Most of our creative imagination is reduced to the colonizing imagery calibrated on our smartphones robbing us from the beneficial time and line of creativity— Key points from Mujeeb Jaihoon’s online talk at LITERATURE FEST 2K20 organized by HISAN UNION (Students Union of Al Gaith Islamic & Arts College for Girls – Karthala Markaz, Valanchery – Friday, 10am October 02 2020)
There are no secrets to successful writing. If at all there were any, then they have to remain so. Trade secrets are not to be revealed, be it of business or art or crafts. The only secret of creative writing is one’s dedication and passion for it. These are very personal to every individual.
PASSION & CREATIVITY
We are individually passionate about different matters. Children are passionate about their toys. Dolls and footballs may entice them. Homemakers may be crazy about recipes.
Passion is not the handmaiden of rational minds. It is far from a reasonable state of existence. Rather, it is a legitimate state of madness. Thus, it is hard to be passionate all the time for sensible individuals. One has to be reasonably crazy to be a successful writer to foster wild imagination. This is a huge challenge these days when we are monstrously consumed by the onslaught of notifications interrupting our freedom of time and imagination.
Our scope for creative imagination in the modern times is reduced to the visual imagery calibrated on our mobile screens. Our thought process is confined to the viral videos and trivial memes which hover between our conscious and subconscious states of awareness. The flood of feeds in our timeline colonises our minds and hearts, robbing us from both the beneficial time and line of creativity.
MOTHERHOOD
Motherhood is the most respected and revered form of human existence across faiths and cultures. A mother’s passion for her children’s wellbeing is perhaps the greatest of human struggle. A mother’s loss of her children is undoubtedly the most severe form of human tragedies.
CREATIVITY IN ISLAM
Creative passion holds a very divine place in Islam. Pen, for example, is the primary non-living object mentioned during the first episode of Revelation. The pen has evolved in material and shapes. In traditional Muslim world, Pen was an object which was highly regarded for its link with knowledge. Pen was never allowed to lay on the ground and was very intimately integrated into Islamic way of life.
WOMEN & LEARNING
Islamic world has some of the remarkable names of women intellectuals, beginning from Ayesha Siddiqa, the knowledgeable wife of the Holy Prophet. There have been others who appeared at the later stages in the form of saints and educationists including Fatima al-Fihri, the founder of the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco. However, the modern Islamic world, except for a handful of names, are largely lacking in such luminaries. In Malabar, home to one of the oldest Islamic subcultures in history, there are hardly any iconic lady figures to represent public Islamic intellectuals. It is close to impossible for modern Muslim Kerala to highlight to the outside world at least three living Muslim woman scholars of repute.
3 ‘S’ (സ) of SUCCESSFUL WRITING
For convenience sake, we may enlist three secrets of successful writing which begin with the letter ‘Sa’ in Malayalam.
LOVE PAR EXCELLENCE
1. The first secret to successful writing is ‘Sneham’, or love. Without love in your heart, you cannot succeed in creative writing. Be it a novel or biography or travelogue, you cannot excel in writing until you passionately love the characters, person or the place about whom you are writing.
Creative Writing is not simply a hobby for timepass. Your age has been wasted if you have been assuming otherwise. Writing is not, rather should not be, something you do in the comfort zone when you are done with work and family. Rather it is vice versa. The first step to successful writing is to polish your priority for creativity.
CONVERT CALAMITY TO CREATIVITY
2. The second secret to creative writing is ‘Sankadam’, or sadness. Successful writing cannot sprout without undergoing pain and tribulations. Different persons undergo various trials: personal tragedies, illness, loss of loved one, poverty, financial difficulties or wars. Human beings and tragedies are like planetary bodies chasing one another. Afflictions will keep chasing humans like shadows.
It was the Holy Prophet who said, ‘Sadness is my intimate companion’. Pain, hence, is not a forbidden fruit for human life. In the case of a writer, he or she enjoins the beads of pain into a grand rosary of creativity. Writers convert calamity into creativity. We can surely find the influence of trials and tribulations in the creative journey of prominent writers. Poetry is the panacea of the afflicted while the characters in the novels speak the sufferings of the writer. Only those who can swim across the river of pain and tribulations can reach the shore of successful writing.
DREAM GOOD. WRITE BETTER
3. The third secret is Swapnam, or dream. Writers don’t just observe what the commoners see. They envision a world beside or beyond their immediate context. One who is not a good dreamer cannot be a good writer either. Writers are relevant only if they dream of different circumstances from those prevalent around them. They cannot be content with the system leftover from others’ thoughts and ideas. Only dreams can ignite sparks for writings.
