Novelist, Thrity Umrigar, whom I recently interviewed, states that she grew up in a middle-class home in Bombay, India that was not necessarily overflowing with books.
Her father owned a business and while she encouraged to read and develop proper use of language, stating that she wanted to become a writer would not have been viewed as the best thing. She states that some would have giggled at her.
Yet and still Thrity knew at an early age that writing was her calling.
“I started writing seriously around the age of five years old,” Thrity says, adding that, “I created poems that I would give as gifts. By age seven I knew I needed to find a way to incorporate my desire to write in a worthwhile career.”
I’m suspecting that she was considering how she might create her art while maintaining a job that allowed her to pay the bills.
Thrity goes on to say that, “I entered the world of [fiction] writing through the back door. I sneaked in through journalism.”
From my perspective this is a most respectable and worthwhile way to enter the field of fiction writing.
I think, author, Anita Shreve and others, along with their fans would agree.
Learning how to meet deadlines while developing a knack at delivering facts with a twist of drama that does not skew tha picture, rather adds texture, is a quality that benefits all writers, particularly those crafting fiction.
Thrity remained true to her dreams of becoming a fiction writer while working as a journalist by doing feature articles and taking a more narrative approach to journalism.
She sought to cull out and deliver the story within the set of facts laying before her.
Quite interestingly this is where the roots of most fiction lay, in the extraordinary events we as authors experience in our daily lives.
How have you come to the art of fiction writing?
How has your journey shaped the kinds of stories you write?
Or perhaps it has been your style and way of delivering stories and novels that has been most affected by your journey towards crafting fiction?