“Desi Writers Lounge is an online writing community and non-stop (24/7, 365 days/year) workshop. Our members (who double as writers, readers and critics) put up their work for critique which they receive in ample doses, in a general workshop-y environment. The best material of a 6 month period is then published in PAPERCUTS, our bi-annual online literary journal.”
You’ve been writing since the age of…?
11. I started in the summer of the seventh grade, after my then English teacher, Sara Zubair (of the younger generation) encouraged me for the first time in a while by giving us actually interesting stuff to write about; I’d had an overactive imagination since forever and this finally gave me the opportunity I’d been waiting for
Tell us a bit about the genre you started off with…? I’m assuming it was fictional prose…?
Yes, it was fictional prose. It’s always been fiction and it’s always been prose. Even when I write poetry, it’s like prose broken down into different lines. Fiction came naturally for me, it allowed me to take on different disguises and if you looked hard enough, you’d realize there were pieces of their author in every character and story I created. It allowed me…freedom, I suppose. True freedom.
Did your passion for writing at any point threaten to consume the person you actually were…?
Yes, but that I think that holds true for everyone who initially sets out to be a writer; for the initial few years, it’s all about the words. Everything around you is something that you can weave a story around. And that’s what it was like for me, particularly since I was a bit of the black sheep of the family. When I found writing, I was home in so many ways.
And of course your writing has changed over the years… Would you say it’s changed for better or otherwise…? Do you miss the child’s perspective? Or are you reveling in the new ways you’ve discovered of looking at the world?
Hmm, that’s a good question. Yes, my writing has changed over the years and I would definitely say it’s changed for the better, because as you mature, your writing gets better but yes, a part of me misses the child’s perspective but more than the perspective, the audaciousness in experimenting with genre. When I was younger, I started with sci-fi realism with a little bit of reality suspension thrown in, which is something I sorely miss. More because I allowed my imagination to wander wherever it wanted to, and wrote the results down. My writing style has matured without a doubt, but my perimeter has shortened. But maybe this will push me to experiment again…who knows?
Do you think that a desire to veil the creator herself in your work and yet let the words have an imprint of the writer has caused trouble for you on the writing front…?
Not at all, it’s had the opposite effect in fact. By putting myself in the position of each character I create, a part of me becomes him/her, living their lives…I’m a…hmm…method writer, of a sort I guess. So, while I force myself to sink in, it’s inevitable that the writer shows through just because it’s what happens.
To quote one of my favorite authors: “The only way you can truly get to know an author is through the trail of ink he leaves behind him; the person you think you see is only an empty character: truth is always hidden in fiction.” Carlos Ruiz Zafon
There must be at least one literary work you have in mind that you’ve always wished to finish and get into print and see sitting in a bookstore’s shelf one day… What is that story about? Is it an autobiography? Or a fictional work that’s quite autobiographical? Or maybe something completely different altogether?
Ah, yes there is. There are two, actually but one’s an absolute lock for being my first jab at publication: it addresses the Shi’a / Sunni divide, and while yes, it was based on a short story that in itself was based on a firsthand/secondhand perspective, this will require more in-depth research. It tells the story of what happens when conservative Sunni decides to marry into a Shi’a family, what problems may arise, the biases and prejudices on both sides. I think this is an important subject to bring up, more because it’s such a taboo thing in Pakistan. Writing about socio-religious things, which interestingly, is my niche, is generally not done. There’s a void, and I believe that should something work, it would inspire others to come forward as well.
Now let’s come to DWL… A brainchild you’ve nurtured as truly as a mother would rear a child, resentful at times yet always loving. Tell us about how it all started, where did the idea come in from, who were the pioneers?
Hmm…the beginnings of Desi Writers Lounge finds its start in the Desi Writers community started by Sana Sabir on Orkut. I made my way there after seeing her ad for it on another writing community I was a part of, and after that, there was no looking back. Shortly after I joined, within a few months, we’d gathered a set of twelve writers who posted more ambitiously. There was talk of us starting our own e-zine, which was a topic first broached by Sana but then nothing came of it. I restarted the topic shortly after, other members jumped on board, and soon we’d bought a domain and were on our way to something. It did take some time for us to transfer to the new place; DWL came into being April, 2005 and we went live September, 2006.
We were initially twelve people, when the site was initially created but slowly, almost imperceptibly it came down to five people: Afia, Obi, Shehla, Jalal and myself. We were all united under the goal of creating a writing community and publishing our own literary journal, with us learning the how’s along the way.
DWL (the online community) is almost 5 years old now, with a Facebook group and page and a twitter account as well. Newbies in your world are an almost everyday occurrence. How do you feel about suddenly discovering there are so many others around who’ve found a safe haven in DWL for their work?
It makes me feel that we’re doing something right! That we’ve created a place where writers feel at home, because there aren’t many places like this out there, especially for the desi crowd. Where people come here, from places like neighboring India to Bangladesh and Romania, is amazing. Politics is forgotten here, and while we do encourage freedom of thought and expression, this really is a place for writers, poets and thinkers first and foremost. The “newbies” bring so much with them, that we stand to learn from so I am incredibly thankful.
Recently you decided to take DWL from the internet into the real world, I’m talking of course about the Book Club, and the Readings and Game Nights. Was it a really important decision for you to do this? And why introduce DWL into the actual world?
Hmm, one of the reasons to introduce DWL to the “real” world was to get our message across in a broader medium. It would also help our members to put faces to the people they encountered online, which helps to ground things a little more, I feel.
Game Nights were a branch off from our regular Readings, which in themselves were bringing our critiquing session’s offline and building a more workshop element into the proceedings. Game Nights were a fun way to get people’s attention along with making a little money, because this was the first event that we charged for. DWL is not a profit making thing, but all financials have been handled by the five of us, and it can get taxing sometimes.
Book Clubs were introduced to again, get us out there in the right way, by encouraging reading. Which brings me to one of our goals, which is promoting literary awareness and both the Book Clubs and Readings help to do that. Even the Game Nights, because they promote word games keep the brain active, and away from video games, etc.
The Paper Microphone, an interesting choice for DWL as an offline base camp, why the Paper Microphone and not another place?
Hmm, that’s a good question. It all started when Nadine and I got back in touch over Facebook; she was my senior in high school at Headstart, I told her about DWL and she told me about at the Open Mic nights at the cafe. So I checked the place out. The moment I stepped in, I knew I’d found a place.
I just fell in love with the crate wood for a door! I thought it was resourceful brilliance!
We had a few back and forth discussions on how to go about things, what sort of activities we could do, and I was lucky that Nadine had the same kind of ideas I did for literary awareness and promotion.
I doubt that any other place would have given us the freedom that TPM has; they’ve given us our own writer’s corner, and promote our events through our fliers and bookmarks. All in all, it’s been a near perfect fit
(That’s it…and yeah, the door was a great idea!)
More than anything, what makes this interview brilliant are the questions. This what I call work well done.
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