DEUS EX MACHINA

I think the artist’s responsibility is to not be afraid and to not self censor. All the great artistic discoveries, and insights, and intuitions have been made in a condition of fearlessness on the part of the artist, and not self censorship, and not obeisance to serve whatever social norm seems to be prevalent at the time. As soon as you start to censor, you are no longer an artist, you are an interior decorator, you might as well forget it.

— David Cronenberg

A writer’s life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don’t have to weep about that, the writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb, you find no shelter, no protection, unless you lie. In which case, of course, you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician.

— Harold Pinter

As things stand now, I am going to be a writer. I'm not sure that I'm going to be a good one or even a self-supporting one, but until the dark thumb of fate presses me to the dust and says, 'You are nothing’, I will be a writer.

— Hunter S. Thompson

Writing, to me, started as a hobby thinking of rhyming words and weaving a poem with somewhat congruous, and often morose, ideas. What I wrote, obviously, wasn’t very good, but it paved a way for me to express myself using words. I am not a dedicated writer; I still see it as a very personal act of expression, done as much for cathartic reasons as creative. I can express myself well when I can channel the mysterious flow of ideas and the library of words to carry them. Inspiration and fluency — where they come from, I don’t know — why can’t I access them whenever I want, I don’t know either. But I wait for them, and when I am inspired I set to writing. So far, I have produced poems and essays — they are good, in my opinion. If I can ever set aside my brooding laziness, and embrace the grind of writing, which, like any other vocation, demands commitment and seriousness, I would like to produce more expansive works, like stories and novels. That is the future.

For now, dear reader, I welcome you to my blog: Deus Ex Machina.

Deus ex machina (literally God from the machine) is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly solved by an unexpected occurrence. I just loved the term when I came across it. I do believe in fate. I want there to exist a possibility of surprise and hope against all odds and out of nowhere, as a writer and as a human being. There is a fragment of a sentence from a story by Chekhov: “…and suddenly everything became clear to him.” I want that.

A little introduction about me. My name is Saurabh Rai. I live in Lucknow, India. This is my active blog/newsletter/creative home featuring my original poetry, essays, stories, artwork, and sometimes just ideas running riot in my head.

All that I write or create is here. Feel free to browse.

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