I always find it an interesting experience to interact with the young. I like to see what they think about and try to understand things from their perspective. I was delighted therefore to accept an invitation from the Trio World School, in Bangalore where I live, to speak to their students. This event was organized as part of their Literary Week. Continue reading “My Talk At Trio World School”
Author: Prem Rao
Author, Blogger, Book Reviewer, Coach, and Podcaster
A confirmed web surfer, I am always on the hunt for things that may help me improve my writing. Here are a few things which caught my attention over the last week:
- “The Emotion Thesaurus” by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is an interesting dive into what are the giveaways when people express emotions. Designed for the writer to be factually correct when he/she captures the moods of their characters, and writes about their body language and mannerisms, this book is truly one of its kind. A must for the book shelf of every serious writer.
A bomb blast at a famous sporting event. The Boston Marathon. Kills 3 people and leaves over 180 injured. The first major attack of this type in the US since 9/11.
A key suspect , many on Twitter have it, is a young man who has been missing since March 16, over a month ago. His name is Sunil Tripathi.
A dead of night shoot out in an University town leaves a police office gunned down. One of the two perpetrators is killed in this gun battle.
It’s been over two years since my debut novel, “ It Can’t Be You”( Cedar, 2010) was published. Since then I have written and had published an anthology of short stories titled, ” He Sees Everything & Other Short Stories” (Smashwords, 2011) and another thriller, “Lucky For Some, 13.” (Mahaveer, 2012.)
I started writing full-time rather late in life, as you might know. I was 59 when my debut novel was published. I had spent most of my working life, over 35 years, as a Human Resources and Talent Management specialist, firstly in the corporate sector and later for a decade as an entrepreneur and independent consultant.
It was perhaps inevitable that I would be frequently asked if I had written about “People Management” or ” Organizational Development” and things of that kind. Indeed most people were shocked when they came to know that I had written fiction, and even more shocked when I told them I wrote thrillers.
I guess the urge to write thrillers came from my reading interests as a kid. I was a major fan of James Hadley Chase, Ian Fleming, Alistair MacLean, Frederick Forsyth, and Jack Higgins, to name but a few. It was natural therefore for me to attempt to write a thriller first.
What makes me, or anyone else like to write thrillers? I liked this interesting article by Matt Richtel in the New York Times. I thought about it and I can say I don’t think I had any such experiences as Matt had which influenced me to become a thriller writer.
When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984, what followed in New Delhi, the capital of India was a carnage the likes of which had never been since the partition in 1947. Continue reading ““When A Tree Shook Delhi” by Phoolka and Mitta”
Goodreads is a very popular portal with a vast membership. I read from their entry in Wikipedia that they have more than 10 million members and 20 million monthly visits! That’s tremendous for a site launched in January 2007. As you probably know, in Goodreads members comment upon, rate and recommend books that they have read.
I have always believed that there’s a great amount to be learned just by reading what other writers have to say. Blogs are a wonderful medium by which writers express their views on different aspects of the writer’s life. It’s interesting to see things from differing perspectives and realize that what you thought was the best way need not really be so at all. Here’s something I really enjoyed. I must warn you though that reading all of this will take up a certain amount of your time. In my view, it is time well spent. Continue reading “Top Blogs for Writers”
I had a book reading for my second thriller, Lucky For Some, 13″ which you can order from Flipkart, amongst other portals recently. During this interaction, which took place at Bangalore’s Easy Library, we had a very interesting conversation about authors, their styles of writing, how they approach a plot and many other related aspects. These points set me thinking. I would like to share some of the points that stayed in my mind at the end of the session. Continue reading “As An Author, What Works For You?”
There aren’t too many, especially in today’s fast-paced “dog eat dog” kind of world, who make time to fulfill their passions. Vikram Sampath, is clearly one of them. I first got to know Vikram when he and I were invited by the book lovers club, iBrowse to speak of our books. I knew he studied in that centre of academic and all-round excellence, BITS Pilani, which I used to visit regularly for recruitment in my Wipro days. The fact that he knew my son-in-law, Subhash, also a BITS, Pilani alum helped too. Continue reading “Fourth In The Series: “Meet The Author” – Vikram Sampath”
Recently, my Club which is the oldest of its kind in Bangalore where I live had a sale of old books. I was one of those who made a beeline, not quite knowing what to expect. I felt there could be some good books up for sale at extremely low prices. I was not disappointed. Continue reading “Ah, these old books!”
