As is often said these days, just writing a book is not enough. It is only one part of the story. The bigger challenge comes in selling it! We hear so much about the need for authors to have a “platform”. Here’s what award-winning author John Shore has to say about this in a recent article in The Huffington Post. I have been
Author: Prem Rao
Author, Blogger, Book Reviewer, Coach, and Podcaster
Many friends in the US and elsewhere abroad have asked if they can buy copies of “It Can’t Be You” where they live. This is rather unlikely but they can certainly download the book to their Kindle or iPad or whatever they use. Here is the link provided by Pustak Mahal. As you know, Cedar Books, the publishers of the book, is an imprint of Pustak Mahal.
In the old days, a chapter was a kind of milestone or guidepost, if you will, in the novel. It sort of led you from one major point to another, often depicting sequential events in time or points of view of different characters in the story. They were fairly long and usually of varying length. Recently, I came across a very different treatment of what I imagined chapters would be in James Patterson’s “Cross Country”
Delighted that what was a dream will soon become reality! “It Can’t Be You” will be launched by Mr. Subroto Bagchi, Vice Chairman and Gardener of MindTree Ltd at Crossword, Residency Road, Bangalore 560001 @ 6.30 p.m. on November 29, 2010!
The world is not only made up of heroes and heroines. Every novel has its share of minor characters who shore up the story, who lend insight, who add to complexities or who just happen to be around when needed!
Yay! I have just finished NaNoWriMo 2010 having reached 50,000 words for my novel “Lucky For Some, Thirteen”. I recognize that the novel is far from being complete though I have much to celebrate about. I have finished the first step- that of writing the foundation of the novel. Typically, novels in the genre I write in of thrillers/mysteries should be of at least 70,000-80,000 words.
In every story particularly in the mystery/thriller genre there are bound to be conflicts. It is conflict that drives people to say and do things which make up the story. Being fascinated by human psychology, in this novel I have given additional Continue reading “Internal & External Conflicts”
When ever I find the time, I feel like browsing the pages in The Quotations Page, a website which gives you thousands of quotations on a wide variety of subjects. Here for example is the page on Quotations on Writing. I find myself inspired, amused and provoked to think as I browse through them. If you have a writer’s block, drop in here and see these quotations. There are over 100 quotations on writing here. They may just inspire you to write more!
Irving Wallace was a top selling author and I vividly remember some of his books from the ’70s like ” The Prize”. He inspired many, like me , to write based on our imagination. One of his outstanding quotes was: “You need not have lived something to see it, to write about it. You were provided with imagination. Use it. Da Vinci did not have to attend the Last Supper to paint it.”
The debate continues. Should your novel be plot-driven or character-driven? A J Humpage has this interesting post which speaks of the differences between the two. On reading this I immediately thought of my soon- to-be published debut novel “It Can’t Be You”. This is hitting the stands at the end of November 2010. I started off believing my story was largely character-based. I tried to delve into the minds of my characters to think as I believed they would. As things moved on and the story took shape,
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 