Ruskin Bond is an Indian author living with his adopted family in Mussorie. He was born in Kasauli, Punjab. He is a recipient of many glorious awards like Padma Shri in 1999 & Padma Bhushan in 2004.

                                      Having a writing career of nearly 70 years, he always finds himself lucky enough to be able to do and earn from the thing which he adores the most- Writing.

Here are 4 pieces of his writing advice.

1. Decide Your Writing Routine

You need to decide the time & location for writing. The place should be away from all kinds of distractions. 

Staying attentive to your writing is the key. Put away your phone & don’t check emails in between. It would break the concentration.

Example- Ruskin Bond likes to write early in the morning in less disturbance on his study table.

Make your own convenient writing routine.

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2. Be Observant

Observe things, people & places in & around your home. Anything can be made alive on your paper. You can make stories about the lives of others. 

You can write about your life experiences. Talk about the place where you have been living since childhood.

Example- Ruskin Bond is more comfortable writing about dews on leaves or that chirping birds he met during the soul walks on the mountains.

Observe & explore your surroundings & you will get a lot to write about.

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3. Use Simple Language

Don’t use difficult or complicated words to express. Writing should be such that the readers are able to understand each & every word. Make your writing style. 

Be original. Add your spice to it. Use real & interesting characters in your writing. 

Example- Ruskin Bond uses simple language, smooth flow & check for grammatical & punctuation errors too. He learned this trick from his 8th standard English teacher.

Let the flow be simple & easy to follow for your readers.

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4. Practice More & Accept Constructive Feedback

The more you write, the better you become. So, writing a page or two should be in your daily plan. Whether it’s a poem, or your travel story, or any incident. 

Pay attention to constructive criticism (negative or positive feedback in a friendly way). Identify and dump the nasty comments which come due to envy.

Example – Ruskin Bond writes for more than an hour in the early morning. Take breaks in between. He blieves too long in writing chair would lose the freshness.

Quantity leads ultimately to Quality.

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Final thoughts

Ruskin Bond gives his writing strategies in his latest book “How to Be a Writer”. Summarising his main strategies in the end, 

1. Make your writing routine (Stick to it!)
2. Be observant (Look out for content)
3. Use Simple Language (Keep readers at ease)
4. Practice & accept constructive feedback (Improvement)

Quoting the lines from the mentioned book

Don’t just be a writer. Be a good writer.

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