. And being evil always makes you face a bad ending. Read -- the beginning word of the greatest book of mankind. It changed my school of thought. It changed me as a person.
And that's when I started hearing voices in my head; people who wanted to be heard, who needed dreams and conflicts. It took a while to figure out that the voices are the characters of my stories — my own stories. 

Every writer out there will know this feeling. Every reader must have heard this voice too. I believe that we get ideas for our stories by reading several books. I have read so many souls. I have been to so many places within my home. I have lived a thousand lives through the dozens of books that flood my room. 

"Okay, okay… shhh,' I said to the voices.

I wrote to hush them up. I didn’t start writing immediately though. I had to learn the craft and I’m still learning. If you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader.
If you are seriously thinking about writing stories, the best investment you can make is signing up for the Kindle Unlimited. It’s really cheap and you can access millions of eBooks. I devoured so many eBooks and it’s really cool. Some eBooks here teach you how to write and sell your stories. Trust me, you’ll never regret after you sign up for the Kindle Unlimited.

Anyone can become a writer.

I started writing stories as I slowly started learning the craft. It’s been going on for quite a long time. I write stories way better in my head than on paper, though. *Smirks! (That's a different discussion! :P)*

The more you read, the better writer you become.

Writers write because that’s what makes us happy. I am the happiest when I write. It gives us the joy to confess our feelings about the world through the characters of our work. Are you angry with your parents? Or with a bully at school? Or are you mad at your boss? Well, then start writing stories about it
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In your stories, you can create dreams for your characters which you hope to achieve one day. You can throw their path with conflicts, you can make them go places, you can make them fly, jump, cry, dance, kiss and smile. With nothing but just a pen and a paper, you have this power to breathe life into your characters. Offer writers a pen and a paper, they can create anything. That feeling is like flying in the sky. It’s so powerful.

Anyone can become a writer.

I write stories in a rush when I get hit by the melancholy of the people around me. I throw my anger across the fresco of my works. I write to ease my anger. You can write when you are angry too. My anger is always sitting in the corner of my head, waiting to be in the spotlight any second. But when I write, I find a way to break the lights. I am happy when I write. Believe me, you will feel the same. All you have to do is write.

As you start reading and writing more, you start observing the people around you. You can find stories almost anywhere and they do not come only when you read books. I find ideas for my stories at the most bustling places; the bus-stop, listening to the conversations of my friends, watching movies, and above all, looking at the thousand people who walk around me every day. When you become a writer, you start having sharp eyes. Writers are in awe of the million stories that walk amongst us.

There are millions of books on Kindle that teach you how to actually start working on your story’s outline. As you read, you start figuring yourself about things your hero needs, your hero has to do, the conflicts he has to face and the resolution you can offer. The characters will start haunting your sleep. I started writing to hush up their screams. You have to do it too. Never stop writing even for a day. There will be days you will wake up in the middle of the night to pen short spells of dialogues or ideas. The joy you get after writing a good scene is so awesome, exhilarating and epic and it’s like eating your mother’s favourite dish or like the rush you get after a roller-coaster ride. 

Anyone can become a writer.

Never forget that writing is a slow process. It may take years, several hundred drafts, thousands of days of sleepless nights; a billion swear words, feeding your heart with tons of "You'll never be a writer" rants before you finish writing your story. Never forget about other famous writers who started just like us. Think about the million rejection slips they received.

Anyone can become a writer. All you have to be is a great reader. 

You should write for yourself. You may have a gazillion tales to write but sometimes it will be frustrating to put more than two words together. It’s okay. It's normal. There are good days and bad days. There are good writing days and bad writing days. If you have a story in you, take out a pen and a paper and start writing. Trust me, it’s the best feeling ever.

Budding writers expect only one thing from their family and friends; We want your support.

Please do not say, “Stop wasting your time!”

Instead say, “I want to read your stories!”

When we are appreciated by people who matter us a lot, it's probably the greatest feeling on earth. It’s love. Little support can really do wonders. We are so busy sharing inspiring videos on FaceBook that we have almost forgotten to inspire the people within our homes. We like, comment and share perpetually about the successes of people we have never ever met in real life — sports stars, actors, businessmen, singers — but we fail to talk and encourage people closer to us who are in their baby steps in trying things that matter them so much. Budding writers like us need your love more than anything.

Anybody can become a writer.

I was just a reader a few years back but here I am doing something I love more than anything else. I hope you read my stories. I just hope that it entertains you. I hope you love it as much as I loved it writing.