Writing To Be Read

“Only Men Please”

Prem Rao — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:16:48 +0000

“Only Men Please” is an anthology of 35 short stories written by 35 writers, and they are all men. The anthology is edited by Meenakshi Varma and published by Unisun Publications. In her introduction, Meenakshi writes, ” The stories are extremely vivid and varied, perhaps because of the fact that the writers themselves come from varied backgrounds.with regard to occupation and nationality. I don’t know if it is a co-incidence, but in all the stories the protagonist is a male.” I have enjoyed reading these stories and I am sure you will too. I must mention that on Page 215, you will find my contribution. A short story titled ” Route 32″ about a bus driver in Bangalore, which I hope you will enjoy.

“Lucky For Some,Thirteen”

Prem Rao — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:12:56 +0000

“Lucky For Some, Thirteen” is the title of my to be published thriller. It came out of my participating successfully in NaNoWriMo 2010. This will be the second thriller that I have written, the first being my debut novel, “It Can’t Be You.”

I wrote recently about back cover copy. I would like to share the back cover copy that I wrote for “Lucky For Some, Thirteen.”

“Is the only good terrorist a dead one? When she captures two fanatic fidayeen after their sensational terror strike in Goa in January 2010, little does Major Mohini Nair, of India’s elite counter terrorism force, the National Security Guard, realize that they will come back to haunt her and the nation later that year.

In September 2010, in another audacious, chilling attack, some of Bangalore’s rich and famous are taken hostage in “Opulence” that last word in luxurious living, in a place and at a time they least expect. Clearly, the best of technology has crashed before base human emotions of greed and fanaticism. Ransom money is not what the mysterious terrorists want. They want the release of their two comrades and safe passage in exchange for the hostages. The blood-curling brutality of the perpetrators, who include the beautiful Alice Hatchman, petrifies the hostages driving the story to a fever pitch.

Relishing the gruesome to show her power is easy for Alice as she loves no one. Rescuing the hostages is made more difficult for Mohini, as amongst them is the man she loves. Can the 13^th floor penthouse of “Opulence” prove to be lucky for some?”

I would welcome your comments. This book is likely to be published around May 2012. To follow its progress, do see its Facebook Page.

Ignore The Back Cover At Your Peril

Prem Rao — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:58:35 +0000

Today, I thought I would share my views on that important part of the book, which some authors ignore at their own peril. I, of course, speak of the back cover. Many authors, particularly first-timers, feel their job is done once they have written the book and handed it over to the publisher. I submit that you the author have a huge role to play in making the best use of the back cover.In this post, I have in mind works of fiction and pitch this largely for the relatively new author.

The buying process of a book, and here I mainly speak of physical copies, rather than e-books, consist of potential buyers looking at books in the bookstores and deciding which are the ones they would like to buy. Very often, as might be you own experience at the book store, we see many, but buy a few, if any. Typically the front cover is the one thing that someone sees. The title of the book too plays a part in the buying process. Some buyers will buy a book because the title suggests something interesting, if not intriguing.

If the front cover is not appealing, the chances are bright that they may move on. Assume the front cover is attractive, and/or the book is by an author, they are familiar with, the next thing the potential buyer does is to study the back cover. Here is where she expects to find more about the book. This is what she reads, before making a decision to buy or let it pass.

The back cover copy is a huge influencer in the buying decision. This is the text you have on the back cover of your book. Does it grip the attention of the potential buyer? Is it enticing enough to make the person want to know more, which pushes her to buy the book? The secret is for you to write about your story in not more than 200 words in the best and most succinct way possible. This is going to be the clincher for the sale. Make every word count.

If you are a published author you may like to add something about your previous books, especially if they received wide acclaim. A few quotes from book reviews would add to your credibility. People often like to see if others have appreciated your work before they actually buy your book.

You should have a crisp author bio, more so if you are not already a well-established author. In this, tell us about yourself as a person. The buyer is not looking for a formal bio-data or your life story.

To conclude, my suggestion is for you to concentrate much more on the back cover than you ordinarily would. Sure you have toiled over those 80,000 to 100, 000 words but of what use is that great story, if no one buys your book?

“A Toast To Plum- Celebrating P.G.Wodehouse”

Prem Rao — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:30:16 +0000

Having been a huge fan of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse for over 45 years, it’s not surprising that I chose to write about his works for my first foray into non-fiction. Let me explain what I have in mind. There have been many biographies about him. The ones by Frances Donaldson and Robert Crum come readily to mind. I decided to follow another route, the one taken by renowned experts like Jaggard, Garrison and Hill, which is to compile a compendium of his works. Years ago, I remember reading ” Blandings The Blest” and enjoying every word of it. It listed and described quite delightfully the characters who made up the world of Blandings Castle . More recently, for my 60th birthday, my son gifted me with another landmark publication, Daniel H. Garrison’s “Who’s Who In Wodehouse.” This is an extremely comprehensive volume which goes beyond any one series of Wodehouse and covers almost every character in, what we fondly call, the canon.

I was encouraged to attempt a book which hopefully some day will find a place in the library of every Wodehouse lover. I would like to think that it could complement rather than substitute a Garrison. I have sketched out the broad parameters of the book. It will be divided into different categories and will be, in a sense, a concordance of items under each of the ten categories I have identified so far.

To start with ” A Toast To Plum-Celebrating P.G.Wodehouse” will be a concordance of, amongst others, peers, people, pigs, places, pretty girls and pubs in the works of The Master. It’s been great fun creating this and I recognize that the task is huge. I already have over 1,000 listings, but still have miles to go.

