In the writing of my second thriller, “Lucky for Some, 13” I have made use of “sleeper cells” which are activated by terrorists, which is a common enough gambit across the world. During war-time, it is not uncommon for countries to activate largely dormant sleeper cells in their enemy countries and get them to do what they expect of them. The German Abwehr, for example, had several sleeper cells active in both Britain and the United States during the Second World War. Continue reading “Sleeper Cells & Terror Plots”
Author: Prem Rao
Author, Blogger, Book Reviewer, Coach, and Podcaster
So, what’s the deal about being a writer? How does one get to be a writer in the first place? Let me try to give a quick summary of what can be a long-drawn and torturous process.
Firstly, you write a book. Yes, a complete one, duly edited, proof read and the rest of it. You then try to sell the book to a publisher. At times, and this make happen only after you are an established writer more often than not, you could be represented by a literary agent who sells your work. On publication, you get paid royalty based on the contract you sign with your publisher.
On occasion, and here’s where the glamorous image of being a writer comes in, you could sign a multi-book deal. The publisher signs you up to deliver a couple of books, without seeing what is in them. This is based on your track record and largely on what the world thinks of you, as evidenced by your book’s sales figures.
If you are good, you could be paid an advance too. Renowned writers have been paid huge advances and a few such cases inspire every writer to believe that someday, somewhere, someone might sign them up on very lucrative terms.
But the world of publishing is becoming increasingly competitive, and I am not even talking about the self-publishing world. This too churns out a huge number of books into an already crowded market place.
As the traditional publishers seek to improve their profitability, they tend to consolidate through mergers and acquisitions at times. They seek various means to improve their business results. One move can be in the matter of advances. Here’s news that the famous writer Vikram Seth has been asked to pay back an advance. It’s only for $ 1.7 million !!!
As a writer there are times when you feel down, when you think you have run out of ideas and when you think things have become really tough since no one seems to be interested in your writing. At times like this, what you could do with is some encouragement, some words of wisdom ( even if seemingly simple) , and the assurance that this is not happening only to you but to countless others in the world. It might change your perspective too when you realize that there are many facing far tougher situations than you are, or ever will. Continue reading ““Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers.””
Has something come up when you least expected it and done you a lot of good? This happened to me recently.
I got an opportunity to review, “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers”: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark & Susan M. Heim; Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, 2013; 405 pp; $ 14.95. Continue reading ““Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers””
Recently I was speaking to a group of readers when someone expressed interest in NaNoWriMo, which I have always maintained has been a huge inspiration for my writing. NaNoWriMo is an acronym for the National Novel Writing Month.
Taking part in NaNoWriMo is an exhilarating experience. I did it for the first time in 2009 and from this effort emerged my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You” a psychological thriller. This was in 2010. Since then I completed NaNoWriMo in 201o, 2011 and more recently in 2012.
“Lucky For Some, 13” was my second thriller, which was based on my “NaNo novel” as we call it from NaNoWriMo of 2010. This was published in December 2012.
I came across this presentation titled “WAC and NaNo: Lessons in Letters and Symbiosis” from students of Kaplan University. It has a wealth of detail about NaNoWriMo and I found it most interesting.
Here are some awesome figures:
- In the first year, 1999, there were all of 21 participants with 6 being declared winners
- In 2006, there were 101,510 participants with 15,333 being declared winners
- In 2009, when I first took part, there were 167, 150 participants with 32, 178 being declared winners
- In 2011, there were 256,618 participants with 36, 843 being declared winners.
Of course, I must add that it felt great to read my name in the list of “Published Authors.”:)
I am not sure which was the first book about the Second World War that I read as a kid. I rather suspect it was “Reach For The Sky” by Paul Brickhill, that enthralling story of Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader, the legless RAF fighter ace. This led me to read more and more books based on the Second World War and due to my interest in military history, I became a confirmed fan of stories about the War. I must add that I was reading them in India some 20 odd years after the war had ended with the total surrender of first Nazi Germany, and later of the Imperial Japan of those times. Continue reading “Authors I Admired: William L. Shirer”
Looking back over the years, I guess I did most of my reading in the period from 1964 to 1972. This means I was between the ages of 13 and 21. Although his debut novel “Casino Royale” had been published way back in 1953, Ian Fleming reached his greatest heights of popularity around the time I speak of, although he passed away in 1964. Continue reading “Authors I Admired: Ian Fleming”
Students and practitioners of management will tell you that it makes a lot of sense to periodically take stock of what you want to achieve ( your goals) and where you are , with reference to the goals, at any point in time. I am sure this principle is equally applicable to writers too. I guess my background in management makes me present my report to you , for whatever it is worth.
If nothing else, it helps me figure out where I am and helps me to assign priorities. So here we go:
“Let The Dead Stay Dead” was written as my NaNo novel in 2011, which means the first 50,000 words were written way back in November 2011 for the National Novel Writing Month. This is again a thriller but writing this has been a very different, and may I add, demanding experience for me, as it deals with subjects which are new to me like mental health and law. As a result, the editing is still on and I took more time than I ordinarily would to make sure I was sure of my facts. This involved getting opinions and views of experts in fields I knew little about. I have written over 88,000 words so far, and the novel is nearing completion. I would guess it’s about 90 % complete. I need to buckle down and close this project in the next 3-5 months.
” A Bouquet From India” is a collection of short stories which I wrote for NaNoWriMo in November 2012. This was my first attempt in writing a bunch of short stories for the NaNoWriMo. There are 10 in all in about 51,000 words and I need to edit and improve upon them.
” Get Ahead! Your Personal Effectiveness Workbook” is a non-fiction project which, as the title suggests, is a collection of ideas that can help professionals, working in business organizations, large and small , as well as independent professionals/ entrepreneurs get ahead in their lives. These are largely based on my own experiences as a practicing Human Resources executive, entrepreneur and executive coach for nearly four decades. The manuscript for this is complete at about 46,000 words and I guess the next step will be to see if anyone will buy it! I will of course share more about this as we go along.
So, as you can see, I have so much to do and really have my hands full which is why I often describe myself as a full time writer.
More often than not, my blog posts are not planned but come about through some trigger, usually from something I saw or read. Today’s is no exception. The inspiration comes from this interesting article in the New York Times by Edward Kelsey Moore, ” At 52, Not Too Old for a Debut Novel.” Continue reading “Too Old To Write?”
A couple of weeks ago, when I read the date on my newspaper I remembered that on June 6, 1944, the first of the Allied troops had landed on the beachhead at Normandy. This was a date no Second World War buff, like me, could ever forget.
Only today, I came across these awesome hitherto unpublished pictures taken by “Life” photographer, Frank Scherschel in an article in The Daily Mail. Memories are funny things. One thing leads to another and my mind was soon flooded by memories of that classic movie, “The Longest Day”. Continue reading “Authors I Admired: Cornelius Ryan”
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 