Since my film Munnariv, I have only been spending time learning business and marketing. I couldn’t get the film to where I dreamed it to be because I lacked the business and marketing skills. I have since learned so much. Invaluable lessons. But during those five years, my focus had shifted so much that I wrote no fiction at all. Getting back into the flow and rekindling my passion for writing after 5 years away from it was not easy.

A ChatGPT Experiment That Sparked Something

I experimented with journaling, microblogging, writing for social media channels and whatnot. One of the tools I experimented with was ChatGPT.

I prompted it for ideas. And it fed me many. Most of it was mediocre and cliche. One of them was about a girl, a wedding, two wedding crashers and some interesting moments between all of them. It was a start that felt interesting. So I decided to run with it.

I started layering it with my own experiences, ideas, and humour, elaborating it. Rewrote it a couple of times and shared the zeroth draft with a handful of friends. The honest feedback I got wasn’t looking good.

So I rewrote again, fixing the problems that I couldn’t see but my friends could. Shared that new draft with a couple of friends. The honest feedback this time seemed acceptable, though it still needed some corrections. Rewrote it again, and finally, I reached a point where I felt ready to share it with the world.

That is how the novella The Wedding Chase began. It took me over a year of writing in sprints, in bits and pieces.

Why Release This Novella for Free?

After all this effort, you wonder, “Why in the world is he realising this novella for free!” At first, I too, had thought of self-publishing it or trying the traditional route. After all, I have published three books and now have enough know-how in marketing and business to do it better.

But I realised that wasn’t what I wanted to do. Marketing and selling a book is in itself another big project. That was not what I really wanted to spend my time doing. I had, in fact, begun these experiments because I had spent way too much time learning business and marketing that I had lost my routine of writing. It was writing that was my focus, not selling.

This is not to say I am letting go of everything I learned in the past five years. This writing in itself is part of the marketing lessons I have learned. Asking for feedback on the book’s cover from my audience on social media channels, involving them, and making them feel part of the process are all things I learned.

I would like to get the story out to the right people who would enjoy it. But instead of worrying about sales, The Wedding Chase will take its journey out into the world without any paywalls. I’ll be sharing it on platforms like Wattpad, my blog, my newsletter and others that I can find that want a novella. This allows me to let go and just see where it leads. While I can focus on what I really should be doing, writing for my next film.

Rekindling My Passion for Writing

At the end of the day, the novella The Wedding Chase is more than a story to me. It started out as an attempt to get back into writing, experimenting to see what I could do with new tools like ChatGPT. In publishing it, I am putting into practice some of the marketing lessons I learned. It reminds me I am a writer, and helping me practice the theories of marketing.

So here’s to The Wedding Chase, to the journey of rediscovering the joy of writing and experimenting and learning.