writing Archives | Neil D'Silva

16^th of July, 2018

So, continuing with my Beach Writing Challenge, after a healthy writing sprint of 4 continuous days and crossing the 23,000 word mark, I took a break on this day. Just chilled out, walked around the Mapusa market a bit, ate, and did nothing. Let’s count this one as my holiday then!

Statistics so far:

Day 1 total – 6500 words

Day 2 total – 13000 words

Day 3 total – 20000 words

Day 4 total – 23000 words

17^th of July, 2018

This was my 5^th day of writing then. The word count right now is 23000 words and 4 days have elapsed. I am nowhere near my halfway mark (which should be at least 37500 words). The scenes that I write are so exhausting that I need to take a break after every two or three scenes. Now that’s an unanticipated problem. Well, at least, because I have thought of the story beforehand, I do not face the dreaded scourge of the ‘writer’s block’.

The Progress

Started out with a nice in-hotel breakfast of poached eggs. Loved the way they made it. The eggs weren’t too runny and though the yolks could have been a bit softer, these will do quite well. Tipped it up with ginger tea. Great mind stimulators for a long writing day ahead.

The Writing and the Story (Some Advice too!)

Then back to the hotel room and more writing. No distractions today. Wrote up quite breezily until lunchtime. Put in around 5 chapters, which is a biggie.

Our poor Devika is now in the thick of things. She has come to this house with a completely blank slate, for her memory is lost, and she is falling for the young doctor who has brought her into the house, Dr. Sumit Vishwakarma. Their romance is brewing, but at the same time, weird things are also happening in the house. Balancing the story between a blooming romance and nightly haunting is turning out to be a great narrative structure. Also, since the story is told from different POVs (we get to hear from both Devika and Sumit and even other characters when needed), there’s a lot of variety.

Pro-tip: Multiple POVs add variety to the writing and makes the reader sample different characters. Advisable if your story spans a large spectrum.

The Rest of the Day

Lunch was a brilliant prawns thali at a place called Flying Fish off Mapusa market. Wonderful fare at a dirt-cheap rate. Do check out the pic, and if you are here the next time, go to Flying Fish with all my recommendation.

Returned to the hotel room and back to writing. Only took breaks for a cup of tea in the evening (called it to my hotel room) and for dinner had some Goan specialties that I got from the market. One piece of batk was enough to fill an entire dinner for me.

More writing till late night brought my word count to 32000, which makes this day my most productive day so far. And also explains why there are not many pics!

18^th of July, 2018

I was quite looking forward to this day because there was a plan to meet with fellow-authors in Goa. Authors have this thing; when they go to another city, they scope out other authors there and plan a meet. It’s almost an unspoken rule. And if those other authors are also friends, then it’s an icing on the cake.

The Mini Authors’ Meet

Four of us met at a lovely eatery called Cluck Tales in Panjim. It’s right across the Panjim Market and pretty famous. We managed to get a cozy table on the mezzanine floor and really had a go with our chats and plans for future events.

In the picture are (from left to right), Charmaine DeSouza Fernandes who is writing her first book and is a winner of the Readify Author Hunt and also quite a popular animal activist, myself, Uttam Kumar who is a social worker and has also written a book titled First Job and 10 Mistakes, and Rohan Govenkar who is an author of two books titled 1000 Kilograms of Goa and Oh My Goddess and a very popular Goan personality.

We talked about Rohan’s recent trip to Russia for the FIFA matches, Charmaine’s and Rohan’s visits to some of the spookiest places in Goa, and Uttam Kumar’s observations on society at large, which were quite the treat. We also spoke about having a bigger event in Goa to bring the local literary community together, on which details will be put up soon. Now that’s what I call an enriching meeting. Likeminded people getting together and trying to give something back. Rohan also gifted us copies of his books!

And since I always mention food, mine was a wiener schnitzel with beer! (sorry, didn’t get pics of the food). A shout-out to Vasco, the owner of Cluck Tales, for the good food.

Roaming Around in Panjim

Panjim is called the most walkable city in India. No, I don’t have any citation for this, but I have heard it said. And, of course, I have the experience. The city is quite clean and uncluttered and there’s no traffic on most routes, and then there’s this cool breeze blowing in that keeps you walking. I walked for about an hour through the various spots.

Here’s my pic of the Panjim Market. Have always loved the Mario Miranda murals on the walls.

Walked around to Our Lady of Immaculate Conception church, the popular church with the white exterior and beautiful steps, spent a few minutes at the Jardim Garcia de Orta, came to Fountainhas, and then got back. My story was calling!

*Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Panjim*

The Writing

Wrote a few scenes without any distraction until evening. I knew this day wasn’t going to be much fruitful writing-wise, and it wasn’t. Something else was coming up! A casino visit! A friend had invited me to one of Goa’s most popular floating casinos, and I saw myself going to Panjim again and was there then till the wee hours of morning trying to test my luck. Don’t ask me how that went!

