Stories within Stories (Part I)
By: Akshay G
Tags: Short Story, Medium, Fiction, From The Archives, Writing

Stories within Stories (Part I)

All the stories I’ve published here on Medium.

Hi, my name is Akshay G. and I’m a story-holic.

I’ve been writing here on Medium for almost two years now and I’ve built up a small heap of stories and writings and thoughts and poems and musings and words set up in a some sort of logical order (or at least I hope). And I’ve realized, no one here on Medium knows my second name.

It’s Gajria — pronounced as Gaa-j-ree-aa. Over the 25 years of my life, I’ve reiterated the spelling and the pronunciation of my second name so many times, I thought it prudent to re-christen it to G, which makes the entire thing easier.

So, there, I hope one mystery is solved for you.

I want you to know me. And the best way to know me is to read me — within my stories. I’m in there, sitting, sipping tea, in those spaces between the words; walking between those lines inspecting their construction or (most probably) taking a quick nap on one of those comfortable em-dashes.

So, here it is: all my work, sorted out into neat categories.

(Last Updated:9/04/2017)

Fictional Stories

1.

This is the first story I’ve ever written. Way back in school, I’d written the general story (or outline) in an essay form. I thought it was a marvelous idea and showed it to my teacher who gave me 5/10 saying the essay needed something more and it was just okay. I was quite bummed and did not consider writing another story for a long time. Fast forward 7 years: I sat on my desk learning how to write stories, and I thought why not try and re-write that story I’d written in school? And I did.

I submitted this story to a few places and it became the Editor’s Choice in Yourstoryclub.com, which was a big moment for me.

2.

This story started as a late night spark of inspiration. I still don’t believe I’ve written this story, I’m pretty sure some unearthly forces were in charge of my hand. It came to me at a time when I was thinking about an old friend who likes eating, how the body mass is 70% water and voila…The girl who at the world was born.

This story remains close to my heart.

3.

The lessons hidden behind this story are enormous. I was walking down a darkened street once and a rat scuttled past. I couldn’t see it, all I heard was the sound and it freaked me out. That’s what I wanted to capture here, that fear of the dark, of the unknown within the dark.

I think I’ve done a poor job. Maybe one day I’ll return and re-edit this story. One day for sure…

4.

I find it really difficult to write flash fiction. The shorter it gets, the harder it is to write. How do you tell a story with only a handful of words? I have a tendency of being verbose (as you can see by the introductions before each story). But this story surprised me: I had read a short story in the New Yorker about a man in a bar where a Djinn in the washroom offers everyone a single wish. I wanted to do that, write a story about a Djinn, but I kept asking myself for more time before I started writing it and boom! — The Djinn delivered.

5.

I don’t know if I should add this in the fiction section or put this in the moments. This story is in a way a moment but a fictional moment at best. I have some wild conversations with myself, and sometimes I imagine a friend with whom I can have one. This is one such conversation, and I enjoyed having it.

6.

I’d read somewhere that telling tales, writing stories will give birth to more stories: that stories reproduce. This story came to life in a similar manner. I’m a big fan of Neil Gaiman, and I go out of my way to collect his obscure writings and stories. And I’ve found some real gems. He had conducted an experiment where he asked his twitter followers to provide him with writing prompts for each month of the year. 12 stories, flash fictions, over a single year. All the stories in there are beautiful in their own right, but the January’s Tale caught my eye and stayed with me, mentally exciting and stimulating me in a way that gave birth to this story.

7.

My ex-employer's new content writer (I was the previous content writer), asked me to write a blog piece telling my story of becoming who I am. They were featuring young entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, and people who are not cut from the same block like everyone else. I was honored to share my story. But at that time, I was working with a fiction-writing block of a kind and I did not want to write a simple blog post. I wanted to tell my story within a story. I wrote it down and found it was far too big for their blog and they needed something else. I hastily wrote a small 700-word piece and they approved and showcased it on their blog. That piece was okay, but I wasn’t satisfied. Telling the truth is one thing, but showing the truth through fiction is far more powerful. You can be the judge, yourself.

8.

There are days when I can’t believe I’ve written this, but then the memory of how it happened comes back to me. I had the seed of this idea stored away in phone’s notes folder many years ago. I was imagining a world where writers were the world leaders in every sense and words were all the world had. I wrote down the idea and thought I’d work on it when I was a better writer.

When Jason, my co-editor at The Coffeelicious, came up to me with an opportunity to write for Posts From the Future, my mind veered straight towards that story I had in my notes. I re-wrote, edited and worked my ass off over an entire week to polish and perfect. And the result sits here.

9.

Again, Jason has a hand in creating this. On the backchannels of the Cofffeelicious, we talk, discuss and joke around with a lot of ideas. One such idea Jason had thrown at us was to create fictional listicles. Like, what would you do in a fictional world when you car broke down and I remember saying 10 signs you are a werewolf or something to that effect. We were thinking of starting a new spinoff publication based solely on this, just for laughs. I wrote down two pieces,

3 steps to be a better Fairy Godmother. (Involved using excel too much) 10 Ways to be the only visionary Entrepreneur. (Involved killing every other entrepreneur with a vision)

I wish I had never written those pieces and they will rot and dry in my notebooks never to see the light of day.

