PERSONAL SPECIAL................ What factors make a success?

What factors make a success?





How much of it is within our control?

In the context of the `Write India' contest, some of us started discussing the art of short story writing, regretting that recent times hadn't produced great work in the genre. Where are the likes of O Henry or Guy de Maupassant, we wondered! Asked one, “How can it be possible that never again a story as powerful as The Last Leaf or The Diamond Necklace was written?“ “Not possible,“ I agreed. “Maybe it was, and it didn't get noticed? Maybe there were many other Maupassants and Henrys who were not noticed? Or even another Sachin Tendulkar or Lata Mangeshkar-in-the-making who never really made it big?“ For every great Van Gogh who is celebrated till this day, at least one genius must have died unnamed in an asylum! Similarly, for every Ernest Hemingway, there must have been at least one just as good who was dismissed as debauch, and his works allowed to languish. Was Shakespeare the only one ever capable of the depth and expanse of work he created? Was none ever born to touch his capabilities? Maybe one was, and we just failed to notice him or her. Well, that was a thought that opened a Pandora's box. What defines the difference between creating great work and achieving greatness? What does it take to get noticed and become a legend? Apart from capability, genius and hard work, which doesn't seem to be as scarce a quality anymore. Was MF Husain really so much greater than many other painters? Why was he celebrated and others -maybe better than him -not even noticed? Why do Chetan Bhagat or Amish Tripathi sell so much better than other authors?
Is success dependent on marketing and promotion for popularity? Well, greatness may not be a corollary of discovery, but popularity and longevity certainly are. Indeed though a masterpiece is not dependent for its quality or existence on discovery and adulation, but in order to be cherished and remembered, it needs to be introduced into the public domain. What good is art or writing that doesn't get shared? A flower that is born to blush unseen is almost as good as not having existed for rest of the world.Who knows how many great stories may have been written and destroyed, or not printed at all? Who knows how many greater painters than the legends we have heard of, lived and created greater art?
And yet marketing cannot be solely responsible for success. Nobody spent as much time marketing their artistic wares as we do today. And yet there is no Maupassant or Van Gogh. Why? What else does it take to make it to the ranks of the acknowledged greats? Well, actually a number of factors have to be at play simultaneously, and you at the fortuitous centre of that play.

One very important requisite is to be in the right place at the right time. In order to be appreciated, you have to fulfill a requirement, a need of the time. Your art has to have a context and appeal to the people dwelling in the times, and yet have the quality to rise above and cross generations in its greater appeal. One of the world's greatest War poets Wilfred Owen wouldn't have been appreciated if born in the Romantic Era. Similarly Wordsworth, Shel ley and Keats may have not been as great if born in the 20th century. Shakespeare, Maupassant or O Henry's efforts today may not catapult them to the same heights of greatness as it did in context of the era they were born in.

I asked our first Write India `Author of the Month' Amish Tripathi about what makes a book click. “Right time and right place. If the book serves a purpose at that point of time for many people, it will click. But this cannot be planned for... We should focus on what is in our control, viz writing the book,“ he said. True. Each era throws up its own set of needs and requirements and consequently, gives birth to its own greats. As ours is and will... How about destiny, luck and intention? I would say all three play their role in putting one in the right place at the right time, and in helping one appeal to a critical mass of people in order to tip the balance in favour of success.

·       vinitadawra nangia

TL4OCT15