Imagination to Ink - Part 1 Are you a Writer?

Have you ever felt a crazy urge to drop everything that you’re doing, to write down an idea niggling at the back of your head? Or have you ever scribbled a story so furiously, that you were oblivious to the outside world? If yes, then you are on the right page.
This post is for all those who have always wanted to write novels – but just didn’t know how to get started. It’s for all those who have yearned to get their disorderly thoughts, in order enough to put them down systematically on paper. It is also for all those who know what fiction writing is all about, but just can’t seem to get down and do it!
First of all, let’s understand who can be a fiction writer. Answer these questions :
Do you have a story to tell?
Are you motivated to write from your heart and not your head?
Do you think writing will give you the emotional and mental satisfaction that you crave?
Do you think your creative urges will be met with writing?
Do you feel an insatiable need for self-expression?
If your answer, to at least three of these questions, is in the affirmative, then you are certainly on the right emotional and mental plane.
Like any artist, there are usually two kinds of writers,. You are either born one, which means that you simply touch pen to paper and your ideas flow smoothly. This is an inborn art, which can be nourished but which is basically spontaneous.
Then there is the other kind of writer – the ‘Trained’ writer. A person who has a command over the language but who needs to learn and acquire the technique of weaving that language into a gripping read.
Both these writers however, in the long run, have to face similar problems and thus, should possess some basic qualities. There are certain unavoidable ‘musts’ for a fiction writer. You must be highly imaginative, observant, flexible, ready to work very hard, be confident of your work, be self-disciplined, have lots and lots of patience, and most important of all, be open to criticism.
If you wish to be a writer and if you don’t possess these qualities, how about beginning to acquire them? At the same time, I think it is absolutely essential to understand two rather daunting facts. First – that writing is a lonely job. And second - Writing is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration!
So the first step is to assess yourself, long and hard and find out – do I really want to be a novel writer? If the answer is yes, join me in the next post!