Journalists and writers are utterly different species

Journalists and writers are utterly different species

Every profession has its occupational hazards sportsman who make their living from rackets tends to develop tennis elbows. Those who mop and sweep one apartment after the other are prone to housemaid knee. Garbage collectors are not used to looking up while astronomers lose focus on anything below sky-level.and newspaper journalist keep getting asked when they are going to write books even though much of what they scribble has a shelf life of 24 hours.

However, the option of pulp fiction is always there .The only problem is that a journalist who writes pulp fiction leaves himself open to the query of whether what appears in the newspaper under his byline is fact Retired journalist do not have that problem and their published pulp fiction could even have titillation value, especially if their novels are set in a contemprary corporate or political milieu. the reader could identify the leaders and tycoons in the book with real politicians and industrialists despite the standard disclaimer at the beginning that none of the characters has anything to do with any person alive or dead and that any resemblance to anyone is purely coincidental. And with not just the policy but the corporate world being polarized, there is always scope for a book to be converted into a controversial movie which could further enhance the hacks claim to be an author especially if the bollywood version stars  one of the four khans.

Vasudha Sharma