SANTOSH BAKAYA
What exactly is creative writing?
It is a phenomenon, with myriad facets, cleverly combining, conscious and subconscious knowledge in innovative and original ways, sprinkled with pinches of intuition and inspiration.
Any person with a fertile imagination can be creative.
Let me clarify. Five creative people see a bird. One is intrigued by its beak, one loves its call, another is impressed by its swooping flight, still, another is fascinated by its glossy feathers, and the fifth one is mesmerized by its stubby tail.
These five creative people pen their thoughts poetically, each writing on that aspect of the bird that has fascinated them. So, just one bird has triggered five poems involving creative ingenuity, imagination, memory, and cognitive flexibility. One should let one’s imagination go berserk, flying to unknown, untrodden terrains, opening up new creative vistas, unique and innovative.
Another example: For a creative person, a mug is not just for having tea or coffee, it can be used as a flower pot, a pen holder, a spoon holder, or for holding miscellaneous objects.
Let me reiterate, if a creative writer is very passionate about his writing, the words will flow smoothly. I am reminded of the words of Natalie Goldberg, “the muscles of writing are not so visible, but they are just as powerful: determination, attention, curiosity, a passionate heart”.
14 January, Makar Sankranti, is celebrated with great zest in Jaipur. On this day, the young and the old, derive immense pleasure from flying kites; the blue skies are covered in various hues, and the surroundings are rent with exuberant cries and triumphant yells. To a creative person, the kite-covered sky can provide immense mental fodder. To me, the kites in the sky appear to be various ideas of people who have let their imaginations run, untethered.
One can write a poem\ prose piece\ or essay on the pleasures of kite flying or the pleasures of running after a kite in the vein of G K Chesterton’s famous essay On Running after One’s Hat. Of course, not imitating him, but taking inspiration from him. When I read his essay in college, I was struck by his use of oxymorons, paradoxes, wit, dollops of humor, and the blend of levity and profundity. He maintains that the sight of a man running after his hat can make him the butt of ridicule, but with his tongue firmly wedged in his cheek, he says, “A man running after a hat is not half so ridiculous as a man running after a wife.” (Chesterton 3-4) While going through the essay, I almost imagined a twinkle in the humorist’s eyes. Of course, the image of a flustered man running after a hat undoubtedly triggers a litany of laughs, and so does a man chasing a runaway umbrella. Chesterton’s viewpoint is that one should look at the mundane, and even absurd mishaps through the lens of a child, and creativity will follow.
What the creative person sees, depends on his creative lens. Some years back, I saw a boy running helter-skelter on the road, on Makar Sankranti Day, the scene triggered an essay, now part of my book, [Flights from my Terrace, AuthorsPress, 2016]. I am sharing an extract to show how a particular scene can spark creativity.
“A boy snoozing on a chair next to his parents leaps up from his chair, and before the mother can put a restraining hand on his shoulder, races out of the massive gate, sprinting breathlessly towards the road, only barely misses being crushed by a monster truck.
Ignoring the hissed curses of the truck driver, he races after the truck. The truck trundles away out of sight, but I can still see the boy racing forth with new vigour, now that the road is clear. But alas, he collides with a man who lets loose a barrage of expletives.
Unfazed, he stumbles on, dashing towards a deserted house; kicks open the rusted gate, sprints up the staircase leading up to the terrace, and crash-lands on the terrace.
But no, the boy has fallen only to rise again! With a nimble sure-footedness, he forges ahead.
What is he up to?
Neither looking to the right, nor to the left, he looks only in front of him and then bends down.
What is he down to? Hang on; the boy has only stooped to conquer!
With a yell of triumph, he picks up the fallen angel- a kite.”
So, what ingredients go into creative writing?
One needs to keep one’s senses alert, have a fertile imagination, cultivate a good vocabulary, keep one’s eyes open for minute details, and yes, even eavesdrop on people’s conversations, to bring an element of authenticity to the dialogues of the characters. One also needs to be ingenious enough to use them in clever ways.
That brings me to an interesting incident. I will come to it later.
Till then, keep observing, imagining, and creating…
Santosh Bakaya is a Poet, Academic, Essayist, Novelist, Biographer, TEDx Speaker, and Creative Writing Mentor
