Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Writing the weekly column

My weekly column in the New Indian Express - Un Intended - is keeping me on my toes. Its quite challenging since I chose to write humour and that is something I have not done for a long time. It has been two weeks since and I am getting better at identifying the core idea and presenting it, hopefully funnily enough to bring a smile. Nothing is worse than an article trying to be funny and nothing happens. Writing humour I always found was a lot more tedious job because new ideas keep cropping up every once in a while and drag you away from the one you started on. The new string always appears to be much better than the original one and soon the version 1 and version 2 are made. And then it has to be brought together, the core identified and then refined. To me it is a 3 or 4 draft job. But that is the way I write - it never is perfect the first time. get the idea and the whole in, get it closer, get it closer and then identify the best way to put the idea across. I normally get the one funny line or idea just before the last edit. A case for being with the idea long enough I guess. It is hard work in a way, but it is something I enjoy.
I think its a great challenge to make a person smile if not laugh. Even better if the article is so stark that it takes the pain away of the actual happenings.
The first two articles have made their appearance on the web. Follow this link:

http://expressbuzz.com/searchresult/harimohan-paruvu

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