Going on a trek and starting to write a book are similar experiences. You don’t need to know how the entire trek looks to get started. You only need to know the overview at best. It is quite similar when I start a book – I typically choose a theme. I never know what the book will contain beyond that. Each of the characters and stories unfold once I get started.
The view changes every day on a trek. It is impossible to have the new view till you reach the new point. You may have taken notes on the various days, you may have seen photographs from other trekkers who have been there in the past, you may have watched YouTube videos about the trek, but the view you see is the view only you see. And it is seen only when you get there.
How a story shapes and what a character does is also something I am able to determine only when I reach a particular point or scene in the story. I may have it outlined before I start, but very often, what actually happens and gets written is somewhat different from that outline. And it is only possible to determine what the character will do, in a natural way, once I get there.
A trek has many ups and downs, hot days and cold nights that you don’t exactly envision before you start. Tough days and easy nights, good company and bad company, tired bodies and fresh minds. All of these are part of any trek that lasts more than a couple of days. You can’t figure them out at the start, even if it is your tenth trek. All it takes is to build the courage to get started. And then the perseverance to deal with them as they come.
Even completing a book has similar good days and bad days. On some days, words flow like there is no tomorrow, and on others, everything dries up. You often realize you have gone down the wrong path in a particular story, only to rewrite some or all of it. And as if the first draft was not tough, the couple of rounds of editing bring changes that you didn’t expect. It is impossible to figure out everything at the start, even if you have had many books down your belt. All it needs is to have the courage and discipline to set aside all fears and get started. And then it needs the toughness to see them through as they come.
Trekking taught me a lot about how to get and stay out of what was not my comfort zone. It also gave me a lot of ideas for writing once I got back – ideas that otherwise I wouldn’t have encountered unless I had the experience of trekking in the mountains. Writing was my original comfort zone, but trekking helped me become better at handling the uncertainty and open-ended nature of writing. The creative urges of writing and trekking feed each other.
***