Good ol' stories!!

“He woke up to the sound of gunshot ringing in his ears!”

“Silently, he heard the footsteps approaching the curtains he hid behind”

“I knew the face as soon as I saw it”

“And how sweet the voice sounded”

You may be wondering what am I leading to. Or you may have guessed it already (if you fall in the latter category, please keep it to yourself to let others enjoy the tale). Ten years ago, if a survey were to be taken asking respondents what part of the story did they think this sentence was more likely to feature in the story (there is of course a higher chance they would not understand the question which is what led to the creation of the 80:20 rule), the most likely answer would be somewhere in the middle of the tale (of course most likely as I feel that way, but that’s how most surveys happen anyways). But (and if by now you haven’t guessed where I am leading, then you should try to audition for America’s most smartest model), in today’s new era of writing, this is how the last 4 stories that I happened to read have opened!

And before you start judging me, let me tell you that I am myself guilty of the above (or a victim of time), as the fourth line is exactly how my own latest attempt at fiction took off. And that got me thinking..whatever happened to “Once upon a time, in a land far far away…” Even kids stories do not begin this way anymore (just guessing)!

I know the logic that it is intended to act as a hook by making them keen on discovering the trail of events leading to this kind of incident, but after a point, and after countless, pointless, substance-less, style-less, who gave internet access to this fellow-full stories which only flatter to deceive, you tend to form a sort of “Bah, this is another of those” kind of feeling. It is now similar to all Bollywood movies that promise to be off the beaten track or ‘hatke’ and end up serving the same formula in a different and mostly inferior packaging. Of course I am just pointing out the problem here and do not have a solution to it, nor am I arguing for the “once upon a time” styled beginning (if I had solutions, I would be trying a career as Anna Hazare and not writing stories); but just saying that there is a market (with atleast one customer, although admittedly, one that is not willing to pay a lot of money) for stories that have a freshness in the way they begin. Just saying!

And while we are on the subject, I have another bone to pick with the way a lot of stories somewhere after the beginning go to great, grand canyon-esque level of detail in painting a picture of the narrative and carry it down till the penultimate sentence/paragraph, only to completely shatter it with a contrasting event AND END AT THAT POINT! (I may be slightly guilty of this as well, both here and here (the first ‘here’ is the same link in the beginning of this post, hoping atleast this time you would click on it)) But whatever happened to “…and they lived happily ever after” kind of endings. Have we as a society become such sadists that we take great pains to describe something only to cruelly shatter it as a way of concluding as if that were how life is supposed to be! Again, just saying, no solutions!

I will definitely do my part in encouraging any alternate beginnings and endings I come across by a) encouraging the writer by commenting on his page with my appreciation (and yes, it is definitely an encouragement) and b) by spreading it through all legally allowed means within the realms of copyright (or even outside it, again, as a mark of my appreciation)

People who agree with me, atleast have an example of an alternate ending here, so please do both a) and b) and I promise you, I won’t sue for copyright infringement! And if I do sue, it will fall under the jurisdiction of Indian courts, and you will probably die before the case is concluded, so go ahead and spread the word.

P.S. I have yet another bone to pick with story titles, but that’s for another day

P.P.S. I seem to have a lot of bones