Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from October, 2013

Halloween picks #1

And the Numero Uno spot goes to...... Find out here: JUST STORIES Oh, and for a LIMITED time only, my new Novella 'HORROR STORY' is available for free on Smashwords. Get it here: HORROR STORY Alternately, buy it for $2.99 only on Amazon Kindle here HAPPY HALLOWEEN :)

New Horror eBook!

Here its is! Done editing and designing and now here I present my new Horror novella: (fanfare music) Buy it here:  Amazon Kindle On a side note, my other Horror novella: THE ENSNARED is free for today. Happy Halloween!

About Editing

After I was done with the writing part of my new Horror novella, I took two days off and then went back to reading and editing it with a fresh mind. At first glance and then subsequent read, I hated everything about it. There were tons of mistakes, the plot in the beginning had some inconsistencies that were bound to happen since I had changed and tweaked the story midway. Then and there, I decided to discard the whole story. There were just too many mistakes and I was sure I would never get it up by Halloween. I also hated the fact that I had rushed into the ending. This has happened before- the minute I am writing up the very last paragraph and then the sentence and the last word, I can't wait to finish it off. I put it away in a separate hidden folder, so I wouldn't be reminded of the mistakes I had made with this story. Then yesterday, I picked it up again, trying to get a few edits done with a critical eye and discovered that my initial analysis of my own story had be

New Horror eBook coming soon!

At last, I'm done with the writing part of my new novella. It was going to be a short story, but as I wrote, I kept getting so many ideas that I wanted to add and so it is now officially a novella. Today, I finished working on the book cover. Not sure if I am happy with it though, since I went with Plan B and I really wanted Plan A. I have a few more days before I'm finally going to put it up on Smashwords   until then I have to do the edits. I was going through it a few days ago and have already found too many mistakes in the beginning. Yikes! Have to amend them ASAP.

My Journey in Writing

I think it's important to learn new things everyday if one wants to become a better writer. In the beginning of the year, I promised myself that and even kept a goal that each day be a learning experience. While doing so, I forgot to blog about it, but didn't stop from learning new things. Yes, there were days, when I didn't necessarily get up and reach for a book or surf the net to learn new things as arduously as I probably should have, but I still managed to learn a few things, even if it meant going through different experiences. I met some new people from different age groups and different cultural backgrounds and learned about how different lives can be. Hopefully, this will give me some insight into building characters for my future books. Every day is a learning experience, whether it was done voluntarily or not. Today I learned that I didn't have that much of an ego when it comes to improving myself or my writing. I do get defensive when someone attacks m

Halloween picks

I'm doing a Halloween Top 10 on my Facebook page: JUST STORIES The titles of movies/books/games in the list are those that have frightened me, and I don't scare easy. The title holding the number one spot will be revealed on Halloweens Day. Like my Page: JUST STORIES  to find out my picks. 

Talia Silverwoods from Repeated Lives

Talia was the first character I wrote for my first dark fantasy novella. She wasn't written up before, rather the idea of a story, compelled me to write her up. I had a plot and I just wanted a character to play her part. Repeated Lives- my novella- was story driven, but as I started to give life to Talia Silverwoods, I was immediately drawn to her and intrigued by her development. Yes, I did write her up, but she did take a life of her own. In the beginning, she was a normal girl who had everything- friends, loving family and a boyfriend who doted on her. There is a subtle indication that Talia doesn't necessarily appreciate what she has and like in any event, she was going to learn how to appreciate what she had. This was where the twist in my story came into play. Though Talia was well loved by all, there was someone who hated her enough to want to kill her. But why? Talia was going to find out only after she dies. Everyone had a destiny they must fulfill and Ta

Characters in Comedy

I find characters in comedies are perhaps easier to write that for in other genres. The reason being, that in order to make the comedy more effective, the character can be given a distinctive quality that could also be his major flaw in different situations. These situation need not even be complex. They can be everyday life situations that just require a character to be inserted and see how he performs with his distinctive flaw. For example, Brian Griffin in Family Guy. He was a character, built to voice his liberal opinions and dedicated to his writing. Using this, it was easy to write a situation where Brian is working on a brand new novel and already believing he was writing a masterpiece. So okay, every writer thinks their novel is going to be easily featured in the bestseller's list. Even me…. But to see Brian typing away and saying that he would name his character Norman Hall and only the scholars a 100 years from now would get that the character was a "normal

Sherlock Holmes (Character Study)

Sherlock Holmes- Who hasn't heard of this ingenious detective who captured hearts of millions of readers with his observational prowess and his witticisms? Sherlock Holmes was one of those characters that were easily likeable though not necessarily relatable. He may be lacking in social graces, standoffish and have no friends or romantic interests. But that didn't stop him from creating a lasting impression on the readers. Sherlock Holmes was liked so instantly that the magazine where he first appeared 'The Stand' quickly became a popular journal and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was instantly famous. For years, Sherlock Holmes stories were featured in the journal until one day, the Author kills of this beloved character. Fans were outraged; the subscriptions for the magazine dropped and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had no choice but to bring back the beloved Detective back. So what makes this character so likeable that the fans demanded the Author bring him ba

Sixteen- The Movie (My take on the story, characters, etc.)

Sixteen- Not just the age but the name of a movie as well. This one tackles issues faced by typical sixteen year olds- peer pressure, sexual urges, the search for love, unrequited love, parent's pressure, so on and forth. Sounds interesting, doesn't it. What could have been a movie about how these issues can be tackled while growing up in that very challenging age, turns out to be a movie of mistakes made and decisions gone awry. The movie is about three girls and a boy. One of the girl (Anu) aspires to be a model and has her world turned upside down when she finds out her parents, whose marriage she held in high regard, have an open marriage. Another girl  (Nidhi) has to make a choice on whether she should find a way to retain her boyfriend's interest in her or keep her parent's trust. The third (Tanisha) is always on the lookout for the perfect love, not realizing her best friend has feelings for her. She does find what she's looking for, but the man is not onl

Free Ebooks!!!

I'll be giving away two of my eBooks for free tomorrow (14th Oct)  1) The Ensnared  (Free from 14th-15th October) 2) Tina's Gimmick  (Free from 14th-18th October) Also, check out special prices of all my other eBooks here

New Google

Okay, so I didn't mind the new Gmail appearance. The different tabs to sort out the mail (which by the way Gmail decides what should go where), the notifications on the app for only Primary mail (all mail can be selected, but I prefer to receive only notifications of important mail), and the overall appearance- all of that is fine. But I'm not too sure I like the upgraded Google Chrome features. Every other google app is relegated in a tiny box that's not too convenient. I rather have tabs above for quick navigation. Also, where did the 'Recently Closed ' tab go. Another thing: When opening a new window, there is a search box under Google, but why is it not clickable? I have to go on the Google search type. Not convenient at all! Hopefully the next upgrade will be better. 

Building Characters

Characters are an integral part of the story. Actually, I haven't come across any story that didn't even have a single character. When writing a story, it's a character's response to a given situation (of course created by the writer) that moves the story forward. Characters need to be relatable and human in order for a reader to continue to care about the story. Building a character can thus be a complex process because more often than not, the writer either puts too much of himself/herself in the character or creates one that is a secret fantasy of what the writer wishes to be. For example, I may create a character with zero inhibitions and overly adventurous. If I start writing a story with such a character without doing proper research, I would eventually come to a block which I won't be able to overcome. If I want to create a 'human' character, just giving it my opposite personality isn't going to work. I read somewhere once that before writ