Progress at the end of day = 35000 words in total.

One more day left technically. How will I finish?

Beach Writing Challenge Day 2 — An English Breakfast, a Spooky House, and Some Furious Writing

July 15, 2018

by neildsilva with No Comment Beach Writing Challenge

13^th of July, 2018

Guys, thanks for continuing to read these updates on my self-imposed Beach Writing Challenge as I write the third book in my Supernatural India series.

If you have not read it yet, read what I did on the first day here: Day 1.

So the second day in Calangute began with me getting up late in a weird and divinely comfortable room, getting alarmed, and then realizing WTF I had no particular place to go to! As soon as I could, I set out for a breakfast and breakfast it was—a lavish English Breakfast at Infantaria (that famous restaurant attached to a church on Calangute), which had baked beans, Goan sausages, bacon, and two fried eggs. Dieting be damned.

The Spooky House

It was while returning to my hotel room from Infantaria that I noticed this particular bungalow. I had seen this the previous night too but as it was plunged in darkness, I couldn’t see much. Moreover, there was no light for a distance and there weren’t any people walking on this particular stretch too. In the darkness of the previous night, I had eventually noticed two dogs sitting on a corner of the fence surrounding the bungalow, and I had just walked away.

Now in the morning, I saw the house in its glorious self. It looked immediately like an abandoned house. All the doors and windows were shut; there was no evidence of anyone living inside. I heard no tales of this house from anyone, but it just gave off those vibes.

The gate is quite an anachronism to the rest of the house as you will see in the pictures. Maybe that’s why the house has this kind of bizarre appeal that makes a passerby stop in his tracks and take a few pictures.

Writing, Writing, and More Writing

On the second day of my writing challenge, I could not afford to not continue my writing. I was immediately back in my hotel room after breakfast and sat down to write. The scenes were already planned out and I had to lay them down now. So I entered into the world of Devika (the name of my protagonist in this tale) and built up her story as she enters into a new world. In parallel, I also wrote the chapters of her nemesis (the monster lady whom I shall not name for now). Really, it kicks me even as I write this thinking how I will build up to the eventual fight between Devika and her enemy.

By the end of the day, I had completed 13000 words, thus maintaining my average of 6500 words/day.

Night at Calangute

You cannot be on the Calangute Beach and not go see the water. So, I did. I am not having dinner these days, or rather it’s mostly a packet of biscuits, a pint of whatever beer, and a smoke. Lunches are heavy, afternoons are sluggish, evenings are vibrant. Just the way it ought to be during a vacation!

Spent a silent hour at the Calangute Beach just gazing at the water. The activities at Souza Lobo were going on in full swing and there were the hookah smokers at the adjacent restaurant. It was fun to watch when the rains came in all their heaviness and the waiters had to dismantle all their makeshift tables and take them inside. And funnier still was when the rains went away in ten minutes and they assembled everything again. We need some of these people in Mumbai for our municipal tasks!

End of Day

Back to the hotel, back to looking at my MacBook with 13000 words and rereading some of the good paragraphs I wrote and gloating over them in private, and then writing some more. Called it a night around one, and day 2 came to a close. Next day, new venue, new writing location.

See you with the next update. Ciao!

Click here to go to the next day’s update.

10 Things that Make a Smacking Good Horror Story

January 14, 2018

by neildsilva with 2 Comments Writing Horror

Writing a horror story? See whether you have these 10 things in place.

Writing a horror story? You have the plot, but are you hitting the right notes? Here is a quick checklist based on celebrated works of famous writers of the genre. Whether it is for a submission or for your novel, see if you are doing the right thing with your horror story. Writing tips from Neil D’Silva.

A protagonist whom everyone feels sad for, and roots for.
An antagonist capable of unleashing the most unimaginable evil.
Flaws; a truly chilling story feeds on the flaws of its people.
Stakes so high they could pierce the sky.
A place where no one wants to be.
A time when no one wants to be alone.
Hurt of the kind that is unbearable to even think about, lot less to experience.
Sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and touches that make you wish you never had the five senses.
Language that speaks minimally, but with words and phrases that keep swirling in the mind.
A climax that plays on and on in the reader’s miserable mind.

To read acclaimed horror shorts from Neil D’Silva, click on the following:

After NaNoWriMo… What?

June 3, 2016

by neildsilva with No Comment After NaNoWriMo... What?

After

I was pointedly asked this question today and I felt it apt to speak about it in a blog post so that more people could read my thoughts.

I released my first NaNoWriMo winning novel, Maya’s New Husband, on Amazon Kindle in January 2015. Since then the journey has been fabulous. I feel I do have something of value to add to the question asked to me.

