Telling stories to children is the most rewarding kind of storytelling ever. Kids scream... laugh... get scared... they live the story. I write for all kinds of audiences, but writing for kids is the closest to my heart.
There is no difference really. I think bad books are written when we consciously think we are writing 'for children'. It takes as much intelligence, plotting and technique writing for kids as it does for adults. In fact much more. Kids are a difficult audience to hold.
I do some creative writing exercises or delve back into 'The Artists Way' by Julia Cameron. I teach a course called 'Busting your Blocks' so I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve. And it really isn't that difficult. The trick is to set up an everyday habit of writing, not sit around waiting for rare inspiration to strike. Write every single day, no matter what the mood or weather. And soon your blocks will vanish.
A few years ago I would have answered no, but now we are seeing a real upsurge in quality writing and in support. A whole ecology is growing around children's books, including book awards. This is really heartening to see. More important it's wonderful for Indian children to have access to stories that reflect their reality, their culture, and which give them a strong sense of validation.
I was in an Alistair Maclean/ James Bond phase. I used to steal my dad's books and read them. So the book was thrills, chills, and lots of death defying escapes. The hero had to save the world. Many years later - I'm still writing the same sort of book! Only the hero is now 11 and a half and he doesn't have a licence to kill.
Pointing out to your teachers that they are wrong isn't the smartest thing to do. And because I read all my text books cover to cover the first week of school itself I was that irritating kid who always had all the answers. If, as a teacher I had myself in my class, I'd put me in the corner a lot! I remember explaining the 'human reproduction' chapter from my elder sisters book to a crowd of fascinated girls all two years ahead of me in school. Your book Dead as a Dodo, is the second one featuring the Animal Intelligence Academy and focuses on saving different animal species.
I've just finished a book called 'Slice of the Sun, Piece of the Moon' which is based on the street kids of Mumbai. And I'm working on another called 'All of Me' which is about a child detective who has a split personality. 'Jungli' is about a feral child. I roam far and wide in my writing. That's half the fun of being a writer. You can inhabit many worlds at the same time.
The same motivation that keeps me going back to it. Money. Nothing pays as well as television does. They only ask for bits of your soul in return.
When you write a daily soap, you are churning out a half an hour screenplay five days a week. That's equivalent to writing 4 films a month! You learn like crazy. Also, what you write one day is on air three days later - you can immediately see what works and what doesn't. So it's a great medium to test story ideas and dramatic devices. Once you've been under that kind of pressure, all kinds of writing becomes easy. In TV you can't afford to have a writers block - the series would shut down- so you never do. It's great training. But one should move out of it quickly or you risk burning out.
I think the change is already upon us. Whereas soaps used to easily run for five years or more, nowadays it is rare to sustain one beyond a year. So channels are looking around desperately to find 'game changers'. A lot of new and different programming is in progress. Could you have imagined a 'Satyamev Jayate' on air five years ago? The audience is ready for new storytelling. The only thing holding us back is the limited imagination and courage of the average TV executive. They keep retreating back to their comfort zone of maudlin kitchen drama. A new breed of TV people is required to produce a new breed of television.
'Monkey See Monkey Do' is in progress featuring a very hungry gorilla and the Animal Intelligence Agency is getting itself into all kinds of scrapes that I have to pull them out of. I have also just finished a film for Sanjay Leela Bhansali. A non-fiction book on Benares and the science behind the myths around it is in the works. It's going to be a busy year!
