Why I Never Have a Writers’ Block

by Why I Never Have a Writers’ Block

I often hear my dear writerly folks speak about the dreaded writers’ block. I see discussions on this affliction, and complete websites and even books devoted to it. Well, there’s definitely no writers’ block in writing books on writers’ block, is there?

But I find all these discussions a bit exaggerated. For me at least (and it has been often remarked how I might be of another species altogether), writers’ block seems to be like the pandemic that I’ve been immune to despite living in the same world as the others. Either it is that, or it is the fact that I am somewhat of an unconventional writer.

Let me take up this space (and hopefully your time) to state why I haven’t succumbed to this blight so far. Kindly bear with me.

I write intuitively.

Intuitive writing is when you become your characters and write the story as they would react to the situations. In short, you detach yourself from playing god to your characters and let them flow of their own free will. So, if I am at a difficult point, I ask myself, “How would this person react? What character attributes does she have? If I were her, what would I have done?” These are the questions that carry the story forward.

I realized only recently that a lot of people who write for long-running television soaps practice intuitive writing. They create characters and scenarios and then let them out to play. And it always helps them to build those large volumes of highly interesting content.

I plan in advance.

I don’t plot. I plan. Now there’s a difference in the two. When you plot, you sit down and storyboard everything, even the minutest details. Some authors even go as far as to plot details such as the color of their characters’ dress, which may not even be mentioned in the book. However, I don’t go that far. Instead, I have the basic outline of the story in my mind, or if I’m not too lazy, written down somewhere. I know the turning points in the story. I know the climax. Then it only becomes a matter of carrying my characters forward till there. Coupled with intuitive writing, this becomes an interesting way to propel the story forward.

Remember, what you write at first is only your rough manuscript. It is going to get edited several times. So it doesn’t really matter what flies off your mind the first time. It will be polished to perfection later on.

I have multiple WIPs.

I know many eyebrows are going to be raised for this one. This is definitely a most unconventional way to write. I do flirt with several stories at one go.  (But each story feels I am only with them when I am with them — hallmark of a Casanova). I don’t even have specific time slots as to which story I should write when. I just take up one at a time, the one I am thinking the most strongly about, and then unleash my fury on it. If I have a difficult time with it, I have no qualms in keeping it aside and picking up another one. Even as we speak, I have at least four stories in various stages of completion.

Do this only if you are good at compartmentalizing things. It works for me because I never work on two stories on the same day. If I need to switch, I’ll always do it on the next day.

I walk. I have long baths. I go to bed early but sleep late.

A writer needs all of that. Free time. Me time. These are the times when you are doing nothing else, when your mind is cleared up to think.  Usually it’s what you think in those few minutes before you sleep that becomes your best written work. Many wonderful stories are created in the bathrooms. (Okay, that came out wrong!) Anyway, you get the drift. Try finding time for yourself to think. Not write, not plot, just think. You will be thankful you did that.

So, these are just some of the ways. There are several others that might be escaping my mind now. But, one thing’s for sure — I am not going to let a writers’ block hamper my productivity.

8 Reasons Why Horror Works in India

by with No Comment 8 Reasons Why Horror Works in IndiaFrom Neil D'Silva

Many people ask me during my book events why I chose to write horror, and I can understand their “concern”. Most of the contemporary literature in India is drama or romance. Now, I haven’t got anything against romance per se. It is certainly a wonderful genre to write on, but I feel Indian authors must explore other genres as well. There are so many genres that Indian authors can write on, such as mytho-fantasy, epic fantasy, sci-fi, satire, and, of course, horror.

 

Yes, indeed horror. This is a genre that must find its place in Indian writing soon. Here are the main reasons why I think this is a really great time to be a horror author.

 