First and foremost, NaNoWriMo is more of a motivational community, or an organization if you might say that. It is a community of supercharged writers (well, not all of them, but most of them are) and they come together to write a novel of their own in the month of November.

The NaNoWriMo challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November. If you manage to do that, then you are through. You get the certificate and you can flaunt it to all and sundry.

But, are you ready to release your book yet? No! Definitely not! That’s where it gets a big hazy.

There are people who have not yet published their NaNoWriMo winning drafts that they had written half a decade ago. There could be a host of reasons for that, but if you wish to be a published writer and want to use NaNoWriMo to get that all-important start, then these are the things that you should take care of.

Things to Do after Your NaNoWriMo Month

First and foremost, remember that NaNoWriMo does not write your book. You write it. NaNoWriMo is not responsible for completing your book, much less getting a good book out of you. All those are your responsibilities. Treat NaNoWriMo only as a tool, an aid, to help you get that manuscript out of your head and on paper. If you win it, it plays no more role than that of a doctor helping a woman give birth to her child. That’s it. Nurturing the child is not the doctor’s responsibility.
The second thing is that your novel may not be finished at 50,000 words. So you might need to go beyond the NaNoWriMo month and complete your first draft.
If you win your NaNoWriMo certificate, then along with it, you will get a host of sponsored writing aids at low cost, mostly software, which could help you complete and organize your manuscript. You could make use of that. (I personally didn’t).
When your draft is complete, go back and check it once again. Read it from the start. Weed out all typos and grammatical issues. Tighten up your story. In effect, self-edit your book.
Once that is done, send it to someone you trust who could read it for you and give feedback on it. Do not be stingy about sharing your manuscript and definitely do not be paranoid about someone stealing it. We always value our stories a zillion times more than anyone else does it. These are your beta readers. Once their feedback comes in, use their inputs to make your story better. You need not accept all suggestions, and you definitely shouldn’t, but this gives you an idea about what’s working and what’s not in your story.
Now, send the story to a professional editor. Remember, this is a vital step. You might have been a grammar teacher for thirty years, but editing is not all about grammar and language. It is about plot inconsistencies. It is about story development. It is about flow and readability. There are so many issues. A professional editor, especially who reads your genre, will help you improve your story manifold. Editors have a sort of magic eye. They see the mistakes that others cannot.
If you are self-publishing, hire a professional cover designer. Heard that adage – Do not judge a book by its cover? Well, bury it. All readers, bar none, judge books by new authors by their covers. It is best if you can give a detailed concept to the artist so that they can make it better with their own inputs. Personally, I sit with my cover artist and brainstorm ideas. All authors must do that.
I suppose you have locked in the title by now. If not, then this is perhaps your chance to come in with a great one. Your title should have some zing to it, some factor that makes anyone in the street think about it twice. I’ve been told my first book’s title has that appeal. Maya’s New Husband. Why new? What happened to the old one? That’s the hook right there. In fact, tell the title to a few friends and gauge their reaction, not their words. Are they intrigued? Or are they just putting you on? Be flexible about changing the title if the need arises.
Now, when you get the first three chapters edited by your editor, you can start sending in the query forms to the literary agents. This is if you are looking for traditional publishing. You will also need a synopsis at this time. Make sure you have a wonderful one written. Look at the synopses of other books, great ones, to see how those authors have done it. You will usually get a list of literary agents on the Internet.
You can even send query letters to traditional publishers directly. However, this is not a method that really works. Very few traditional publishers will respond to you without an agent. And if they do, check out their deals. A traditional publisher who is really convinced in your work will ask for the rest of the manuscript, and if that works out too, will offer you an advance on your royalty.
A note here — if anyone asks you money to publish your book, run away from them as much as you can. Or rather push them away from you as much as you can. There are several sharks swimming in the wide ocean of our literary world. Be particularly wary of any vanity publishers who will ask you money to print and “distribute” your books. Print, they will do, distribute, fat chance. You could probably do a better job getting your book printed at a local printer’s outlet and selling it on the Internet via an online sellers’ platform.
If you are self-publishing, great! You have all the control. And when I say self-publishing, I mean SELF-publishing. Not going to the vanity publishers. When you self-publish, you get the book out yourself. You can do that for both eBooks and paperbacks. For eBooks, you could use a service like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform, which has the widest reach by far. For paperback, you could go for any Print On Demand online publisher. And, one more thing — there is a growing demand for mobile publishing nowadays. Books that can be downloaded on apps on smartphones — that’s really growing. Check out these platforms too.

By the time you are done with all this, probably it’s the time for the next year’s NaNoWriMo, and onward for your next publication!

