Likhne Ka Shauk Hai, Par Kya Likhun? Find Your First Story in Your Own Gully
Likhne Ka Shauk Hai, Par Kya Likhun? Find Your First Story in Your Own Gully
"Sir, likhne ka bahut shauk hai. Par samajh nahi aata kya likhun."
I hear this more than any other question. On WhatsApp, after classes, in comments. Hindi Quora is full of it too.
Here's what I tell everyone: you don't have a shortage of stories. You have a shortage of noticing.
The story is not waiting somewhere else
Most new writers think a story has to be big. A murder, a love triangle, a war. So they wait for an idea that feels important enough, and it never comes.
Meanwhile, the best stories are happening outside their window. The chaiwala who knows every family's business. The aunty who has been "about to move to Canada" for nine years. The boy who practises cricket shots alone every evening, with no ball.
Aapki gali mein itni kahaniyan hain ki zindagi bhar khatam na hon.
The three-line method
When you don't know what to write, don't start with a plot. Start with one person.
Line 1: One person you saw today. Not a type. A specific person. "The security guard at the ATM who reads a Hindi newspaper upside down so nobody talks to him."
Line 2: One thing they want. Something small and real. "He wants his son to stop calling him only when he needs money."
Line 3: One thing in the way. "His son has just called. He needs money."
That's it. Three lines, and you already have a scene. You know who, what they want, and why today is different.
Try it with three people
Do this for three people this week: someone at home, someone at work or college, and a stranger.
You'll notice something. One of the three will stay with you. You'll keep thinking about them while brushing your teeth. That's your story. The other two were practice.
Then write one scene, not a whole story
Don't jump to a full film or a novel. Write the one scene where the want and the obstacle meet. Two pages at most.
If you get stuck on how to turn that picture in your head into a page, I wrote a step-by-step method here.
What makes this work
You're writing about someone you've actually seen, so the details come for free. The way he folds the newspaper. The phone he keeps face down. Those details are what make a reader believe you.
In advertising, the best campaigns I worked on started with one real person and one real habit. Never with "the target audience". Stories work the same way.
Try this
Tomorrow, carry a small notebook or use your phone's notes app. Write the three lines for one person before lunch.
Do it for seven days. By Sunday, you'll have seven possible stories, and you won't ask "kya likhun?" again for a long time.
In The Foundation of Storytelling, my live online course in Hindi and English, we turn these three lines into full scenes.
Send me your three lines on WhatsApp. I'd love to read them.
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