Student Speak – Writing ‘Scottish Lavender’

Writing is my passion and so I always keep looking for new things to write about. What I like equally is to discover new places. So the best trip of my entire life – to the United Kingdom in the summer of 2019 – led me to think of an adventurous beginning to a plot that had already been brewing in my mind.

All of these ideas came together to form Scottish Lavender. Scottish Lavender is my second book and my first young adult fiction novel. It is about a young Scottish girl named Ella. It took me many days and drafts to complete the book, precisely speaking, an entire year and three drafts.

This book is not of one genre, but is a combination of several genres like adventure, travel, romance and suspense. It takes readers through a few of the most important and unique years of Ella’s life, showing how people may eventually transform to become a better, more independent version of themselves. Despite the book being a novel, each chapter has a different mood which takes the readers through different trains of thoughts. To sum it up, the first half is all about adventure and humour while the second is a pure fairytale with a few plot twists.

I learnt a lot in the process of writing this book. Each time I wrote it, it helped me relive the best vacation I ever took, cherish it and get to know more about a new place. I felt the need to put myself in the protagonist’s shoes in order to be able to write better. I kept on writing until I felt satisfied and I still have so many variations of the same manuscript with me!

The book imparts many values which are hidden within its plot. In the journey of writing this book, I got to know all the characters so well and yet they remain a mystery to me, which keeps me wanting to write more. I was almost disappointed when I completed writing because I didn’t want to let goof it just yet!

Being a student, doing art as well as writing is a difficult task to carry out together. In spite of this wherever I went, whenever I felt that I did not have anything to do or rather could do something later in the day, I would start writing. And yet, the entire credit of completing this book goes to the lockdown. During the lockdown, I started a book club that enabled me to tap into my capabilities to the fullest.

Writing not only a book, but writing in general is a wonderful activity. It takes you to places that you didn’t even know existed in your imagination. I hope you all join me in my journey, and read and enjoy Scottish Lavender!

Written by Muskaan Darshan