Sujoy Ghosh

Characters, often if not always, are a reflection of the writer, acquaintances, circumstances and surroundings. One thing I usually struggle with is overindulgence and emotional attachment, especially when the character possesses a grain of my personality. Through my readings, I have seen some of the brightest work through this and few succeed in balancing the act in a rounded manner without making the writing feel indulgent and stay true to the story, not the writer.

Dickens in David Copperfield is autobiographical to a large extent. When he walks you through the painful life experiences of the protagonist, once can feel him tearing up and opening up his heart with all the rawness. Yet, somehow he manages a quaint distance from the trauma and if the reader doesn’t know Dickens well enough, the emotional attachment would not stand out. David Copperfield and to some extent Hard Times almost feel like a different book once you know a great deal about the life and times of Charles Dickens. Another book I get the same vibe, though a different flavour profile, is English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee.

Sorkin in The West Wing and Newsroom is indulgent and projects his politics and arguably inner conflicts, through his characters and in a larger framework, through the show itself. He owns it up with great honesty and often doubles down strongly. The balance is achieved through lip-smacking, meandering dialogues being punched back by one-liner counterpoints which advances the discourse without compromising on the argument. Characters like Same Seaborn and Will McAvoy are reflections of Sorkin himself.

Zain Chisti started as a distant character but as I started fleshing out the character and the narrative, it adopted some of my personality traits – non-confrontational, introverted and nostalgic. The outcome was a layered composite character with room to grow. The narrative was built on anecdotes, personal experiences, stories and imagination. In the course of writing the first draft, I lost my father and struggled with the grief of losing him. Since the story also dealt with impending bad news, the personal loss cast a shadow on my writing as well. With every draft, I became a little more indulgent and unfortunately, it shows because I crossed a line. It stays as one of my regrets in writing one of my favourite characters.

Writing is a journey. There are things to learn and things to unlearn. As I continue on my journey, hope that I follow the wordsmiths I have admired all my life. 

Best

~S