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,
Tag: Blogs
Have you made up your mind about NaNoWriMo? Are you in for it this year? You need to decide soon because November 1 fast approaches. I am sure people do NaNo for their own reasons. All of us may be keen on writing but all of us have different lives to lead, different responsibilities and consequently different kinds of schedules.
Increasingly many writers, authors, readers, literary agents and publishers amongst others use Twitter. To share their thoughts and ideas, develop new perspectives, keep track of trends and chat with other like-minded folk. Their tweets are looked forward to and one follow’s someone whose thoughts, ideas etc we enjoy by way of their tweets. They in turn may choose to follow you if they find your tweets of interest. Continue reading “Twitter Hashtags”
NaNo 2010 starts just 5 days from now. Are you ready with your story plan? Are you staying with the structure you first thought of? Where will your story be set and in what period? Who are the principal characters? What genre would your story be in? These are some of the questions that come to mind as time marches on! If you haven’t signed on for NaNoWriMo 2010 yet, here‘s where you do it!
If you were asked to synthesize your learnings about writing in the form of Ten Commandments, what would you say? I am sure you will find it a bit of a struggle! There is so much to say. This makes it tough to condense the essence of your experience in the form of Ten Commandments! Have a shot at it, nevertheless.
I like Victoria Mixon’s phrase of ” full contact addiction” to describe how you would like your reader to hang on to your book relishing every page! We describe some books as being “simply unputdownable”, don’t we? An experienced editor, Victoria
Did you know that publishing a book is the second highest goal in the United States? I am still in the category of being one among many who has this goal. Which makes me proud that shortly, I shall become a published author. My debut novel “It Can’t Be You” is being published by Cedar Books, imprint of Pustak Mahal, one of India’s largest publishers in a couple of months.
Here’s some great advice from someone who has been there and done all that- long ago. Seth Godin. The author of many best sellers, Seth gives his advice to authors in a 2006 blog post which is worth reading/re-reading, as the case may be.
Every writer faces the challenge of writing engaging dialogue. Conversations in your story take it forward, explain many facts , bring out the speakers’ emotions and in general determine the pace of the story. Long winded conversations can put off the reader. Very cryptic ones can confuse them. How does one then write a great dialogue?
Let me invite you to my blog dedicated to my first novel called IT CAN’T BE YOU.
I am thrilled that my first novel is complete. It’s roots go back to November 2009 when I wrote the first 50,000 words for the National Novel Writing Month popularly called NaNoWriMo.
Prem Rao : Stories from a Story Teller 