After reading the rights of a reader by Daniel Pennac, I wanted to write about the rights of a Writer. Here are the rights that are going into my manifesto. Of course, I am not famous enough for Quentin Blake to illustrate it. So I have scoured the internet for images that will match my rights.

1. The right to write wherever.

Coffee-shops, bus-stops, pubs and parks. Wherever the mood strikes, wherever I meet the muse and wherever the right words tumble out.

2. The right to write absolute garbage.

Not every word and every sentence and paragraph needs to be perfect. Not every finished story, poem, or even novel needs to be published.

3. The right to write any genre.

No pigeon-holing. No genre-typing. As I write I want to be able to write chick-lit to horror to vampire romance.

4. The right not to finish a novel in progress.

Some novels are not meant to finish. Some novels lose steam. Some novels need a lot of room to grow. The right to drop a project and start other one is the writers’ alone.

5. The right to write in rhyme.

Without worrying about translation rights and overseas market, the writer has the right to write in verse.

6. The right to create a new world

Reality is not necessarily a great place to be. It is every writer right to create another world more magical, more fantastic than the one we live in. But if the writer chooses to, perhaps even a world worse than ours.

7. The right to choose the title of the book

The book is a child, a product of the writer’s sweat and blood. A labour more than 48 hours of contractions and pushing. The resulting baby has to be named by the writer.

8. The right to refuse the opportunity to make a movie 

Sometimes movies take away the special and magical world that can only be imagined. It is not okay to change the scenes and the settings to fit the budget or the director of a movie.

9. The right to refuse sing and dance to sell the book

A writer is most often a recluse. They can’t sing, dance or play-act like theatre-professionals. While some can decide to do, it is not fair to expect all writers to do that.

10. The right not to write

Writing takes a lot more than word skills and butt on the seat. It churns the writer’s inside, it tears their heart, soul and insides into pieces. The emotional journeys are painful and if a writer chooses not to write for a week, a month or a year, no one including the writer should create an aura of guilt.

Do you want to add more rights? Tell me which ones and why.

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Find out more about Chitra Soundar’s books at www.chitrasoundar.com

www.chitrasoundar.com