For a long time now, I have been wondering about topics that I can write essays about on a periodic basis. As a fiction writer, I’ve been publishing short stories on a periodic basis. But I never wrote articles periodically.
To me, writing fiction has always seemed easier than writing non-fiction. Of course, most of my characters and settings are based on what I observe. Which makes it easy to convey, since I know what I am writing about. I’ve been writing fiction for about 5 years now.
Non-fiction, on the other hand, has always seemed like a distant dream. What do I write about? Who would read my essays, when there are so many other people who know more than me? And why should I write about the same thing that others have already written about?
Answering these two questions took a lot of time. Till now, the maxim ‘Write what you know’ always came in the way of me writing non-fiction more often. But recently, reading David Perell’s article about writing online and understanding my inclinations better, I have a general theme around which I am going to write.
To validate my answers, I am starting a new weekly e-mail newsletter, where I will share one article about change every week.
Changes are happening all around us. I want to understand how technology impacts the lives of people around us. Some of my stories will have actual conversations with people, while others would be derived from the factual information gathered on the internet.
For example, think about the Zomato delivery man. How has his life changed with the entry of Zomato? At a macro-scale, we know that it has created lots of jobs. But on a micro-level, what are the problems a Zomato driver faces in his day-to-day life.
Another example, ‘YouTuber’ as a profession did not exist a decade ago. How big of a revolution has it been for content creators? What does it mean for the established production houses?
Finding answers to these questions has been a big part of my daily life. My short stories reflect my observations on these questions. Through the newsletter, I want to write articles reflecting my learnings with people and engage in discussions around change.
To subscribe to the newsletter, please write your e-mail address:
Hemant R Joshi 