Adventures of a Writer

Welcome to Week G of Authors' Tips: A to Z of Writing. If this is the first time you are visiting this series, here's a quick recap. Authors share their tips on writing fiction - and each week we talk about various aspects of writing. This week it's time to take a closer look at Genre When we talk about fiction, we automatically think of the story in terms of genre. So, if someone were to ask you what is your book about, your first response would be to define it in terms of its genre - such as romance, thriller, mystery, comedy, drama, horror, etc. It's a quick and easy way of classifying the kind of fiction your book falls into -- and thus helps in its marketing. But genre is much more than a system of categorising your novel. It signifies to the reader the artistic style of your story and feeds into his/her expectations of the book. As a writer you need to understand the conventions of the genre that you are writing in, so as to not disappoint your re

Welcome to Week F of Authors' Tips: A to Z of Writing. If this is the first time you are visiting this blog, here's a quick recap. In this series authors share their tips on writing fiction - and each week we share our insights on various aspects of writing. So for Alphabet F, let's talk about Flaws.  Have you met the Perfect Human who doesn't have a single flaw -- no matter how small? And I'm not talking about 'looks' here, but traits. Well, that would be well-nigh impossible. Likewise, in fiction too, we can't get away by creating the Perfect Protagonist. Why? a) Because a man/woman who doesn't have any flaws or imperfections is simply too good to be true. And fiction has to be believable. b) It would be extremely boring for a reader to read about a man/woman who is well, just too perfect! As they say, there's no such thing as a perfect diamond. So too, with your characters. The 'flaw' is what makes your character reac

By Jaideep Sen November was a month of celebrations. Salim Saab’s birthday fell on the 24 th  It’s only in the fitness of things that such a wonderful human being should also be acknowledged for his contributions to the world of scriptwriting by the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2018 with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema in the same month.  Arbaaz accepting the IFFI Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Salim Khan Salim Saab’s innate humanity was evident through his acceptance speech which was read out by his son who received the award in Goa on his behalf. Salim Saab, also later tweeted about it, and dedicated the award to his janmabhoomi , Indore, his karmabhoomi Mumbai and the film industry and his erstwhile writing partner Mr. Javed Akhtar. He mentioned that without Javed Saab’s contribution in his career, this achievement would not have been possible. On hearing these words at the event

Reviews are a lifeline for authors. It's validation for the hours, days, weeks and months an author spends writing a book. They also help an author to figure what readers like or don't like about the book. Sure, there will always be those who just hate your book and won't tell you what about it they hated so much! Believe me, there can be nothing more soul-crushing than that. But you learn to ignore them as far as possible. And then there are those reviewers who tell you why they enjoyed your book! That's a review to die for! Recently, I got one such review. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Sue, for your 4 Pink Hearts for Bombay Heights ! It's just what I needed to give my sagging motivation a mighty boost! Review:  It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what I found so charming about Adite Banerjie’s Mumbai-based romance Bombay Heights . The plot seems entirely predictable; Sanjana, the heroine is conventionally independent and strong-minded, yet me

By Jaideep Sen Vijay Khanna – Zanjeer Vijay Verma – Deewar Vijay Kumar – Trishul and Shakti   The name has been permanently embedded in the mind of the Indian cinegoer by writer Salim Khan Saab. The character of Vijay, symbolising victory, came into being in Zanjeer. Salim Khan Saab created Vijay before his historic collaboration with Javed Akhtar Saab. And, what a victory march it was for the terrific trio of Salim Saab-Javed Saab and Mr. Amitabh Bachchan who played the character to such perfection from Zanjeer to Shakti. The Terrific Trio: Salim Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Javed Akhtar The name was coined for a reason: the socio-political climate in the country was quite volatile at the time. The common man was looking for an uprising in the form of a fearless rebel who could take on injustice head on and break its jaw with the fist of revolt. By giving centrestage to the common man in the triumph of good over evil, there could have been no better name to b

A couple of years ago filmmaker Runjiv Kapur told me about a heartbreaking incident in north India. A young girl had been shot and brought into a reputed hospital 'brain dead'. The girl's parents, as can be imagined, were overwhelmed and devastated. The hospital authorities were aware of the sensitive situation and yet they could not let go of the opportunity to help people who were desperately in need of organ transplants. They approached the grief-stricken parents and requested them to consider donating her organs. That one decision could help give a new lease of life to seven people. The window of opportunity was short -- as the transplants needed to happen within a few hours of brain death. The parents found it in their hearts to overcome their personal loss and willingly agreed to donate their child's organs. The processes were put in place. The hospital went ahead with the procedures but at the eleventh hour some community leaders came to know of this and r

Welcome to Week D of the A to Z Writing Series. My post for the week is 'Deus Ex Machina'.  Did you say, what the heck is that? So, here's a little definition. Deus ex Machina is a Latin term which actually means 'God from the Machine' . The term originated in Roman and Greek Drama where at a certain point in the climax of the story God would drop down from the sky (via a crane, and hence the reference to machine) to provide a resolution to the story.  In modern story telling using the Deus Ex Machina - or divine intervention - is considered to be poor writing. While it may be argued that in life, coincidences and random events do happen, when you're telling a story, use of such a device to resolve the protagonist's dilemma or crisis can often leave your reader dissatisfied. Whether your story is a romance or a thriller, your protagonist is the one who drives the story with his/her choices. To keep the reader engaged and turning the pages, the

By Jaideep Sen As an avid viewer of Kaun Banega Crorepati , I’m struck by the fact that every time a contestant praises Amitji’s (Amitabh Bachchan) glorious body of work, the reference point is always one of the two milestone films of Indian Cinema: Deewaar or Sholay . In one of my previous posts I have already mentioned that my personal all-time favourite is Sholay . Not just for its epic writing but also the sheer scale of the film: for once the powerful writing was more than backed up by an audio-visual extravaganza that had never before been seen by the Indian cinegoer. I would not be wrong in saying that it would have come as a surprise for even the veteran writing duo of Salim Saab and Javed Saab. And for this the Indian viewer will forever be grateful to the father-son combine of G.P. Sippy Saab (producer) and   director Ramesh Sippy Ji.  The tsunami effect of Sholay and the reverence that the writing of Deewaar has achieved draws me to that one gam