The Process of Writing Charlie’s Boys

For the curious, and for those aspiring to write their next book, let me share how I researched and wrote Charlie’s Boys. Of course, each author follows their own process, and it might differ for each book. I am sharing mine for this book.

NOTES IN LONGHAND
I scope all my books in longhand first. Usually on yellow ruled legal size writing pads. I wrote whatever came to mind in whichever order. A point could just be a sentence, or extend into paragraphs or multiple pages too. I don’t miss anything. It is for later to decide the order in which these go in the book, if at all. I will talk about the merits of this approach in a separate post.

INTERVIEWS
I spoke to my schoolmates and teachers; of the latter, not too many were contactable or even surviving unfortunately. I probed them for anecdotes; surprisingly the schoolmates were very fuzzy with their memories. I assumed they would have lots to share. Only the late actor Mukul Dev could remember things vividly.

SCOURING OLD SCHOOL MAGAZINES
Fortunately, I got access to the digital archive of our annual school magazines. Not only did I get useful information from them, but they all triggered other memories for me to jot down.

TRANSCRIBING ON COMPUTER
Only when much of the intended notes had been written on paper did I take out my computer to make sense of them as a flowing narrative. Not all points were used, but more popped up as I wrote. Each was expanded upon suitably.

PLAYING A GAME TO TRACK PROGRESS
Once I start writing on the computer, I make a note of how many words have been written on each day, and cumulative to date. When the word count is low on any day, I urge myself to make up for it the following day. I also try to set records without compromising on quality.

The FIRST DRAFT of Charlie’s Boys was 58,340 words and took 66 days starting March 3, 2025. There was a 13-day period when I did not write so it was effectively 53 days.

SHARING ONLY BITS WITH OTHERS TO GET REACTIONS
I do not share my manuscript with anyone till at least the first draft is out. In this case, I shared a few nuggets with those whose opinions would matter. They could not have been in a position to give a direction to the complete book but they did give vital inputs to determine stuff that went in and the tone to use.

PRINTING FIRST DRAFT AND EDITING ON PAPER
I always print my drafts on paper to edit – that’s what I did for the first cut too. Reading on paper makes comprehension easier for me. And I can use different coloured pens and highlighters to jot comments, mark corrections and makes notes to self. And even write fresh sections in longhand on the blank side of the sheets.

REVIEWING SECOND DRAFT
I usually edit the second draft on paper too but in this case I did on the computer itself.

OFF TO PUBLISHERS FOR FURTHER EDITING
And then the manuscript was off to the editors. My own training and experience makes life easier for my editors – they did not need to make too many changes to my version. I preferred it that way too – what I wrote and what I intend to convey went through the filters without any structural changes. Of course, there were multiple rounds of exchanges with grammatical and styling changes.

THE COVER DESIGN
That was a parallel process, and fell in place around the same time as the edits!

PRESS PRINT
And then the book was off to print! To be in my hands mid-November 2025.