Andaleeb Wajid is the popular young adult fiction writer. She’s written 22 books in all, seven of them for young adults. She goes for a style that’s easy to read and relatable. She’s a dynamic writer who loves to publish across platforms, digital, print and even self-publish. She writes about diverse topics – from food and relationships to horror, and is known for her speed in writing novels. Sometimes it takes her three months and sometimes, hold your breath, just one!
How it began
Born in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, Andaleeb has lived all her life in Bengaluru. So home, for her, means Bengaluru. There was a lot to inspire her right from childhood. Her father was a fantastic storyteller, she says. “He would weave stories out of thin air for us and my maternal grandmother made storytelling a regime of sorts – she would sit with us near the swing near the back of the house, crochet away as she would recount to us stories from ‘Chidiyon ki Alif Laila’, a set of Urdu books written by Kishan Chander.”
Writing began at about age 10 of her. “I was always drawn to writing stories, right from Class V and I would mostly rewrite Enid Blyton stories, not knowing it was wrong to plagiarise!” Andaleeb recounts. “I started taking writing seriously only when I was in college because I realised I enjoyed far too much.”
Writing like Andaleeb Wajid
Andaleeb says reading and absorbing things around you are the key to becoming a good writer.
- Budding writers need to focus on reading as much as they can and absorbing the world around them. This is crucial. Even if you look like you’re day-dreaming, you need to internalize the things happening around you, so you can reproduce them faithfully later.
- Another thing that I feel strongly about is that everyone wants to be a consumer (watching television series etc.) and that leaves the brain with little tome to be a creator. So, read, absorb and create.
- Make notes of the interesting things you see – people with quirks can go on to become characters. If someone talks in a funny way, try to see what is funny about the way they speak. Is it their accent or their expression? Not all characters have to be based entirely on real people but you can take certain traits from people you meet, to add colour to your characters.
- Work on writing more descriptively so readers can ‘see’ what they are trying to say. Avoid using clichés such as ‘good’, ‘beautiful’, ‘sad’ or ‘nice’. Try to write in a way to include the senses such as touch, taste, sight and smell.
- Focus on dialogue. To make sure it sounds natural, read it out aloud and see if sounds like something that people would actually speak. Often writers end up writing stiff and unrealistic dialogues. If it has to sound natural, it has to sound like what people would say. For this you need to make sure the dialogues are conservational and not formal. But this also depends on situation and the characters that are interacting. For instance, a dialogue with a student and a principal will be formal and stiff but a dialogue between two friends will be informal and friendly and have colloquialisms.
Her writing style
Andaleeb’s writing is very relatable. She makes a conscious effort to connect with her audience. “I try and make my writing style easy and relatable to readers, and I try to ensure the plot is always tight and pacy,” she says. She has also set a disciplined routine for herself. “I try to get my writing done in the morning before 12 because my mind is freshest at that time. I divide my working day into two parts – the first part where I write and the second where I do other jobs such as editing and more,” she explains.
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