ABOUT ME
A writer-in-waiting, I will be interviewing published and unpublished authors on this blog (Click on Authors Interviews). I would also like to share tips with my readers. I welcome comments from other writers sharing our common interest.
I am currently rewriting a novel. A couple of agents have shown an interest in reading the entire manuscript so I should really be getting my skates on!
The working title is Under the Pipal Tree. It is a contemporary novel based in India and deals with social prejudices. Above all it is a story of a woman who struggles to accept the truth about her identity.
MY TIPS
Network: Meet as many writers as possible in workshops and seminars. I recently attended two such workshops run by Chapter One Promotions. One was called Meet an Agent and the other Meet a Publisher. Both were very useful to find out how the industry really works and to the meet real faces behind a name and address found in The Writer's and Artist's Handbook.
Blurb: One of the things we learnt, was how to write a blurb about your book. It was one of the hardest thing to write next to a synopsis. How do you sum up your book in a few lines and try not to sound too much like a Hollywood trailer?
Here is my attempt:
Under the Pipal Tree
Rohini, a
wealthy Indian woman of Mumbai discovers a shocking truth about her identity. As she struggles with the truth and battles
with periods of depression, Rohini develops a candid and supportive
relationship with her therapist. Maria, her childhood nanny, unravels their
past. The stories of the two women merge and each learns something from the
other. Indira, Rohini’s mother, pragmatic and outspoken, is the tent pole of
the three women’s relationship. In a tale of secrets, and social prejudices,
the three redefine their boundaries with each other and the world.
Writer's block:
How to overcome writer's block? Many have written on the subject. Here is my method. Write a line. Describe the setting. Put the characters in it. You will have a scene. It is like picturing an empty room and filling it first with furniture and then with people. Of course you will need to edit ruthlessly after that but at least it will get you started. The first line can be anything insignificant. It is just a starting point to get you thinking and most importantly the pen (or the keys on your pc) working.
Tanuka's tea had gone cold. It tasted bitter. She had forgotten to lift out the teabag and the resulting lukewarm tea-flavoured brown stew did little to cheer her up.
These are a couple of sentences I just made up as I am drinking a cool cup of tea at the moment. You see where it takes you? You want to know why Tanuka is dstracted or feeling down. The rest will follow.
MENTORING SERVICE WITH CINNAMON PRESS
Last year I
was lucky enough to be long listed in a novel competition run by Cinnamon
Press. They offer a mentoring service which I have signed up for. It is an
excellent way to get a professional appraisal for your novel if like me you are
unsure of certain aspects. I was advised to do a thorough edit, weeding out the
clichés and hackneyed writing. It is like looking at your novel with a magnifying
lens and spotting all the cringe worthy sentences that need to be ruthlessly
pulled out. It is amazing what a difference it makes simply by changing the
order of paragraphs or sentences.
When I read the remarks made by my editor
quoting Proust I felt a pang of anxiety. Had I bitten off more than I could
chew? What did he mean by xxx? At first it seemed a formidable task but
tackling the issues in stages helped. My next step is to deal with exposition,
and tweaking the beginning middle and end (which is practically the whole
novel). However, the good news is there are no “fatal flaws”. I was heartened
by Jan Fortune’s kind words that it is an “ambitious and worthwhile story..this
work is eminently worth doing.”
My advice
to fellow writers is take every criticism on board however harsh because a
professional can spot errors which we as writers miss being too close to the
work.
Hook and
clichés are two words I developed a strong dislike for at the start of this
project. But they cannot be ignored. A good hook sets up the novel. We all know
what we are supposed to achieve but how to make it happen? It has taken me
several attempts and even now I am not sure I have managed it. “If at first you don’t succeed try and try again”
must have been an adage coined for writers.
Having a
mentor gives you the opportunity to have your work polished to a certain
standard ready to be sent to publishers and agents.
An editor
friend Joy Wotherspoon found this quote from a blog
Editing as Gift,
Not an Insult
You know what it's
like to come back to a hotel room in the afternoon and find that housekeeping
has been there and everything is all fresh and put to rights? That's how a copy
editor would like you to feel when you see the editing. If you can view
extra-duty editing as the mint on the pillow, all the better. What we don't
want is for you to feel insulted that we saw the need for cleaning.
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