The Beginning
I started writing at the age of eight or nine, an extremely short story ‘The Midnight Son’, featuring me as the hero. The title theme was mainly derived from my birth being on a midnight (between July 26 and 27, to be precise—in which the hospital staff recorded it as 00:00 am 27 July and my mother went on a verbal warfare to change it to 26 July because she took all the pain on that day) and from the idea of magicians (thanks to all the magic shows which I thought was real) helping people by fighting crime.
The story was then presented to some of my honorable friends who regarded it as something in lines of ‘more boring than a dead praying mantis.’
So that was about it; all I had to decide was between tearing it apart or burning it, and tearing it apart seemed more kind.
But I made sure it was fully destroyed.
The Middle
I found myself writing again at around the age of twelve, inspired by two PC games my friends talked about on our way back to home from school. Mortal Kombat and Age of Empires were the subjects of heated discussion and since my family couldn’t afford a PC, I could only imagine the game within my head as they discussed it.
This lead to my first short-novel, but the book was rather smallish with about 100 pages.
No, I wasn’t an avid reader back then. So I had no idea how books were written—this was mainly because my English was poor and my attention span to read things that I couldn’t comprehend was poorer.
As you’ve already guessed it, this attempt too ended up as a major disaster.
Later, I came to know what my flaws were when I read actual short stories, starting with the Roald Dahl ones. Then came other short novels, including Charlie and the Chocolate factory amongst the other titles which I can’t recollect.
I thought of writing again, but the previous criticism pulled me down.
The Turning Point
In early teens, I grew up with Goosebumps and Secret Seven, but they never inspired me enough to write. My reading deviated into mythologies and folklore comprising of non-fiction, notably Greek and Norse.
The turning point of my writing life came along with ‘Mr. J.K. Rowling’ (before I had access to the internet, I thought she was a guy) and her magical Harry Potter series and the fantasy life I always wished I could live. Literally.
There were times I asked God why I was born a ‘muggle’ and how Harry could fly the broomstick (yes, I tried that too) without hurting his balls? (Ouch!)
More than that, the character itself inspired me and when I was young and needed to take decisions I would ask, ‘What would Harry do?’ and I tried to do the same, ending up in non-heroic moments of defiance and punishment.
My Influencers
Rowling lit up a spark inside me that flamed up to take over my mind. When I finally came around to believe that it was indeed a work of fiction, I was awestruck at her power to drive people into believing that there existed magic, writing like it was something very real.
I always wondered how a person whom I have never met could influence my brain so much, all while writing a book almost half a world across. That really inspired me to write and influence others, to teleport them to a different world just like Rowling did.
Also, the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini did bring me closer to the concept of dragons and such lore along with the adventure spirit. Then I went on to read more and more fantasy.
Later, after pursuing the medical career, there was a time when I thought writing novels exile being a doctor was an impossible task.
Schedules were hectic. Writing was hard. I almost gave up.
But then Michael Crichton (sci-fi author, screenwriter, film director, producer and former physician) literally cast a spell so powerful that I decided to never give up my dreams as a writer.
The Journey
Thus began my fight with the paper, wielding a pen and wearing a feeble literary armour. I’ve embarked upon various projects ever since; I’ve failed and was made fun of several times; but I never stopped.
Also, I don’t intend to.
Present day: I’ve published a novel. I published a couple of short novels related to it. Wrote another couple of short stories. But I still feel that the journey has only begun.