Can Bean Counters Write ?

One of the Alumni Associations to which I belong,  recently sent me an interesting set of questions on the subject of  “numbers” people also being “wordsmiths”. I sent across my answers, and the interview, as it were, was published in their newsletter.

It occurred to me that some of the readers of this blog might have similar questions in their minds, so I thought I’d post that interview up here . If you still have questions, feel free to ask !

·         They say that people who work with numbers are not as good with words. How did you develop the hobby to write?

I started writing at 12. It was in the genes, I guess - my mother comes from a newspaper family; besides, writing as a hobby and as a form of communication was practically a default option during my schooldays - phone calls were expensive and phone use strictly monitored, there were no mobiles, there was no Internet or cable TV,  and there were no e-books. But there was a lot of imagination; imagination spawned ideas; ideas needed to be translated into words; words came from reading books at a prodigious rate and growing  vocabulary; and that's how the writing hobby took off.

In my case, two other things helped: I was painfully shy and diffident until a fairly late age, so writing was my preferred mode of expression anyway. Secondly, I had some really inspiring English teachers, who were quick to recognise my complete absorption with creative writing, and enthusiastically nurtured and grew that absorption. I soon found that people appeared to enjoy reading what I wrote, so the habit stuck.

To address your other point, some of the most brilliant wordsmiths I have met have all been people who are also good with numbers (I, however, have never been so!). Numbers people are logical people; logic may lead them to crosswords; and that habit may go on to writing. So, I do not think the two attributes are really mutually exclusive.....but good reading always helps.

·         One of the most difficult things for any writer is to get the humour right. Your writings are not only funny but also thought provoking. How did you nurture this style, does it come to you naturally?

I was brought up on a strict diet of humorous reading - Richard Armour, P G Wodehouse, George Mikes, MAD magazine, Asterix and Tintin, among others. I used to laugh until I wept, and it didn't take long for me to figure out that any reader who chuckles out loud while reading, is going to be a very happy reader at the end of his / her experience. Then I read "The Fountainhead" and Ellsworth's Toohey's observations on never losing one's sense of humour, and I realised then that I had found my writing genre.

 I suppose the style comes to me naturally, now. The way I started was to look closely at a person, thing or situation, and try and do a flippant take on whatever I observed. I used sarcasm initially, but dropped that in favour of subtlety, and eventually settled for a mix of the two. It worked, because when you really think about it, everything in life has its strange, funny or ludicrous side - and laughter really is the best medicine.

·         With your busy schedule, how do you find time for your hobby? Any time management traits you'd like to share with our readers?

I'm a late-night person. When the sky turns black and the stars come out, the creativity werewolf in me emerges for a few hours ! Having said that, I think it is true for nearly everyone that one will find time, come what may, to do that which one enjoys - whether it is once a day, or once a month.  There's no time management needed here, simply the determination to create that time slot. 

·         Would you say that advent of blogs has changed the way we write?

It certainly has. Blogs always existed, in the form of diaries or personal notebooks - but these were private, either not seen by any or only by a select few. But with the advent of blogs, what you put out there is read by hundreds at a time, across the globe - you can't choose your readership, or control what they read or say. Many of these people post comments and opinions. The writer in turn, is motivated to respond by writing more often and delivering more content, sometimes catering to what his / her readership wants. As a result, a blog that started out as autobiographical or opinionated, morphs over a period of time into something else altogether.
 

·         There's a budding writer in many of us. Any words of advice on how one should get started?

I agree with you - in fact, I would go so far as to say that there is a writer in every one of us; but some people are not comfortable with expression, and hence let that writer languish within; others let it escape and take them over. This is probably why Epictetus, the Greek Stoic, once said, "If you wish to be a writer, write".

To those who really wish to write, but have no clue where to begin, I would suggest that you take the "micro-fiction" route. First think of an incident you would like to narrate or a subject you would like to hold forth on. Then, wipe your mind clean of any ideas about "good" and "bad" writing, since there ain't no such animal. In step three, describe the incident or write on that subject as if you were narrating it to a friend - simply let the words flow. Keep it as long or as short as you would like. Finally, once you're done, put in paragraphs and punctuation, eliminate colloquialisms, tweak vocabulary, and give it a title. Believe me, you will be surprised at the result. After you've done this six or seven times, you're ready to go for a 1000-word article. Good luck !