2 insights from 7 years of the artist life
In July 2017, I stopped going to an office and earning a monthly salary. Burnt out and depressed, I stayed at my parents’ home, saw a therapist, and channeled everything into pursuits that brought me joy and peace. These were creative and physical activities, a.k.a. hobbies — writing, stage acting, cycling.
My creative efforts built upon each other in extraordinary ways until … here I am 7 years later, a working artist across multiple genres and formats. Read on as I chart a couple of the more incredible connections that have built my life as an artist.
How a map led me to sign with Asia’s biggest literary agent
In 2018, during my year of pursuing creative hobbies, I looked at the map of India and wondered how the states got their shapes. I didn’t find a book on the topic. So, I wrote a chapter on Andhra Pradesh’s story.
“This could be a book on the origin story of India’s states,” I thought.
I researched online on how to write a non-fiction book proposal and wrote one. I knew a friend whose own non-fiction book had just been published by Penguin. I unabashedly sent her my proposal in early 2020 and asked if she would forward it to her editor. The editor replied positively a couple of months later and we signed a contract. I wrote the book in a year and Penguin published The Origin Story of India’s States in Oct 2021.
As part of the book’s marketing, I did a few talks and events, one of which was with a nonfiction author whose work I admired. She offered to introduce me to her agent, who just happened to be Asia’s biggest literary agent. We spoke and agreed to work with each other, and now, I have two books in the pipeline with them.
How a tall idea that didn’t fit led to a play and a book
In 2018, I attempted a short story about a tall person. I am 6'6" and I tried to write my experience in an exaggerated manner. But the story didn’t progress anywhere. All I had was the idea and the title Brachio.
Then, in early 2023, for a short play competition in Chennai, I thought it could be visually interesting to depict an exaggerated tall experience on stage. I took that short story that didn’t work and refashioned it into a 15 minute short play with two other actors. Brachio was nominated for two awards — “Excellence in Writing” and “Excellence in Direction”. Many who watched it said it deserved to be a full-length play.
Immediately after, Bangalore International Centre offered a grant to help create a children’s play. I applied with Brachio and was selected. I spent the second half of 2023 developing the play with two other actors and a music director. The play went through multiple changes. In Sep 2023, Brachio: The Story of a Lighthouse premiered. We did 8 shows in our initial run. A dramaturg even offered to consult with us after watching a show.
As I developed the play, I wrote the story out as a children’s book and mailed it to an editor at HarperCollins. I had briefly interacted with her at an online workshop I had attended. She replied positively many months later and we signed a contract. I worked with another editor to finalise the manuscript. HarperCollins will publish Brachio as an illustrated children’s book in 2025.
Next step? Let’s make it into a movie.
I have more incredible stories of connections at play. How research for a failed nonfiction book proposal led me to winning a Fellowship to write a children’s book. Or how doing a play led me to an acting gig over six years later that secured my finances. Or how workshopping a short story at a writing residency led me to becoming a reader for a literary magazine.
These experiences lead me to two insights about my creative life.
1. No creative effort ever goes to waste. It is all input into a genre-fluid format-fluid mass which keeps evolving and shape-shifting until it finds an outlet (or many outlets) in which to come alive.
2. A creative life can’t be lived alone. It needs other people — editors, co-creators, producers, institutions, mentors, readers, actors, supporters, champions. While I might sit alone at my desk to write, I need a whole bunch of friends and profriends* to be able to put anything out in the world and make a living out of it.
*profriends = professionals who are also friends; I just created that word.