I hope that answers most of the doubts of the person who asked me the question, and of others too. If there are any specific queries, do feel free to contact me on the Comments section here, or on the following:-

Facebook Author Page
Twitter

How I Turned My Debut Novel into an Amazon Bestseller (Part 1 of 3) – The Groundwork

January 18, 2016

by neildsilva How I Turned My Debut Novel into an Amazon Bestseller (Part 1 of 3) - The Groundwork

I released the first eBook version of my book Maya’s New Husband as a self-published author on 3 Jan 2015. It immediately hit the Amazon Hot New Releases charts at #1 the first day itself and then the Amazon India Bestseller list, peaking at #1 several times. In fact, even now, eighteen months after its release, the book continues to be at the top of the Amazon India charts, almost always in the top 10 positions. Even on Goodreads, it has a solid rating of 4 out of 5 stars, and as many as 65 reviews and 130 ratings.

People often ask me what I did to bring my book to this kind of acclaim. Hence I thought I would rather blog about it and keep it here for posterity. So, here goes.

In this first part of this three-part series, I talk about the things I did before actually beginning to write even the first word of my novel. Yes, if you plan to be a recognized author, the groundwork is extremely important.

(Disclaimer: The following strategies worked for me. They may not work for you, or they may. And they do entail a fair amount of work. If you are expecting a magic trick, this is your cue to bail out of this page.)

I created a blog six months before I wrote my first book. You definitely need a website or a blog if you are going public. Once your name is out there, people will want to check you out. That is what the website/blog helps you achieve.
Once the blog was made, I started putting up short stories on it every Friday. I went all out to make these short stories as interesting as possible, working on them over and over again, each word and phrase, till I thought they were ready to go. One thing I would like to say here – at every step of my public writing journey, I have always been conscious of being read by a large number of people, and even judged. I make no mistake about that. I might be bordering on paranoia to be thinking of that at all times, but that paranoia helps me create good stuff.
I made a Facebook author page. I kept, and still keep, this page clean and only about my writing work. I promoted the page on my timeline.
I joined several author groups on Facebook. There are tons of them that are really great. I joined not just national but also international groups, because that’s where the real fun lies. I participated in them with meaningful discussions and contributed with my knowledge of the language and the craft. I helped other aspiring authors with my feedback. It helped me make some good friends.
I made a Twitter account, a Pinterest account, an Indiblogger account, a LinkedIn profile, everything. I may not be active in all of these places, but I do have all those accounts and I try to keep them updated.
I started sharing my free stories on these accounts. But not just like that. I designed cover pages for all my stories. Yes, the visual representation is very important. I cannot stress that enough. A lot of people have told me that they have clicked on my page just because the cover page looked appealing. Knowing that, I design cover pages for even a 1000-word short story.
I shared free stories on Wattpad and Figment. I participated in their swap-stories-for-review exchanges. I got great reviews everywhere. I made sure I posted one story every Friday. A time soon arrived when people started waiting for my stories each Friday. A reader actually told me he expected to see a new story from me each Friday. It made me feel high!
I started talking with people who had already gotten published. I found out about their process, and I did research on publishing houses. I saw how traditional publishing compared with self-publishing. I ruled out vanity publishing entirely because that is only another way of insulting your own work before others do it.
I then began outlining my first novel. This happened around August 2014. I spent a lot of time thinking over it, and I spoke with my family about it. Their encouragement was a huge motivating factor.
Around sometime there, I joined a phenomenon that changed my life. It was www.NaNoWriMo.org. I had joined its unofficial Facebook group earlier and I was also a member of its India page, Wrimo India. And then, when the month of NaNoWriMo 2014 started, my journey as a writer truly began.

In the next part of this series, I shall be talking about how NaNoWriMo helped me emerge as a writer, and how I actually went through the writing process. I shall also be talking about the groundwork I did to launch my book.

Stay tuned.

Suicide Point (Part 1) | Short Story by Neil D’Silva

January 6, 2016

by neildsilva Serialized Fiction Suicide Point

Suicide Point | Short Story by Neil D’Silva

Part 1

Sahil put the phone down and resumed driving, a smile dancing on his lips. It was past 10:00 p.m. now; he hoped he could make it in time to wish his wife on her birthday. He had cut his tour short by a day to be with her. It would be a shame if he didn’t reach her in person before the day got over.

The call had been to her. She had told him not to hurry; it was all right if he reached late. He had to drive carefully; that was all she needed. However, those words made him feel guiltier. Here he was, a failed college dropout and a flopped businessman who had somehow landed with this wonderful woman. A woman who never needed anything, never asked for anything, was always with him through any situation. And, most importantly, a woman who loved him.

He hoped he could wish her on her birthday.