  1. It is a relatively new genre to explore. Check out the bestseller lists in the popular bookstores and you will find no horror! (Please note that I am not talking here of unintentional horror that some books evoke due to their content.) We need more writers here, provided they are good at their craft. For horror doesn’t take much time to delve into comedy if it is not done correctly.
  2. We have a vast repertoire of all kinds of entities that can be used for creating horror. What about the daityas and the rakshasas and the pishachas and the vetals? Of course, the good old chudails and daayans and bhoots are still there, but the movies have done them to death. These characters are plot bunnies that are just waiting to be taken.
  3. That brings me to my third point. The movies. Just look at the kind of excitement the horror movies generate. Everyone wants to know more about them, whether or not they have the courage to actually enter a cinema hall that plays it. The haunted houses in the malls are always full of people waiting to get in. We love to hear horror stories in the lonely evenings sitting with our friends. Thus, there is definitely a demand. It will work out if the literary world caters to this demand.
  4. The foreign horror authors are a hit in India. Stephen King and Neil Gaiman are almost always among the bestselling foreign authors of any genre across the bookstores. In fact, some publishing houses have inundated the stores with horror anthologies containing works of writers from all over the world. See all the anthologies by foreign authors foreworded by Ruskin Bond and you will know what I mean. Why is that? Because we want to read horror but don’t have our own authors.
  5. Readers are willing to experiment nowadays. They are tired of the same stories packaged in different ways. They are trying out the bookshelves in the stores they haven’t done before. Even those who aren’t inclined to horror on the face of it would be compelled to pick up a good horror book if it piques their interest.
  6. Publishers have become more open to accepting horror. Even literary agents are prioritizing horror stories. The moment the writer says ‘horror’, these people want to read the story at least once. In their attempts to bring out something new for the reader, this genre ranks highly nowadays.
  7. There’s less competition. If you can find your niche readers, you can be assured of a moderate success at least. Even on self-publishing platforms like Amazon Kindle, horror ranks well because there are few other authors in that category. However, as more horror writers join in, this is going to change.
  8. Horror is fun to write. Trust me. It is quite something to use your words to create a scare. Working with sights, smells, sounds, that’s what a horror writer does all the time. And there are few kinds of writing that are as interesting as that.

 

So these are my reasons. What do you think? Do let me know in the comments below.

 

10 Things That Made Me Take Up Writing

by with 2 Comments 10 Things That Made Me Take Up Writing

Though I have always been writing since my adolescence, and winning awards for it too, I took up fiction writing only very recently. One year ago, to be precise. I came up with a website, posted about a dozen short stories, did the usual stuff of putting up stories on Wattpad and Figment, and then debuted with Maya’s New Husband. The reviews I received along the journey egged me on to keep writing, and now there’s definitely no looking back.

This rainy morning, I like recording why I took up writing in the first place. Why writing? Why the change of tracks from teaching? Here are ten inferences I made.

  1. Last year, this epiphany struck me out of the blue — “What legacy am I going to leave behind?” I’m plum into middle-age at the moment, and hopefully have a long way to go, but still this question began to bother me. Don’t want to become another faceless name on a tombstone. It would be so much awesome if I can leave something behind that could be a talking point even after I am gone. That’s my biggest incentive for writing.
  2. I am a creative person. I want to make new things, want to give people something new that they haven’t seen or experienced before. Writing is the best outlet for my creativity.
  3. I have always had a way with words. In most of the groups I have been, during discussions, I would say the same thing as the others but in a way that would make a better impact. Even in normal conversation, I might occasionally pause for a better word. All this takes you in a particular direction.
  4. English is my language of writing (though I have written a few things in Hindi as well) and I love English. I am grateful to English for being in this world, for being a part of my life. Writing something in this language is my humble way of paying tribute to it.
  5. I have stories. Yes, I have stories in my mind. And if I don’t write them, who will?
  6. I don’t know why, but people have always been telling me to write. Roy, my brother, has always told me that; and even Anita, my wife, told me that when she knew me for just a few weeks. And then there are tons of my friends and students who have been on my case about it. I think I give off those writerly vibes.
  7. I still enjoy teaching, but I don’t enjoy the business it has become. Being forced to teach things that are blatantly wrong and even corrupting is not just me. I cannot put the knowledge I have lovingly amassed over these years aside and teach something that is fundamentally wrong. The decision to quit teaching got me thinking seriously about writing.
  8. My family environment when I was growing up was such that I was inundated by books. My father bought every book that appealed to him (this was back in the 80s and 90s) in the slightest. The Lord alone knows what he’d have done now in this age where eBooks are so easily accessible from your computer chair. But, his undying love for books and his fascination with them somehow gave me a subliminal message: Books are what you must write if you really want appreciation. So call it daddy issues or whatever, but somehow his reverence for books subtly coerced me to write, and, boy, am I happy about that!
  9. The very idea of being a part of a writers’ community tickles me silly! We writers aren’t the stereotypical kurta-clad, jhola-carrying Neanderthals as depicted in movies, but we are actually a very jolly lot, teasing and teaching each other. Everyone has an opinion, which makes it all the more fun. And you get to read so many things for free.
  10. Getting known was the last incentive. It is a surreal experience to see your name in someone’s hands. I think I’ll have arrived when I see the vendors at the street signals selling pirated versions of my book. Yes, waiting for that to happen someday!

