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Denied a bathroom break, found writing
The Bathroom Deal
Chetan Bhagat's school, Army Public School, had launched a magazine with a few pages set aside for primary students, and his class had turned in nothing. His Hindi teacher, Mrs. Dutta, was under pressure. One day she told everyone to skip the lesson and write something. Four friends who thought this was a good excuse to roam the corridors asked to go to the bathroom together, and she pulled their ears and told them nobody was going anywhere until she had an article.
Seeing His Name
He wrote the shortest joke he could make up and walked out. Two months later the magazine arrived, and his piece ran as a footnote under a senior student's article, signed with his name and fifth A. He carried the magazine on Delhi's DTC buses and showed it to people, because it was the first time anyone had printed his name.
Writing Every Issue
After that he gave the magazine an article every issue, which came out about once every two months. By the time he reached IIT he was writing plays and skits, and he knew that stories were where his heart was.
Why do first publications shape young writers?
Writers often point to an early printed piece as the moment writing became real. George Orwell had a poem printed in a local English newspaper when he was eleven. Stephen King and his brother ran a homemade newspaper called Dave's Rag when King was a boy, and they sold copies to neighbors.
Why does a hard deadline get writing done?
In a 1955 essay in The Economist, C. Northcote Parkinson observed that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. A short window leaves little room for second-guessing, which is why newsrooms run on deadlines of hours. The observation is now known as Parkinson's law.
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