This collection of interviews is a treasure trove of information for aspiring writers

How I Write HarperCollins India is a collection of conversations between seasoned writers filmmakers and journalists on their craft and creative processes Artists interview artists and enrich the discussion on the challenges faced during the making of their work and the choices that helped them move ahead Edited and compiled by author and academic Sonia Faleiro the anthology of interviews was created as part of South Asia Speaks a mentorship programme that supports emerging writers from South Asia on their journey into writing their first bookHere are five tips from the book that will help all creative thinkers in their journey1 Navigate the first draft The biggest challenge standing between us and our creative projects is our fear of a bad first draft Itrsquos true for most creative endeavours The first draft is the toughest Therersquos always an itch to make edits along the way Every creator has experienced this Kamila Shamsie advises ldquoDonrsquot worry about making it ie the first draft good There needs to be enough to work withrdquoManjushree Thapa echoes her sentiment especially for work that involves any kind of research ldquoThe research has to stop at some point You have to recognise lsquoWhatrsquos enough researchrsquordquo It cannot be an excuse for avoiding completion of that first draft ldquoYou have to grit your teeth and get through itrdquoPankaj Mishra2 Gauge the community There are two ways to think about communities The first concerns the larger society that wersquore a part of In his interview Pankaj Mishra insists that if we are approaching a society we need to learn as much as possible about it ldquoRead up on those whorsquove done the work before yourdquo he says adding that we mustnrsquot restrict ourselves to speaking with people of the community alone The second way of thinking about community is to acknowledge that we are also a part of a creative community and we need to engage with it and learn from itNilanjana S Roy3 Structure your work Nilanjana S Roy writes about outlining and structuring onersquos work She explains ldquoOnce I do that ie lay down the structure the imagination can float around wherever it wants tordquo The biggest fear in such situations she shares can be that the outline would act as a barrier On the contrary it liberates us and allows room for playKamila Shamsie and Meena Kandasamy4 Criticism of your work is not a criticism of you Meena Kandasamy expresses in her interview that the only thing that we have control over is what goes into our creation before we put it out for the world to see Itrsquos important then to be able to kill our darlings lsquoBe proud of your creation but donrsquot be preciousrsquo she writes With creative thinkers there is a tendency to take each feedback as an attack Itrsquos a natural reaction Kamila Shamsie expands this thought She adds that if anger is a response to the feedback we receive we must return to our draft especially if the anger emerges not from the person having paid little attention to the work but from the knowledge that they are ldquoright about something thatrsquos deeply wrongrdquo with the workMira Nair5 Donrsquot think about the fruits of action It is easy to think about the success of a creation the shape and form it can take This thought is crippling It can take away from the process of creation Mira Nair argues that there are several ldquoyardsticks of successrdquo these days mdash a prize here and there However creative thinkers need to move away from thinking about such awards and other faces of success Instead they must focus on the work The thought of success is also messy because in addition to ruining our journey it can lead to us making dangerous comparisons with other creators and artistsAlso ReadIndian flautist Pandit Ronu Majumdar lsquoYoungsters are in a hurry to perform onstagersquoAvailable At leading bookstores and estores