Author Bio – Neil D’Silva

by with 2 Comments Author Bio - Neil D'SilvaAuthor Profile

Neil D’Silva is a teacher by profession, editor by vocation, and writer by passion. He considers all his attributes to be the means to an end, which is authoring a book that might one day be remembered as ‘that game-changing book Neil D’Silva wrote’. As an author, he made his debut with Maya’s New Husband, a tale of the vilest horror imaginable, and soon wrote The Evil Eye and the Charm, a collection of three short stories about the Indian lemon-chili charms. In addition, he periodically puts up stories on his website http://NeilDSilva.com/, all in different genres but common in the way they make people think beyond the words ‘The End’.

He is also the occasional cook, though his culinary experiments are only enjoyed by his little family of his wife Anita and two children, Gilmore and Felicia. He travels when his schedule and finances permit him, each of these journeys helping him hone his writing style. Always on the lookout for plot bunnies, Neil D’Silva is more like a human sponge who absorbs experiences and observations around him and then squeezes them out into this writing. He usually has this unspoken disclaimer for people he meets: “Be careful, or you’ll end up being eaten by bugs or something in my next book.”

Speaking of his next books, he is working furiously on Sapna’s Bad Connection, a psycho-horror tale with e-haunting as its theme. He has also prepared the initial manuscript for Bugfeast, a horror-comedy, which will go to the editing desk soon. At the same time, he has stories submitted to at least three anthologies, all of which are expected to be out sometime this year. He is also known for Micro Horror Chronicles, a short horror fiction collection that is slowly gaining its presence under the sun.

Connect with him on Facebook (neilvalentinedsilva) or Twitter (@NeilDSilva, @MayasNewHusband) or email him at [email protected]. A courteous reply from him is always assured.

Three Tips to Pep up Your Writing

by with No Comment From Guest WritersThree Tips to Pep up Your Writing

By Summerita Rhayne, author of Against All Rules and other books

Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Neil. Today I’m sharing three ways in which writing can be made to have more impact and vibrancy.

This post was inspired by a question asked in the FWBA (For Writers, By Authors) group on Faebook about how to make the writing more visual. There are innumerable pointers for doing that but I’m going to be brief here and share what I think is important.

It’s common these days to hear advice about taking out adverbs and adjectives and many of the adjuncts to make the writing crisp and direct. I don’t agree with that entirely. That’s because when we read we don’t just want to know Y happened after X and before Z. If all we have is the dialogues and the action, it would seem as though we are reading a film script. A book comprises much more. It allows us to give wings to our imagination and visualize according to our understanding.

At the same time, it is also true that we no longer have the luxury of leisure and even in our reading we want to get to the story as fast as possible.

Here are three pointers which I feel can enhance your writing while keeping it from getting weighty, descriptive or ponderous.

Keep it simple and action oriented.

This is what I’m increasingly doing now in my writing and I’ve found it works great in maintaining reader interest. Instead of using elaborate phrases and descriptions, keep your writing really simple and just describe what is happening. Think of it like a movie scene unfolding before you. I know it sounds contradictory to what I said before but really it isn’t. Let me explain. Those scenes in a movie in which you get close ups – they are the cue for us to write the emotional reaction of the character. Here’s where you can show your writing skills and have the reader tune into your character’s experience real up close. This will serve the purpose of internalization or giving emotional depth to your character and their conflict. Stick to bare description elsewhere. That keeps your focus on your plot. I also find that once I begin to describe simply what is occurring, the words find cadence more naturally.

Use metaphors while looking through the characters’ lens.

Metaphors are a lovely way to enhance your writing. A beautiful way to use metaphors is to filter them through your character’s experience. For example: your character who is a teacher in small school might describe an irritation like the sound of chalk squeaking across the blackboard. Whereas, if your character is a racing driver, it would be more appropriate for them to feel it like the squealing of tires on sudden braking. Think of creative ways in which you can add interesting comparisons.

More dialogue. Less description.

Dialogue gives pace to your writing. We read more quickly and visualize better if the characters are deep in conversation. A tip is to use 40% narration: 60% dialogue. This is what editors are looking for these days from what I hear.

Hope you found this post useful. Do you agree writing should be simple and not too descriptive? Do you agree with other pointers in this post? Do share what you like to do to make your writing more striking.

 

About the author:

Summerita Rhayne is a romance author who has written in historical and contemporary genres. She loves to explore emotional conflicts in her stories.

You can find out her books here, and read more about her on her website. Follow her on Twitter here.

