2024: The Year of the Fellowship
I won the inaugural Neev Fellowship for Children’s Book Creators. The year-long Fellowship instituted by the Neev Academy in Bengaluru spanned all of 2024. Their support included a generous monthly stipend and mentorship from one of India’s leading children’s authors. From Jan to Dec, I was engaged in the creation of a manuscript for a book for children. The brief was straightforward:
Write a children’s book that brings alive a story that parents, children and librarians fall in love with. A story that captures a slice of India or Indians (anywhere in the world) that is so deeply authentic, moving and immersive that it brings alive an aspect of India — pre- and post-independence — in an engaging book.
Oh, and it had to “meet a global benchmark for children’s literature”. No biggie, right?
I had applied in mid-2023 with an idea that had been brewing in my mind for a year-and-a-half. It centered around the panic that happened in Madras (today’s Chennai) in south India during the months of Dec 1941 to Apr 1942. As the Japanese swept through the Pacific with lightning speed, many parts of British India believed they were making a beeline for this country. As refugees poured into the city, panic built to a crescendo and drastic actions were taken, including some unfortunate ones. Mukund Padmanabhan writes about this period in his nonfiction book The Great Flap of 1942, published by Penguin. I wanted to write it as a mix of fact and fiction for the middle-grader, the 10–12 year old.
There is, however, many a slip between proposal and manuscript. I had a few starts and stops as I tried to find my opening. I finally settled into a rhythm only towards the end of Feb. I wrote steadily until the end of Apr when I hit what I term as “the writer’s wall”. Similar to the marathoner’s runner’s wall, I find it comes when I’m at about 2/3rd the way in and starting to think about pushing to the ending. Similar to all the planning I have to do at the start, planning for the end trips me up as I figure out how to tie up all the threads I’ve opened. At such times, I often pause and go do something else — meet people, read, travel, catch other art, write something else smaller and lighter.
“My granddaddy always said ‘If you got a problem that you can’t solve, helps to get out of your head.’ Pie, it’s good.”
— Agent K to Agent J in the film Men in Black 3.
In mid-May, I found my way back into the manuscript and it was like something had been uncorked within me. I blazed my way through to the end of my first draft in a matter of days. Below is a graph of my average words per day during these three months.
This was, however, just the first draft. It was a bunch of ideas loosely collected on paper. Many of those ideas did not tie together. Characters had different backstories in the first and second halves. I wrote it in because I was pushing to the end. It’s easier to rewrite and edit a completed draft than to keep reworking while writing.
“The first draft is about finding the end. The second draft is about finding the start. The third draft is about the start and the end finding each other.”
— Venkataraghavan
I stepped away from the draft for about a month in order to get some mental distance. I even took a short holiday to clear my head. Then, I returned and rewrote, ironing out all the inconsistencies. By the end of July, I had a First Reading Draft, which I was able to share with the Neev jury team. They responded with their thoughts, feelings and feedback by the middle of August.
“A draft is like a ball of yarn. Pull one thread and the entire thing unravels.”
— Venkataraghavan
I had to restart work effectively from scratch. I merged characters and coalesced scenes from the First Reading Draft, dropped a number of over-reaching ideas and charted a new path for the Second Reading Draft. Again, it took me a month-and-a-half to find my opening.
At the end of Sept, the Neev Academy held its annual Neev Lit Fest on its campus in Bengaluru. I was invited as the Neev Fellow. Attending this fest turned out to be the catalyst I needed. I wrote in a frenzy. A month-and-a-half later, I had a finished Second Reading Draft, which I sent out to the Neev jury team and my agent.
The year of the Fellowship may be done, but the work on the book isn’t yet. The Second Reading Draft may be stronger and a lot closer to what the final book will be, but it isn’t there yet. I will now have to work on this draft and lead it through to a finished manuscript that can be pitched to publishing houses.
The Neev Fellowship was a wonderful source of support. The money and the mentorship ensured that I wrote this book. I know that if it hadn’t been for the Fellowship, I probably would not have worked on this idea or developed it to its current position of strength. Next goal? That global benchmark.
