Fiction Strange, Fact Stranger
About six months ago, I wrote a short story, with another story tucked inside it. The plot went like this. A young man quits his job hoping to write his first novel. The main characters in this novel are a family of vegetable-sellers that he meets every now and then, on a busy road in his locality. When he hits a block after the first three chapters, he becomes almost voyeuristic, visiting the shop every day on some pretext or the other, hoping to draw ‘inspiration’. Until, one day he discovers that the shop has been razed for some road-widening work. His inspiration and in fact, his whole dream of being a ‘maverick’ writer falls through. (There is more to why it falls through, but I won’t get into that here).Â
Now, the voyeuristic story that the author in my story is writing, is infact based on a family of vegetable-sellers whom I sometimes shop from, close to where I live. Yesterday, from inside an auto rumbling down the same road, I was horrified to note that this shop had been razed down. I felt unbearably guilty; guilty of having pre-empted reality in what is no doubt an unpleasant outcome for them. And for a moment, though I don’t believe in a literal supreme being directing individual actions and events, I allowed myself to wonder how God feels when his script goes wrong.Â
p.s. This is my 100th post on this blog and though occasionally, I’ve thought of closing it, on the whole, I’m thankful for all the conversations I’ve had, the different view points I’ve got to hear and the interesting people I’ve been able to meet. A big Thank You is in order to all my readers!
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I remember that story!
Congrats on the 100th post
Congratulations! Keep going. A double century too, perhaps?
Apu, you cruel raconteur! Kidding;)
Aruna, SS - thanks! Hope to keep going…
Sri - yes, I am awe-struck at my own power
This is really strange. I was bored and blog hopping late in the night after watching a movie and I landed on this blog for the first time. The title of this blog entry caught my attention. The movie that I just watched was ‘Stranger than fiction’. There was a lot of similarities like ‘Writer’s bloc’ and writer’s ability to influence real life events. Are you sure you haven’t seen this movie? If not maybe you should watch it.
Apu- congratulations on your 100th post!
And I was just about to talk about Stranger Than Fiction! Its a very interesting concept and similar to what happened to you
(An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death)
Truly Stranger Than Fiction.
Thanks Prash!
Looks like I should be watching this movie…