 

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The Reluctant Authorpreneur

by with No Comment From Guest WritersThe Reluctant Authorpreneur

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By Laxmi Hariharan (author of The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer)

I have been on twitter since 2007, early enough to get my own mononym (yes that is a word) handle – @laxmi. As you can conclude then, I am somewhat of a tech-geek. The double whammy is that I also write fiction, where my protagonists are almost always teenagers. Naturally, I shun the company of ‘grownups’ – aka serious, well-dressed people who talk about cooking, arts, culture, politics – preferring to hang out with their kids so I can speak snapchat, being emo, and why growing up sucks. So, it came as somewhat of a shock to realize that I am old-fashioned in at least one area of my life. My writing. Or, more precisely, the act of writing.

It hit me a few weeks ago when I was at the London Book Fair. As an Indie writer who believes in the power of independent publishing, my first port of call was the Author HQ where all things Indie were being discussed. Or rather all things related to art of selling books as an Indie were being discussed. The talk passionately dwelt upon mastering the Amazon algorithm, keywords, discoverability, getting reviews, importance of your cover, of writing as many books as possible in as little a time, so you build a body of work, so you could sell more books.

Somehow it didn’t hold my attention. I agreed with everything being said, and acknowledged that all of it was important for selling a book. Yet, I wanted something more. So I walked across to another discussion, where authors were talking about their lives and their books. I heard from the electrifying Carmen Boullousa, a leading Mexican poet, novelist and playwright. She talked about her love for cooking, and how for a long time she denied herself that pleasure, for she associated cooking with female subservience. Coming from a traditional Indian family where my mum spent the better part of my teenage years in the kitchen, whipping up freshly cooked breakfasts, lunches and dinners for her family, I totally got it. And then she delivered this stunning one-liner:

“If I talk about my current project it just gets putrid.”

That was my most basic fear right there.

And yet, I often break my cardinal rule about talking about my current novel in progress, because I know I can use it as ‘content for social media to spark off a conversation’.

So why do I do it?

To sell more books of course.

But then, why did I get into writing in the first place? Was it to sell books or … or to understand myself and to unpick my relationship with the world? That was it, wasn’t it?

I write because I am insecure, because I am haunted by my childhood fears, because my life’s experiences still chase me. Because, I spend all my waking moments thinking about the ifs the buts and the whys of the future, even as a Ferris wheel of memories flashes through my subconscious mind in sleep.

And yet too often, instead of retreating into myself to write, I put myself out there to tell the world about my writing.

As I write my fourth and fifth books, I want to capture more and more that emotion of what I felt when I heard Carmen talk about her experiences. That feeling of being afforded a precious view into the lives of others; of this connect inside of me, when another hidden part of me reveals itself to my conscious mind.

I realized then that when it came to the process of writing, I am very traditional. I want to simply focus on getting better at the art and science of building my characters and revealing plotlines and by doing so understand my own motivations in living life the way I do better.

It’s very closely summarized by Rob Parnell in his book The Writer and the Hero’s Journey. Rob speaks about how all writers are heroes of their own stories, and how the act of writing a novel is actually a quest for a fuller appreciation of the purpose of life in general.

That is it for me.

I also know when I complete a novel, I do need to be out there to take the story and and the characters to the readers. Certainly with Ruby Iyer, I feel a responsibility towards her… that I owe it to her to put her in front of as many of readers as I can reach so they can understand her and what she stands for. It helps to take myself out of it though, for I am better at marketing someone else than myself.

For more about the importance of being an Author Entrepreneur read my blogpost here.

Laxmi Hariharan is the author of The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer which debuted #1 Amazon Asian Lit, and the bestselling Ruby Iyer Diaries. She has been a journalist with the Independent, a global marketer with MTV and NBCU and blogs for the Huffington Post. London is where she creates. Bombay is what fires her imagination. Find her Instagram | FB |  Blog | @laxmi

Download the Ruby Iyer Diaries free on Amazon here.

Read The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer (Ruby Iyer series, #1) here.

Enter the Ruby Iyer giveaway, for a chance to win an iPhone 6 here.

For more on Laxmi’s books and writing, subscribe to her newsletter here.

How to Write an Effective Edge-of-the-Seat Thriller

by with No Comment How to Write an Effective Edge-of-the-Seat Thriller

I was recently at a writing seminar where a popular author shared his tips for churning out nail-biting thrillers. I was happy to note that most of the things he said were in accordance with my own ideas, and which I have already followed in my book Maya’s New Husband. Now, people who know me will corroborate with this — if I stumble upon something interesting, I want to share it with others. In this case, I decided to share these writing tricks, tips or whatever you might want to call it, with my fellow authors and aspiring writers.