He looked at the seat next to him. A shiny rectangular box with a label—To Mala with love, From Sahil—lay on it at the moment. How he hoped she had been sitting next to him on this long drive… But that box was a symbol of her too. It was his gift; a diamond bracelet. He had spent a tidy sum on that trinket, but he didn’t mind. She was more precious than anything he could hope to have.

The highway narrowed down now. Surrounded by jungle on either side, he needed to keep his eyes alert. He saw a sign that told him to beware of deer and foxes that could suddenly spring in his path. He didn’t care though, nor did any of the other drivers on the thinly trafficked route.

It crossed his mind that the box was too shiny to have on such display during a lone night ride. It bore the name of one of the priciest jewelers in town. He reached out and grabbed a newspaper that lay on the seat behind him, and placed it on the box, hoping that the camouflage would be enough.

It was that morning’s paper, which he hadn’t found time to read yet. But now, a headline caught his eye:

18 Suicides on Suicide Point.

And then he realized—this was Suicide Point! He had read about it in the papers a few days ago. In fact, Mala had read it out to him. He recalled snatches of the article—a gnarled banyan tree from where people hung themselves to death, their bodies found in the mornings, on this very same route that he was on.

It sent a shiver along his body. Eighteen suicides meant eighteen unhappy spirits. He wasn’t squeamish or superstitious, but he had a sinking feeling in his stomach all the same. How he wished there’d be some more light on the road…

***

There was a bend up ahead, snaking into an unknown territory that he knew he must take. He held his steering wheel tightly, and braced himself to maneuver the curve. There was about an hour and half left to midnight; and if he drove at this speed, he’d be home soon. Keeping his eyes on the road and slowing down his car, he turned.

It was when he was turning that he saw a sight that made him place his foot on the brake.

There was a woman sitting by the roadside. She was dressed in white, definitely a bad choice for a night out in the jungle, and she had primly positioned herself on one of those stone fences that are built on the sharp turns along highways.

Sahil should have ignored her and gone ahead. He had every reason to disregard this woman and move on. Apart from the fact that he had absolutely no time to spare, there was also the fact that everything about this woman seemed wrong. He was reminded of the horror movies in which witches cruised along highways in such white attire and feasted on the bodies of the unfortunate people who stopped to hear their tale. She could have very well been a spirit of one of those hapless eighteen that had taken this route as a shortcut to hell.

Every shred of wise counsel in him told him to carry on driving. He even stepped on the accelerator and, as the road straightened, prepared to give his engine a boost of energy.

However, at that moment, he committed a mistake.

He looked into the rear view mirror.

Now that he saw her clearly, he saw her crying. He could not see the face, but her moving shoulders left no doubt as to the agony she experienced sitting there on that cold night.

He just couldn’t go on after that sight. Always known as the one to help others in need, he couldn’t let this one pass. And there was nothing such as spirits anyway. No ghosts, no ghouls. He wasn’t going to leave a woman in distress just because of some silly folk tales.

Slowly, he took his foot off the accelerator and pressed the brake again.

***

Sahil parked his car carefully and walked up to the lady. He put his hands in his pockets for it was a cold night. His steps were brisk. He intended to find out where she stayed and call up her folks or the police.

“Is there a problem, miss?” he asked when he was so close he could smell the jasmine in her hair.

She looked up and he saw her face. One look at that face and all his apprehensions were put to rest. The face was innocent, almost like a child who has lost a favorite toy. There was nothing insidious about it.

“Please tell me, miss,” he repeated, “why are you crying?”

“Sumanlata,” she said.

“Yes?”

“That’s my name. You may call me by name.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I am Sahil. But why are you here on the roadside? Haven’t you heard about this place?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Then you know it isn’t a good place to hang out, right? I don’t intend to be nosy, but please… what are you doing here?”

“This is Suicide Point, I know,” she said distantly.

He nodded, and then it dawned upon him. His eyes grew wide in alarm. “Oh no! Don’t tell me! Are you here to… to… sorry if I am wrong… end your life?”

She let out a feeble smile. “He married another.” Her voice was more distant now.

“Who?”

“I gave up everything for him, you know? I was learning to be a nurse, gave that up midway. There’s nothing in being a nurse, he said. All you have to do is clean people’s vomit and poop and piss. I gave it up. Did what he wanted. Went with him wherever he went. Stayed with him in hotels. And he gave me this.” She passed her hand on her belly.

Sahil did not know what to say. There was an urge in him to somehow wrangle out of this conversation and head back to his car, but that would be so mean.

“What am I to do with this?” Her hand was still on her belly. “He’s going ahead and marrying that other woman. That slut. Who is she? What has she given up for him?” She again broke out into a cry.

“Listen…” stammered Sahil. “Listen, miss… Suman… Sumanlata. I don’t know who you are talking about but I understand your pain. He has been cruel to you. A very bad thing has happened. However, that doesn’t mean you should end your life.”