IMITATION IS INIMICAL TO WRITING
So love, pain and dreams are important ingredients of successful writing. Albeit, writing is no formulaic journey where you have to follow the route map of another writer’s success. Writing is not an imitative feast where you mouth water at others’ dishes. All humans are blessed with unique skills. Identifying and recognizing your cognitive talent is not only a personal privilege but an act of gratitude towards the Creator. Since all talents are bestowed by the Almighty, it is an obligation to discover them for positive expressions. Writing is an act of service to the creations of God for creating better opportunities of thought and experience.
CREATIVITY NOT A PRIVILEGE
Denying creative expression of talents is actually turning your back on the blessings of God. Just as it is sinful to accumulate wealth without spending on the poor and needy, it is wrong to lock up one’s creativity without expressing it for the joy of fellow beings. Such wealth and creativity become a curse rather than an asset for its beholders. Creativity is an obligation, not a privilege.
Each one of you has to undertake a blood test to check the level of creativity hidden inside you. Who knows, we may discover a writer’s vibe within our veins.
ACCEPTABILITY IS NOT THE ACID TEST
Not every good writer has to be successful. Many of today’s celebrated authors were once awfully disregarded by their contemporaries. Initial success is not a qualification for successful writing. Acceptability is not the yardstick to measure the quality of writing. Albeit, Patience is a rare commodity in today’s fast paced world. It is impractical for first time writers to expect the world to celebrate their debut work. Acceptance and applause may or may not come. But that shouldn’t stop our creative endeavors.
Nevertheless, the writer should be confident of their creativity. The content should be polished to the best human perfection possible. The germ of one’s writing should be baked in the oven of perfection. Rejection by the audience or the publisher should not disappoint or dishearten the writer.
SLEEP & CREATIVITY NOT GOOD BEDFELLOWS
Some may say that the dearest for them are their friends or parents. Others may claim to be their careers. We need food to eat but can manage without for a few days. But Sleep is among the most primary necessities without which a sane mind may be unimaginable. No one would be incapable of losing sleep. Sleep Deprivation is perhaps the greatest torure to suffer.
A lover of the Holy Prophet had once exclaimed, ‘O Rasoolullah! You are dearer to me than my sleep! Only those who realized the value of sleep can grasp the depth of this expression. For, most human souls cannot endear another more than their sleep.
Sleep is not the fortune of successful writers. Creativity and Sleep don’t make good bedfellows.
WRITING & SOCIAL DISTANCE
We should be prepared to sacrifice the connection, affection and notification once we board the creative train. I personally feel fortunate to have begun my creative journey before the advent of the hegemonic notifications.
A good writer may need to, if not want to, keep minimal ‘social distance’ from socializing in order to devote and dedicate his or her time for the written word. This is true as for any other development of human enterprise, be it art, business, politics, or even monastic life.
Politicians struggle day and night to safeguard their electoral capital. They walk miles during marches under the scorching sun or chilling cold. Sportsmen spend hours in training. Entrepreneurs brainstorm for months to fine tune their product idea. How many of the writers’ tribe would dare to do the same for the written word?
INSPIRATION IS IDIOSYNCRATIC
Latest technologies have shown that our eyes, face and thumb are unique, especially for identification purposes. Human talents too are idiosyncratic in nature. No two human beings are the same. Hence, to imitate another’s creativity is actually a sinful act. Others may inspire us, but that is no license for imitation.
DIVINE DEVOTION
If we succeed in generating a positive vibe in a reader with joy or inspiration, then our writing becomes an act of divine devotion. Writing for good is also an act of charity if it creates a smile in the reader.
ORGANIC PAPER
It is ideal for writers to start writing on the paper fabric. Paper is made from wood which originates from a tree. The tree is grown in the soil of the earth. The human fabric too is organically linked to earthly soil. Hence, paper, and not glass screen, is the organic link between us and writing.
POWER OF PRAYER
Part of being successful is never to doubt the power of prayers. Dua makes the impossible, possible. The prayer of our loved ones is the greatest strength for our success.
CRITICAL READING
Writers cannot afford to read without being critical. They discover provocation or inspiration based on the content of their reading. They may compose new works based on their appreciation or reaction to the viewpoints they come across.
Screengrab from the online discussion
