It was 1996 when this then aspiring author sent a story to the Annual All India Tinkle Short Story Competition for adult writers of children’s fiction. That won her the first prize, but for the next seven years she won the first prize for her stories. And though the protagonist of the first story was named Butterfingers, Khyrunnisa didn’t let any opportunity slip through her fingers! With her 13-years-old protagonist Amar Kishan aka Butterfingers, she has created a smashing seven-book series, including one on the way.
The Thiruvananthapuram based author who was born and brought up in that city, says she started writing quite by chance. “I’m a chronic reader and a huge lover of books and English literature, but it had never been my ambition to become a writer, although, when it happened, I was delighted and am totally enjoying it now,” she says.
The making of a writer
Khyrunnisa confesses that the story of how she began writing is a rather long one. The author and her husband used to subscribe to the Mumbai-based magazine “Tinkle” for their son. The magazine had announced a competition for adult writers of children’s fiction and on a whim, she decided to send an entry. The story she wrote was “Butterfingers. “It won the second prize and I was very pleased. My story as a writer would have ended there had it not been for a visit to my house by two strangers – a lady and her husband. The lady was Prabha Nair, the then assistant editor of ‘Tinkle’. She had come to Trivandrum from Mumbai on a personal trip and when the staff at ‘Tinkle’ got to know about this, they had given her my address and asked her to look me up to find out if I was as bubbly as my story. I don’t know what she found out, but I was pretty thrilled to have an editor visit me on the basis of one story,” she laughs.
When Prabha Nair asked her if she was sending an entry for the following year’s competition and Khyrunnisa replied in the negative claiming she had already won a prize, the former suggested she send an entry since she wrote very well. Happy with this encouragement, Khyrunnisa did send in an entry that went on to win the first prize. That winning streak continued for seven consecutive years. “The writing bug bit me and very soon I was writing for other publications, had a column in ‘The New Indian Express’, won the 2007 Unisun Children’s Fiction Award, and got several other prizes. And when I was asked by ‘Tinkle’ to create a regular character for the magazine, I brought back Butterfingers. It was just a matter of time before the ‘Butterfingers’ series of books was published by Penguin Random House,” says the prolific writer.
Khyrunnisa loves humour writing, and is sure it must be the influence of her favourite writer, P.G. Wodehouse.
Writing like Khyrunnisa A.
Reading is quintessential to writing, says Khyrunnisa, listing out her tips for budding writers.
1. Be a reader first. Writing happens on the solid foundation of reading. Read extensively, both fiction and non-fiction, for that familiarises you with different kinds of books, plots, characters, ideas and writing styles. Meanwhile, keep writing, but don’t aim to be a published author the moment you start writing. The more you read, the better your writing style gets, for you keep revising what you have written.
2. Have a notebook where you jot down ideas that you get at odd places, or exciting incidents you read or hear about and wonderful sentences that come to your mind suddenly and then disappear.
3. Writing is hard work; be persistent. Don’t allow rejection to lead to dejection. Find the genre you are comfortable writing and eventually you will attain your goal of becoming a published author.
Khyrunnisa’s books
- Lost in Ooty and other Adventure Stories
- Howzzat Butterfingers!
- Goal, Butterfingers!
- Clean Bowled, Butterfingers!
- The Misadventures of Butterfingers
- Run, It’s Butterfingers Again!
- Of course It’s Butterfingers!
- The Lizard of Oz and Other Stories
- “Smash It, Butterfingers!”, the seventh book in the “Butterfingers” series, is due later this year and is going to be a badminton-based novel
The writer’s routine
“I am not a disciplined writer who puts in a certain numbers of words every day nor am I too organised in my writing,” she confesses, adding that almost all her writing has been deadline writing – whether it is the Butterfingers stories for “Tinkle” or the stories for other magazines or the regular columns in “The New Indian Express” or articles for other publications. “My ‘Butterfingers’ books have all been written against contracts. So I am always conscious of the deadline and plan my writing accordingly. I am most inspired and write at a frenetic pace when the deadline approaches; that’s also when I write best,” she says.
Picture Credit : Google