The crying didn’t stop.

“Crap!” mumbled Sahil. “I absolutely suck at this stuff. But, hear me out, Sumanlata—give up your crying and return home. Tomorrow will be a better day; you shall see.”

Continue reading Suicide Point. Part 2 of 2.

How to Write a Review that Engages Readers

October 30, 2015

by neildsilva How to Write a Review that Engages Readers

– Jean Spraker

Jean Spraker is an American expat living in Seoul. But, some say her soul is truly Indian. She is currently writing her first novel inspired by her life in India. She blogs at jeanspraker.com.

This guest post from Jean Spraker is a part of the Review Ramblings series.

When Neil approached me to guest blog about writing reviews, I said, “Sure! I’d be happy to do it!” I had recently written a review for Ravi Subramanian’s The Bestseller She Wrote that’s received high praise—even from Subramanian himself. That makes me an expert now, right?

That about sums it up, don’t you think?

About 30 seconds after I agreed to write this post, I thought, “Ah crap! How DO I write a review? What makes my reviews work? Why was the response so positive for this review? What makes it different? What tips can I give potential reviewers? Have I completely lost my mind agreeing to a guest blog two days before #NaNoWriMo? Why do I think so damn much?”

Whew!

Clearly, my head is a dangerous place. Someone should really post a sign.

The truth is that I don’t have a secret sauce for reviews. If I did, I’d bottle it and sell it. A writer has to earn a living somehow. Clearly, royalties aren’t the pot of gold at the end of the writing (or reading) rainbow.

So, what tips can I offer?

Enjoy reading the book

It sounds simple, but it isn’t. Too often, I see readers taking a snobbish approach to the books they review. Judging the author for every typo and plot hole. Look. I’m not saying we shouldn’t judge those things. Typos on every page and plot holes the size of Maharashtra or Minnesota annoy readers. Reviewers should assess those issues. But, do it with respect. I get it. Everyone plays armchair quarterback. “I could have written Half Girlfriend or Fifty Shades. That book sucked,” you say. But, you know what? You didn’t write either book. That book is someone’s baby just like that half-finished manuscript you’ve been working on for the last year and a half is yours. Would you kill someone else’s baby? No. Of course not. So, why are you wasting my time writing the most intensely evil and useless review of a book you hate? I spotted your hater tendencies in the second sentence and moved on. I wrote you off. And so should the readers and the author, quite frankly. I have only written a 1 star review once, for a book that I was given as a review copy. It was bad, and I felt obligated to review it honestly. Otherwise, I would not have made it past page 10. But, truthfully, these bad reviews often serve little purpose to the reader. There’s always someone to disagree.

Balance the good and the bad

On the flip side of the hater review, we have the lover review. The person who has nothing but rainbows and stardust to blow up the writer’s butt. That person who is either related to or connected directly to the writer. Or who just loves every book, no matter how bloody awful. Even the best books have flaws. Take Midnight’s Children. The Booker of Bookers. A book so good that it won a Booker twice! Once by popular vote. Seriously. If you haven’t read it, you should. It will change your life and challenge everything you thought you knew that you didn’t actually know until you knew it.
But, even Midnight’s Children has flaws. Maybe you thought the mango pickle factory setting was cliché. Maybe you didn’t get that whole weird shower story. Maybe you just don’t like how Rushdie punctuated the book. Whatever it is, that criticism should be there, too. Not just the praise. Not just the “You’re so totally awesome!” Always give at least one positive and one negative aspect to the book. My reviews are structured with the good, the bad, and the verdict sections to maintain that balance.

Give the reader a sense of the book, but don’t give anything away

If you are reviewing a thriller or mystery, please, for the love of God, don’t tell us who did it or what happens in the end. Yes, I know this might make your review vague, but the readers will thank you for not ruining the book—and so will the writer. Trust me.

Be honest with your bias

I was so heavily involved in the final stages of Ketan Bhagat’s Child/God that I am in the acknowledgements. I am constitutionally incapable of speaking even one negative thing about the book publicly. Which is why when I reviewed the book, I admitted that and instead gave you a straight-up sales pitch. I recently saw the editor for a book review said book on his blog. No mention was made of his role in the book. And, to me, that’s wrong. As long as he’s up front about it, his review holds water. But, the minute you find out he helped shape the book, but didn’t tell you, his opinion holds less value, doesn’t it?

Know thyself

Say you’re a blogger, and someone asks you to review a romance novel. No really. Say it. “I’m a blogger and someone asked me to review a romance novel. Are they nuts! I don’t read romance!” you bellow. That’s a problem. Are you going to do the book or yourself justice? Probably not. This is the best time to refer the person to another blogger in line with their interests.

