Yes, I do recognize that it seems the world whirls by at an incredible speed these days. Everything has to be done NOW. But a novel in 3 days? Sean Di Lizio writes graphically of his experience in an International 3 Day Novel Contest. That’s really making writing an extreme sport! Continue reading “Novel in 3 Days !”
Author: Prem Rao
Author, Blogger, Book Reviewer, Coach, and Podcaster
I am a frequent visitor to BookRix where I enjoy reading stories put up by others. My short stories are on view too. It’s here that I came across something new to me. It’s called a drabble- which means you have to write a short ( or shall we say -very short) story in- here’s the catch- just 100 words.
If you are stuck while writing and don’t how how to get ahead, take a break and look at these wonderful quotes- which give insight and inspiration for you to get back to that writing with a new energy! Online College has put together this interesting collection of 101 tips– really words of wisdom.
To us die-hard fans of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, he was simply The Master. I have admired his writing for over four decades now and rate him to be one of the finest writers in the English language. Sadly the milieu he wrote off is rather dated as the years speed by and many today perhaps find it difficult to relate to the more leisurely life of those times. Times may have changed but his mastery of the language and writing style remain unmatched.
Thanks to Jaswant Singh, former External Affairs Minister of India for writing ” Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence” a scholarly treatise on what actually happened before the calamity of the Partition of India way back in 1947. The publication of the book ( Rupa & Co 2009) stirred up a great deal of controversy. Singh was expelled from the BJP- in which party he had grown to be an admired leader. There was a school of thought that he did wrong in praising Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Actually that makes for an interesting debate which is the central theme of the book.
For those who remember Calcutta- as Kolkata was then called- in the 70’s, images of the city will probably reek of strikes, gheraos and cries of ” cholbe na”. You can see the crowds gather for yet one more union or political rally. The strident speeches of the leaders, the dutiful acknowledgements of the followers. The grime and the crowds are everywhere yet the city had a certain charm. Set largely in Kolkata is Neel Chowdhury’s “The Inheritors” published by Random House India. Rahul Jayaram’s review in Businessworld pretty much sums it up.
By the time I was born in 1951, Mahatma Gandhi was dead for three years. He was killed on January 30, 1948. Everyone knows who killed Gandhi. Not many know why he was killed. Every school child in India- at least of my generation- knows he was killed by Nathuram Godse. But who was Godse? And why did he kill someone who was called The Father of the Nation? Not too many know his story. I didn’t- to be honest- until I came across ” The Men Who Killed Gandhi“.
To be honest, I didn’t quite realize the significance of the first few lines of the story until I became serious about learning to write. To justify my point, let me ask you something. You have read hundreds of books. How many first lines do you remember? Probably none, might be an honest answer. However, if you think about it deeply, if you are in the business of writing
Nathan Bransford needs no introduction. His is a very popular blog. It also has a forum where you can share and gain a lot through interacting with many others. In this 2008 post, he writes of what he calls a basic step Finding a Literary Agent. I am sure you will find this as useful as I did.
Continue reading “Nathan Bransford on Finding a Literary Agent”
Most of us are creatures of habit. We do some things and keep doing them purely, as they say, out of habit. Unfortunately, there are good as well as bad habits! When it comes to writing, do you have a pet peeve or a habit you are conscious of ? Continue reading “Writing to Inspire”
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 