Last week, I had the opportunity to meet folks, some familiar and many unfamiliar, from this little team called Feeds and consequently felt ancient and uncle-like. It’s been almost two years since I sat in such a setting and it didn’t take long to get all poignant about the good old days.
To give some context, Feeds is the college magazine and mediahouse of my alma mater, NIT Trichy. I served as an editor for its 9th volume. Old habits die hard, so let me plug our website here: http://feedsnitt.com
As a direct consequence of the meet-up and of my life having peaked then, I fell into a rabbit hole of re-reading our past issues and some online articles. That is when I stumbled upon the following letter. I completely forgot that I had written this, and the only thing I remember about it is that I was writing it, half-teary at 3 ‘o’ clock in the night, almost two years ago, little less than an hour after my farewell from the team. Even though it was addressed to my team, I ended up not sending it to them.
If you’re wondering why I am publishing this letter now, it’s just that I saw too many “practical writing tips to become a better writer” on LinkedIn and I wanted to balance them out with some abstract and vague (but equally pretentious) writing tips.
Dear Team,
I am writing this letter to you, consequently draining the last of the creative juices left from the deepest and most twisted parts of my thickly-walled heart. I am writing this because I felt I didn’t do justice to what this team has given me with my ramble. So, as I said in the call a million times, please bear with me. This letter has been curated carefully and with due precision to the events hence covered.
Here are a few things I want you to keep in mind as a part of Feeds. These, I believe, are the values that Feeds stands for and they should be held on to with firmness and with no leeway for indecision.
Truthfulness via deception (sometimes)
Starting with the obvious connotation of truthfulness, it is important to stay true to facts and to the reader when one writes. We lose everything as a mediahouse when we lose credibility. Years of perseverance, years of discussion, debate and analyses disappear with a single deviation from what is the absolute truth. What stands between us and conveying the truth is censorship - look at it as a mere pothole in a road full of opportunities; if the one who’s steering the vehicle knows how to avoid a pothole, it shouldn’t stop her from reaching her destination. Personally, I have always turned to the art of satire whenever I wanted to speak the truth. I disguised my truths in the form of Fake News and humour articles and that has always let me write my mind without the fear of repercussions.
Secondly, be truthful to yourself. Do not write of feelings that you are alien to, of opinions that you do not comprehend or agree with. Do not lie to yourself, and thus to your reader, that your knowledge or opinion of something can be trusted when you are unsure yourself.
Creativity via constraints
Acknowledge it. You have made it into the team. You are creative. Nothing stops you from letting your mind travel to the weirdest of places. Write of wacky things, describe unimaginable people, contrive novel scenes. But remember, words can hurt. Our goal is not to hurt a reader, but to make one introspect. So, even though you might find some low-hanging fruit in the form of creative insults at, say, an institution, it’s best to avoid.
Many associate creativity with the free flow of thoughts. I say otherwise. The most creative pieces of writing stem from constraints, self-imposed or otherwise. So, experiment, iterate, challenge yourself to give the reader something no one else can possibly give, and leave your signature.
Confidence via humility
Feeds thrives on rigorous feedback. I’ve had articles rejected by my editors with a certain degree of ruthlessness (and also an equal degree of truthfulness). To not take it personally and to see how you can improve yourself for the next issue are what kept me going. There were two factors in play here. Firstly, I had a competitive spirit and the confidence in myself that I could do better. Secondly, my editors and my seniors had the confidence in me to trust me to do better. When you are a member of Feeds, you need to be both confident in yourself, for there is a reason why you were chosen, and you need to show your teammate the reason why they were chosen. Bring the best out of yourself and those around you.
However, confidence alone won’t get your issues published. Humility is an important trait, be it when dealing with feedback, with criticism or with the dreaded administration. We’ve had entire issues sent for reprints, costing us several thousand rupees, due to a single word. So, speaking with the knowledge of a learned man is not as important as listening with the patience of a learning man.
This letter is unlike most things I’ve written, because whenever I write something this pretentious I don’t mean it. But rest assured that this was written with utmost sincerity. Feeds is a phenomenal team to grow as an individual. So, make the best use of it. May the Feeds be with you.
Love,
Preetham
Beautiful, Preetham. Brought back so many cherished memories.