Provide context

I learned this trick in grad school. As part of my coursework and prep for my prelims, I regularly wrote book reviews. I always had to place the book within its historiographic context. Always. If the writer was a Marxist, that was contextualized within a discussion about class. Sometimes context is simple. Maybe it’s saying that Ravi Subramanian normally writes thrillers. Maybe it’s explaining the marketing mayhem around Half Girlfriend. Relating a book to other books can really help the reader understand if he or she would enjoy the book.

Follow the 3 Es of Ashwin Sanghi

Entertain. Educate. Enlighten.

I learned more about writing for an audience in those three words than I have learned in seven years as a tech editor sitting in branding meetings. Sanghi is absolutely right. Keeping your audience entertained is the key to success. Let’s face it. Attention spans are shrinking, but book inventories are expanding. If you want to capture an audience, you must entertain. Sorry. Your review has to be more entertaining than Candy Crush. Truth hurts. I know.

Incorporate multimedia

When possible, I try to bring in multimedia. As a former Creative Services Manager, I know how important it is to connect to users on multiple levels. Sometimes, that’s as simple as bringing in the Scion of Ikshvaku’s book trailer; sometimes it’s bringing in tweets or completely unrelated YouTube videos.

Multimedia is Awesome! Isn’t it? You get the idea. If you have a blog, you should be able to figure out how to copy and paste the YouTube embed code into your site. WordPress has made this easier with the Add Media button. Just copy and paste the YouTube link, and presto! Video!

Be a fangirl or fanboy

It’s OK. Really. Pay attention to the buzz around the book. Follow the author on Twitter or Facebook. See what he or she says about the upcoming release. Use that in the review to give the reader a better sense for the flavor of the book. It’s OK to go gaga over a book as long as you balance that with real criticism and don’t lose sight of the fact that your review is meant to help a reader decide whether to buy the book. Or not.

Write well

Proof those reviews, people! Run spell check, damn it! A poorly written 5 star review could do more damage than a well written 1 star review. No joke. No matter how insightful your commentary, if your review contains tons of typos, no one will pay attention to it. Not the potential reader and certainly not the author. I recently admitted on Facebook that I don’t read Amazon reviews. Poor writing is the biggest reason why.

Now that you know how to write a great review, you can do the minion dance! Gangnam style! So long from Seoul!

Review Ramblings (Part 1) – What Reviews Should Mean to Authors

October 28, 2015

by neildsilva Review Ramblings (Part 1) - What Reviews Should Mean to Authors

All authors hanker for reviews. Truth be told, to a lot of us, reviews mean much more than book sales. As an author who has received more than 200 reviews for my debut book Maya’s New Husband on major portals such as Amazon, Goodreads, and on several personal blogs, I can vouch for that. I am happier if a day ends with a helpful review on my book, even if the sales chart isn’t exactly rocking.

Here are a few of my personal observations vis-à-vis reviews, just a few things that I think authors might want to note.

Every review is important, but no single review can be a reflection of your book’s overall performance. Do not be much affected by reviews individually, whether they are good or bad. It is best to take reviews in bulk. Authors get a much better indication of their work if they see how they are performing on average instead of looking at one particular review that praises their book sky-high or molests it. That’s the reason both Amazon and Goodreads have average star rating mentioned at the top. Most readers base their buying decisions on this rating. Books from some of the greatest authors we know often settle somewhere between a 3.5 and 4.5 star rating. If your book lands within this spectrum, you should be proud of it.

If there is a 1 star rating and there is absolutely no explanation for it, then don’t fret about it. There could be zillions of reasons, including something as simple as the person simply did not identify with the genre. Even the best of classics have several 1 star ratings.

If there is a 5 star rating and there is absolutely no explanation for it, then don’t go over the moon about it either. This is probably a “well-wisher” who is simply proud of their author friend. These reviews mean nothing. They don’t even look good on the page because they look rigged. In most probability, these people haven’t even read your book.

If there is a pretty short review from an unknown person, just a few sentences, then that has probably come from someone who has been strongly influenced by your book but isn’t quite articulate with words. This could be a positive or negative influence, but your book did something to that person such that they were compelled to review. Such reviews should make you feel rewarded, unless they are bad reviews speaking about the quality of your writing.

Reviews that speak about the story and theme rather than the craft of writing are always the best ones. We authors are storytellers, so we feel really happy when a story affects someone. If you write about a social theme and it makes the reader think, there’s nothing better than that, irrespective of the fact whether they agree or disagree.

The longest reviews are usually from professional bloggers. These are to be cherished. You could frame them and post them on your walls, even if they are just 1 star! The very fact that a professional blogger, who typically reads two books a week, picked your book to read and review means something, doesn’t it? And since they are so well-read, they will be able to tell a lot of things about your book that general readers won’t. Then again, you might agree and disagree with the review because it is, after all, one blogger’s personal opinion.