But the idea of fictional listicles never left me alone and one day during a hot shower the story built itself to a bursting point in my head and I wrote it down.

10.

I’m not really sure how this story came into being. I was traveling, and I believe India’s first satellite had made it to Mars. The news channels were making a big halla-ballu about it and in my own vindictive way, I wanted to burst their bubble by showcasing a side of humanity they wouldn't want to see. I guess, I’m just wired weirdly.

11.

I worte this one for laughs. When I read the first draft out to my girlfriend, she was wide eyed and said, “I’m re-thinking about having children with you. Ever.” She thinks of me as a serial-killer with werewolf tendancies. Deep down, the child inside me smiles with glee.

12.

This story was difficult to write. It took several drafts, several additions, several subratations, several hair sacrifices and several months of assurance that this story can be shared with anyone, before I could. In the end, I took a leap of faith, and I’m glad I did. Inspired by one of the many short stories by Neil Gaiman.

13.

This story got clearer in my head the closer to the end of 2016 we got. Finally, on the last day of the year, it exploded under my pen. 2016 was not the greatest of years, personally and in worldly affairs. But the way I see it, 2017 isn’t that big an improvement. This story is in a way a continuation to The Tale of Years I’d written before, though it can be enjoyed on its own too.

14.

This piece took me by surprise and the response to it got me more by surprise. I didn’t know what I was writing before I got started nor had I any idea. This story just happened and all those green hearts just happened. I don’t know how or why. It just did.

This story has got the highest number of recommendations of any of my pieces.

Spawn of Writing Prompts

1.

Since I took up the mantle of Editor-in-Chief, this was the first writing prompt we ever did at the Coffeelicious. It was Bonni Rambatan’s brainchild. I loved the sense of intrigue the prompt created in me and I knew a story was bubbling right beyond its edges. I wrote one, and, in a way, it was an experiment in form and dialogue.

2.

It’s May, and I’m thinking about the Halloween (see above) prompt again. I have something more to say than what I had last time. I wasn’t satisfied then, so I wrote another. The story changed form and mutated into an otherworldly delight as I transferred it from my notebook to the virtual screen. With this, I was satisfied.

3.

I recieved writing prompts from a writing workshop I attended and the prompt was to describe your childhood dream job. Mine was to be an Archaeologist (I am fascinated with Mummy’s and wish to raise one of my own — as I’ve stated before, I’m wired weirdly). As an Archaeologist, I reached a tomb and overheard a very strange conversation, one which I’ve transcribed in this story.

4.

I’d written this story at a single day writer’s workshop held by a literary agent. We were 9 of us, ranging from older women, to goverment working men and the youngest, me. The agent gave us chits from a bowl and each chit contained one of the deadly sins. We were asked to write something, anything about the sin. The task was to get us started on writing.

We had an hour, after which we would break for lunch and then sit and read out what we have written. I tired to start a couple of stories and they bombed on the first page. I had the last half an hour remaining and not wanting to read out an incomplete story, I wrote a flash fiction. Short enough that I got enough time to edit the story as well. I’ll let you guess which sin I got.

Comics

I have a fondness for comics. Ever since I started using fountain pens to write, I found that each pen has its own personality. I started doing single panel comics featuring one or maybe two pens. I uploaded them on Instagram and they were dubbed by many as Pen-Punny-Poem-Comics. I enjoyed that.

One day, I made a pen comic with three pens and three panels, and my friends encouraged me to do a mini series. I hadn’t done anything like this before: Everyday, I’d upload 1 page of the comic. I was discovering the story myself, being only three pages ahead of the audience.

It was a fun experience. I compiled the entire comic and uploaded it on Medium. It’s not the best, but that never mattered.

(PS: I was thinking of starting a Publication called PenComics and uploading all the single panel Comics I’ve done before and still do, there. But I don’t know if anyone would be interested in that. Will you?)

Non-fictional Stories

1.

Telling the truth was never my forte. And this piece isn’t the entire truth. In fact, it isn’t entirely true. There are bits of fiction in there, and the entire piece is written in an experimental form. I’d gone through at least 10–15 drafts before I got the prose right. The results are acceptable, though I can’t stand to read it.

2.

I love writing by hand. That is the only way to write a first draft. It isn’t the fastest way, and in all practicality, it doesn’t change the way you write or improve your writing. But it gives you a sense of your own pace, and a deep understanding of your writing as it slows you down and lets you write, distraction free. (One of my happier non-fiction pieces.)

3.

I can’t say I’m proud of these feelings. This may be written as a response to a writing prompt but the prompt was only a vehicle for this story. I would have written it anyway.