Writing, Kolkata
Kolkata, Thurs, 4 Oct 2007
One of my failings as a writer is that I wish to begin at the end. I like my characters, even the villains, and I want them to be happy, which makes for a crap story. Sometimes I go too far in the other direction, though, and torture perfectly nice characters without providing a satisfying conclusion.
Kill all your darlings, Faulkner said, and while I don't like his writing, he has a point. Just don't take it to extremes.
Back to Kolkata: I saw a whole family huddled on the sidewalk around a propane torch cooking their dinner. We call this "camping", here it is life. Five blocks away Kolkata is doing its best to construct hideous Western- (really, American) style mega-malls, knocking down beautiful old colonial architecture to do this.
Though with the way Kolkata remembers the British era, perhaps this is for the best.
One of my failings as a writer is that I wish to begin at the end. I like my characters, even the villains, and I want them to be happy, which makes for a crap story. Sometimes I go too far in the other direction, though, and torture perfectly nice characters without providing a satisfying conclusion.
Kill all your darlings, Faulkner said, and while I don't like his writing, he has a point. Just don't take it to extremes.
Back to Kolkata: I saw a whole family huddled on the sidewalk around a propane torch cooking their dinner. We call this "camping", here it is life. Five blocks away Kolkata is doing its best to construct hideous Western- (really, American) style mega-malls, knocking down beautiful old colonial architecture to do this.
Though with the way Kolkata remembers the British era, perhaps this is for the best.