From a marketing point of view, the professional blogger reviews have the greatest impact. They will be put up on their blogs too, and they will share it on their own social network timelines, which adds to your book’s viral presence. And that’s why it pays to be polite to professional reviewers!

Most books will have a high rating when they are newly released. This is because the initial reviews come from the author’s known circle. As the book spreads out though, the reviews will become less flattering and more practical. Some might even be brusque or downright rude. That happens with all authors; it’s part of the process.

Never, never ever, respond to a review on a public platform, even if it is the friend you shared a beer with last night, and especially not if it is a negative review. There is only one way these things can get — ugly. And since it will happen publicly and be there for posterity, you don’t want that. There’s no quicker way for an author to commit professional hara-kiri in my opinion. Here’s a definite example of how not to handle bad reviews.

One more related point — Make it very clear to potential buyers what your book is about. Be specific about genre and theme. This is to ensure that your book is only bought and read by people who would appreciate that particular genre. If you are not specific, you are baiting for bad reviews. Even if a classic is given to someone who only reads and understands pop literature, they might review it badly.

Coming soon:

Part 2 of the Review Ramblings series: What Reviewers Must Keep in Mind when Reviewing

Press Mentions

October 6, 2015

by neildsilva Press Mentions

Press Mention in Nayee Duniya (Indore Edition) dated October 4, 2015:

This was a brief coverage of the Rising Litera event titled The Writers Perspectives which was conducted at Cafe Terazza in Indore on October 2-3, 2015.

Press Mention in Dainik Bhaskar (Indore Edition) dated October 6, 2015:

This was a brief coverage of the Rising Litera event titled The Writers Perspectives which was conducted at Cafe Terazza in Indore on October 2-3, 2015.

Keeping It Simple But Powerful – The Use of Language in Fiction

September 12, 2015

by neildsilva Keeping It Simple But Powerful – The Use of Language in Fiction

By Prachi Percy Sharma

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A lot has been written on the use of pedestrian language that makes for languid prose and therefore a badly-written book, which leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

In this post, let’s talk about the opposite of pedestrian prose – PURPLE PROSE.

In lay language, purple prose means stringing a litany of BIG words together to form convoluted sentences, thus creating flowery prose (yeah, you can say I have a language fetish. It is the aspect of writing that I’m most concerned about).

Reading a book with flowery prose is different than reading one with pedestrian language. Reading a novel crammed with purple prose is like bumping into someone who has sprayed too much perfume. The pungent aroma smothers the nostrils and makes it difficult to breathe, doesn’t it?

Big words and unnecessarily twisted sentences lessen the overall reading experience. Personally speaking, it puts me off reading the book.

The saddest part is that I’m reading a book with an AWESOME story but written in flowery prose. The presence of too many words to describe too little is hampering my reading experience, despite the fact that I really like the characters, the setting, and the plot.

New writers, in my experience, often tend to forget that it is not using big words in stories that makes a good writer. It is using simple words and lucid language to say a lot that makes a good writer. And, no, literary authors, at least the ones I’ve read, don’t use flowery prose or complicated language (except Cervantes, perhaps).

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the literary giants, uses simple, lucid language in his novels, sometimes peppered with Spanish cusswords. And yet, his prose is lyrically beautiful and enchanting!

Toni Morrison, VS Naipaul, Richard Flanagan, and John Steinbeck use normal, everyday language too, but in a way that tells a touching, poignant story, both through the text and its subtext. And their prose is excellent and of high quality.

A good writer, I believe, can strike a balance between using simple BUT quality words, and incorporate a style and voice that speaks straight and is honest, but still connects and impresses. The language should not become pedestrian instead of simple, and at the same time, it should not become irritatingly complex instead of having quality.

When reading a novel, I expect to read a story — about characters, about their thoughts, actions, and feelings, and about what happens during the story. I do NOT expect to have big words thrown at me. That makes the writer seem condescending, like they think they can awe the reader by their complex word-building, and prove that they ‘know’ so many complicated words.

If a character has to use the loo, it should be ‘I have to pee / use the washroom’, and not ‘I have to evacuate my bladder / perform micturition’. The latter sounds laughable, doesn’t it?

My point is, we writers must cultivate the talent to convey complicated things in simple, lucid language, while still maintaining the quality of the prose. This fine balance can be struck only if we practice our craft properly.

Prachi Percy Sharma is an upcoming name in the world of Indian and global literature. She is known for her strong opinions on feminism, and is quite vocal about the things that blight our contemporary society. All of these shape her writing, which is mostly in the genre of crime fiction. Visit her site at Crimocopaeia and read her short stories at the links below:

Menaka

Femme Fatale

The Murder of Agnel Wilson

16th of July, 2018

17th of July, 2018