Ruskin Bond
The ghost story is a popular genre of mine and is particularly adaptable to the visual media.
One of the very first ghost stories I read - and that was in a forest rest house, where it is a bit scarier - was by M.R. James. He is one of the pioneers of ghost stories. And the book was called 'Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary.'
It's nice to have awards from time to time. There was a time when I had to make a living from my writing, and it wasn't always easy. I value awards a lot - and more so if there is a little cash with them!
Films and books have been intertwined as far as my growing up is concerned.
I fortunately have a good memor, and that helps a lot in the way I write.
I don't overwork - a couple of hours a day is fine for me.
If I'm really immersed in a story, I try to finish it in a few days. If it's a longer work, then it would take a few months.
I used to type, but now, typing or working with a computer, I get a stiff neck. So I prefer writing longhand.
My desk is right next to my bed. So I sit on my bed. I write in a big notebook which is on the desk. And if I feel drowsy, I just have to slide into bed.
I think I'm from the 18th century, not even the 19th. I don't even use a typewriter. I prefer longhand, and that's how I submit my manuscripts to my publishers.
I've never written specifically for children as such. I write to please myself, and if it is suitable, it gets printed as a children's book.
I won't usually just sit down to write. I'd have done it in my head already. I visualise a story just like a film strip running in my head. I guess that is also a reason why my books have such a visual element to them. And it's what I tell young writers: plan your story ahead.
I'm not very good at writing fantasy or even reading it.
No, I don't want to be a brand. Brand means I cannot go out for a quiet walk without tourists and fans constantly following me.
I may not have become a good writer, but I managed to make a living out of writing.
The books that I wrote in my late teens and 20s, the little love stories, they were right from the heart.
I did all kind of jobs to sustain myself. I worked at a grocery store, in the public health department, and what was then Thomas Cook and Sons. The last job was particularly interesting, but I got fired from it.
I wanted to be a tap dancer when I was very young.
If you live in America, you need a gun, and I am not very fast with a gun, so I think I would walk out very quickly.
There will always be books as long as I am mentally capable of it.
I can't live in a room without a window.
When I was younger, I took life much more seriously.
I am a very personal writer. I write direct to the reader. I don't hold back.
Instead of becoming a great shikari, as my mother and stepfather might have wished, I had become an incurable bookworm and was to remain one for the rest of my life.
The transition from an English father to a Punjabi stepfather demanded an adjustment that was far from easy for a 10-year-old boy who had just lost his father.
I wouldn't want a film to be made on my life, because I suppose I would only want them to show all the good things about me and hide the awful things, and that wouldn't be a very honest biopic, no?
I think every writer wants future generations to read what he has written.
I write mostly for pleasure, and the reading should ideally be for pleasure, too.
I have an excellent memory - for books and authors, that is. I remember all the books I've read.
I like talking to visitors, especially children.
When I ventured into writing at the age of 17, I wanted to be a good and successful writer. I just wanted to write good stuff - poems, prose, stories, essays, everything.
Occasionally, I have written about stories related to crime, but I have never attempted a traditional detective story. So I want to write a true detective story.
The Nehru years were rather very peaceful years. A lot happened in those years: dams were built, five-year plans were made, Chandigarh was built in front of my eyes. Those were the years I grew up in.
I've noticed people in India have developed a habit of hugging around people. I don't understand it now. I wanted to be hugged when I was young. Now, if someone wants to hug me, I feel only claustrophobic.
In my twenties, I wrote a lot of romantic stories in which I always lost the girl.
It is okay to experiment with language. Writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf experimented with writing, but basically, one must have a familiarity with the language. And to have that, one must respect it.
In the '50s, '60s, '70s, before television became easily accessible, even the most well-known writers were not recognised. The writers remained mostly an anonymous lot then.
Unhappy and unsettled childhood helps in writing.
Writing is the only thing I am good for.
In India, not enough importance is given to writing for children. And what could be more important than the enrichment of young minds with great literature?
Holidays can become tedious without something to read.
I do all my thinking lying down.
I enjoy the process of writing.
If four or five days go by, and I haven't written anything, I feel incomplete.
I wrote 'Time Stops at Shamli' in 1956, shortly after 'The Room on the Roof' was published, and I couldn't find anyone to publish it.
If you enjoy your journey as a writer, you will never find it difficult to write.
I keep a big, fat dictionary with me while writing.
I am not really a city person.
Happiness is a mysterious thing, to be found somewhere between too little and too much.Collection: Mysterious Things