Nowadays, many people are desperate to be writers, but they lack the patience to learn the basic rules and regulations of writing. They are in a hurry and just want to proclaim themselves as poets or writers to gain attention. They don't want to follow the process because it takes time.
I see almost twenty to thirty poems every day on Quora, and except for a few, most are not of good quality and don't deserve attention or appreciation. Ironically, people still praise them. Deep down, I know that the appreciation is often fake. People do so to please the writer because if they give an honest opinion or criticize the content, there is a possibility that the writer may get hurt and feel bad.
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Honestly, I also give fake appreciation just to motivate the writer, hoping that they will improve the quality of their content over time because I know how important appreciation is for a writer. It is the fuel that motivates a writer to write more.
When I had no understanding of poetry at all, my cousin sister used to praise even my senseless and poorly written poems. She did this just so that I would not feel bad. To be honest, hearing her compliments back then made me feel like I had truly become a poet. It is because of her that I was able to become a poet. If she had not praised those bad verses of mine at that time, I might have gotten discouraged and given up on poetry long ago. Her fake compliments played a very important role in making me a poet. One day, I messaged her to say thank you... 😄
But just appreciating a writer without giving a reality check is not good; it creates an illusion in the writer’s mind that what they are writing is fine and doesn't need further improvement. They might continue making the same mistakes over and over again. Honest feedback helps them grow and become better at their craft.
When I first started writing, I was also under the illusion that whatever I was writing was very good and didn’t need improvement. But when I shared my writings with experienced poets, they told me to read as much as possible because it is important to be a good reader first before becoming a writer. If you are not exposed to good poetry, how will you write well? That’s why when I read my older poems today, I feel embarrassed and realize how poorly I used to write back then.
You can see from the image above that my first attempt at writing poetry was more like a story. I didn't even followed a simple rhyming pattern; it was a total mess!! I don’t know why, maybe in excitement, I tried to upload that poem on a site for others to read, but it got rejected for obvious reasons. Then I thought that my poetry got rejected because I didn't use Rhyming words. Then what? I started to use Rhyming words in my poetry, but nothing changed. My poetry got rejected again, and this situation continued for months.
After facing too many rejections, I was forced to think about what was wrong with my poetry. When I recite in front of people, why people don't appreciate it? Is it bad, or am I lacking something? Then I Got to know about the technical aspects of poetry, or we can say the craft of poetry. That plays a very important role in writing.
Have you ever thought about what differentiates You as a poet from common people? Everyone in the world has emotions; everyone has thoughts and opinions; everyone feels things just like you. Then what is the difference? The key difference is you know the craft of conveying thoughts and feelings in a good way, or we can say that in an artistic way. You know the skill of presenting complex and tough things simply and easily.
After realizing the importance of craft and analyzing my faults, I started to learn the craft of poetry. I practiced hard and learned to write in meter. I filled pages and pages of the notebook just in practice because, In Urdu poetry(shayari), rules are too strict, and if you do not follow them, your content will not be acceptable. Even if one syllable is missing in a meter, your content will be rejected. Here below, you can see some examples of my Ghazals and Four Liners, which got rejected because of an error in rhyming pattern or meter.
As a student of literature, what I understand is there is no shortcut to being a writer. You have to practice just like a musician does It's 'Riyaaz' daily to refine his Voice. The same thing is applied in writing also. You have to do writing practice, and slowly, day by day, you will also get refined. Every artist wants to create a masterpiece, but a masterpiece can't be created in one day. It takes time, patience, dedication, and sometimes even a bit of luck.
Some people may have doubts about how will I know that my writing is improving. If you are able to see mistakes and flaws in your old poetries and writings that you have written in the past, it means that you are improving. I have said earlier that I feel embarrassed and realize how poorly I used to write in the past. It means that I am writing better than What I was writing in the past. That's why I can see mistakes in my old writings. There is a possibility that after one or two years, I may realize that What I am writing today is also not of good quality, and at that time, I will edit or may reject what I am writing today because that time, I will be more better than what I am today.
Lastly, I want to say that you have a passion for writing. It is good, and it should be appreciated. We are both colleagues, or we can say friends. I know you have the potential to be a great writer and one day, you will be; I just want you to be calm and try to understand and learn things. Please don't be in hurry, enjoy the process. Focus on improving your craft along with art. Don't think you don't write well right now; you write well, and nothing is wrong with you. In beginning, everyone writes badly; Right Now I am also in that phase, but I have hope that I will write something great one day, and I want you, too, to think like that.
Conclusion: Read as much as possible, then write and evaluate again and again, and then if you find everything correct, then recite it in public but if you are not feeling satisfied, then Reject it. Don't treat your writing as your child.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. I genuinely appreciate your feedback and would love to hear any opinions or questions you might have. Please feel free to share your thoughts or offer any constructive criticism….😄
~Priyanshu Gautam
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