If You Think Chetan Bhagat Is NOT A Good Writer…

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What the… ! THREE posts in a month about the same author?

I know. Sounds weird. The first was about how I first came to hear about Chetan Bhagat. The next was about how this led to meeting him at a live event. This one is about why I’m studying his books, not merely reading them!

As a student of fiction writing technique, and as I grapple with my first fiction novel, I have been fascinated by how skillfully, smoothly and seamlessly Chetan Bhagat introduces his characters, fleshes them out and fits them into his storyline – in an amazingly brief passage.

It’s a kind of formula I see repeated across the books of his that I’ve read – and today, as I started on “The 3 Mistakes of My Life“, this extract simply blew me away with its efficiency.

“But they are still a lot better off than me and my mom. My mom runs a small Gujarati snacks business, and the little bit of money I make from tuitions helps us get by, but that’s about it.

‘We won, we won the series 3-1′ Omi repeated what he read on the TV screen. Of course, it would have been too much for him to express such original insight. Some say Omi was born stupid, while some say he became stupid after a cork ball hit him on the head in Class VI. I didn’t know the reason, but I did know that maybe the best idea for him would be to become a priest. He wouldn’t have much of a career otherwise, given that he barely scraped through Class XII, after repeating the maths compartment exam twice. But he didn’t want to be a priest, so my plan was the best one.

I ate the khakra. My mother made it better than Ishaan’s mom. We were professionals after all.

‘I’ll go home and change and then we will go to Gopi, ok?’ I said as Ishaan and Omi were still dancing. Dancing after an Indian victory was a ritual we had started when we were eleven, one that should have stopped by thirteen. However, here we were at twenty-one, jigging like juveniles. Ok, so we won, someone had to. In mathematical terms, there was a pretty good probability – did it really need jumping around?”

That excerpt is just 248 words long.

But even if you’ve never heard about the book, just reading that section of “The 3 Mistakes of My Life” gives you a wealth of information about the protagonists. Here are just a few facts these 4 short paragraphs convey to a reader:

* The 3 guys are good friends, have been for 10 years now.
* One of them is less wealthy than the others.
* His mom runs a home business, he tutors students to supplement their income.
* They are avid cricket fans, who’ll dance when India wins a match.
* They’re 21 years old, yet have maintained a childish enthusiasm for the sport.
* Omi isn’t the smartest cookie in the box – maybe due to injury.
* He was intended for priesthood – but isn’t interested.
* The narrator has a better life plan – for all of them!
* The narrator shows pride and love for his mom – and their snacks business.
* He also loves math – and is good at it.
* And he offsets a sense of financial inferiority with an attitude of being better than his peers in other ways.

What a fascinating way to introduce three characters in a novel – in just half of a printed page! You don’t just get facts about their lives, you get a sense of their personalities too… and it all fits into the context of the story being told!

I’ve known very few authors who can do it so skillfully. Robert Ludlum and Alistair Maclean come to mind. They do character portrayals in a way you almost feel like you KNOW the person you’re reading about.

And while Chetan Bhagat’s characters often come across in his books as more two-dimensional than completely fleshed out to feel real (my personal opinion!), I totally am in awe of the way he introduces them in his books. I’m studying his work from that perspective, as it nicely complements lessons in technical writing that I’ve gained from the work of Dwight Swain and Randy Ingermanson.

At the core of this lies not superior talent or long hard practice alone (though I’m sure these are in the back-story of any successful writer) – but that elusive and rare trait…

Being able to spin a story that appeals to listeners!

Aesop and the Grimm brothers aren’t age-old favorites with young readers across generations because of their stunning prose or riveting grammar. No, their appeal stems from something more primeval, more atavistic… a love to hear a skilled raconteur spin a tale.

It appeals to the little child that lives inside all of us. And we will willingly follow that Pied Piper to the very ends of the Earth – and beyond!

And to those who attribute Chetan Bhagat’s wild success and popularity solely to the fact that “it’s oh-so-easy to read”, I’ll just say this.

Usain Bolt makes running 100 meters in under 10 seconds look easy too… but just try doing it yourself!