Writers Jam

Yk i’ve never written anything. Like I’ve written captions, birthday messages, texts to people I love (and hate). I wasn’t a very academic kid in school, all my notebooks were always empty. When everyone would write notes, I would sketch on the last pages of my notebook. I was good at it too, I enjoyed sketching.

It always felt like that’s what a pencil was meant for - to create something you can look at and feel something. Not to write notes on the French Revolution so you get better marks, and earn the respect of your teachers for being an obedient child, and the validation of your parents for being a smart child. I saw the faces of kids when they looked at my drawings and liked them, that was enough validation for me.

But well written stories also make you feel stuff no? Good poems, short stories, jokes, love letters.

So why did I ignore all that? Why did I never pay attention to the beauty of words?

Maybe because when I was in 3rd grade, my teacher asked me to copy an entire 6 page story from my Hindi Textbook to my Notebook. It didn’t make sense to me. If I need to read the story, I’ll just read it from a textbook. Anyway, she hit me which a wooden ruler on my knuckles because I failed to do so. Maybe that’s when I subconsciously started disliking the act of writing.

Fast forward to 2018, when I’m fresh out of school, hoping to become a filmmaker someday. I’m good with cameras, editing, animation, graphics, painting. And I’m wondering what’s left? Why haven’t I made a film yet? What’s that one thing I wish I had, that would get me excited to start creating something immediately? A screenplay.

That’s when I rewatched my favourite film of all time - The Social Network. I was thinking what made me love it so much. Ofc it was the editing, the camerawork, the music, the colors, the beautiful Harvard campus. But most of all it was the dialogues.

“You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.” said Erica Albright to Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s been 5 years since then, 5 years where I felt I’m not good enough to write. Until Shantaram made this thing called ‘Writers Jam’. Everyone is writing something, and everyone is a stranger. Even if I suck, nobody would know me personally to judge me for it. So here I go. :)