The categories I broadly have in mind include: The Nobility; The Others; The Girls; The Clergy; The Military Men; Butlers et al; Books et al; Birds & Animals; Homes; and Clubs & Pubs.

To elicit ideas and keep those interested informed of developments in this work in progress, I have a Facebook Page, which you are most welcome to join.

As always, your suggestions and comments are most welcome.

Writing A Book Proposal

Prem Rao — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:36:52 +0000

Till now I have written fiction and the process generally followed to get your manuscript finally published as a book is one I am familiar with. Key points here are to write a strong query, a succinct but interesting synopsis and of course have some top quality writing in the first few chapters. Without these, I am afraid, you may not succeed in your efforts to get your book published. But hang on a moment, is the submission process the same for non-fiction?I have taken the plunge and am working on a non-fiction project. This prompted me to study what needs to be done. I find that for a non-fiction project, a book proposal is the make or break event. I found a lot of useful material by William Cane. This happens to be the pen name of Michael Christian, a Professor of English at the Boston College.

Another set of perspective, that from a literary agent, can be found at Nathan Bransford’s “How To Write A Non-Fiction Book Proposal.“

So mush for starters. There’s a lot of great material here. I intend boning up on them so that I might turn out an excellent book proposal, as and when I reach that stage!

Year End Stock Take As A Writer

Prem Rao — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:36:14 +0000

I began as a writer of fiction. Like many others, I started with short stories and it was in 2009 that I took the plunge and dived in deep into fiction with a full-fledged 80,000 + words novel called ” It Can’t Be You.” ‘This was a psychological thriller, first published in November 2010. Most people who knew me were initially surprised that with a background and experience in management, I had opted to write fiction. They expected I would write a treatise on people management or even some kind of collection of my experiences as a human resources professional for over three and a half decades.Since “It Can’t Be You”, I have published my second book called “He Sees Everything & Other Short Stories“, a collection of short stories set in contemporary India. The contract has been signed for my third book, again a thriller, called ” Lucky For Some, Thirteen” which should be published around August 2012. I am working on my fourth book, a thriller once more, called “Let The Dead Stay Dead”, which I hope to have published in 2013.

Fiction apart, I am working on my first foray into non-fiction by way of a book based on the works of a writer, I admire immensely: P.G.Wodehouse. This is a very exciting project for me as I have been a major fan of his for over four decades.

We next come to my latest interest, which is narrative non-fiction. Sometimes this is called “creative non-fiction” but I would rather stay with narrative non-fiction since the creative bit suggests that one can make up things as one goes along. To my mind, narrative non-fiction is a style of writing non-fiction in which you would build the story, without taking away from the facts of the case. You would write about what the character said, felt or experienced, in the same manner you would do for fiction, with the important difference that you would represent facts truly.

As Don Hewitt, the creator of the famous television show “60 Minutes” said ” It’s four little words. Tell me a story.” Here is Jessica Faust of Book Ends, the literary agency, on narrative non-fiction. I understand that character development and the plot become as important as they would in writing fiction.

I am on the look out for an exciting topic for a narrative non-fiction project. I hope I find one soon!

Punctuating Dialogue

Prem Rao — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:32:28 +0000

While writing a novel, it is important for an author to focus on aspects of writing, other than the plot or developing the characters. The value of correct punctuation need hardly be emphasized. Incorrect punctuation while writing dialogue confuses the reader. At times, it becomes difficult to make out who has said what. Be A Better Writer with Pearl Luke has useful tips on punctuating dialogue. Simple as these rules are, we sometimes make mistakes in our hurry to put down our thoughts. It’s tempting to assume we will tackle all these mistakes later when we edit the manuscript. Often, small mistakes get past unnoticed. Worse still, in my view, if these mistakes are not corrected, they become a part of your writing style.

How much better it is to get it right the first time. Practice makes perfect, goes the old adage. Your ability to write correctly punctuated dialogue is an important aspect of your development as a writer. It is well worth the effort.

On Writing

Prem Rao — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:01:28 +0000

Today I decided to share some thoughts on a subject that interests me vastly, on writing. When I became a corporate executive, I remember at the start of my career, I was told that I had to forget all that I had been taught about writing. The demands of writing in the world of business were quite different from writing in literature or fiction, I was told. It took me some time to get used to the idea.Verbose words were out. Simplicity was the key and the idea was to get your message across in as effective a manner, in as few words as possible. In writing fiction, the rules change somewhat, depending on the genre in which you are writing in.

I have been writing thrillers ever since my debut novel “It Can’t Be You.” I like to think that my writing style hasn’t really changed all that much. I still make a conscious effort to write simple rather than complex words, to avoid age-old clichés and to use the active voice more than the passive one.

Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes says ” writing is a craft” in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. He explains why it’s not merely copying out the self-talk that you indulge in when you are writing a story.

I learnt only the other day that Microsoft Word has a feature which enables you to check your writing against different parameters, as in the Flesch- Kincaid scale. This, I believe, is a very useful tool. The Michigan Bar Journal has detailed information on how to use this and what the results mean. I ran some of my recent writing through this tool and the answers were quite illuminating. Try it out for yourself.

Tips on Editing A Novel

Prem Rao — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:08:37 +0000

I have always maintained that it is relatively easy to write a novel. It’s far more difficult to edit one! I wonder if you agree with me on this. Editing is not restricted to correcting the typos and checking the punctuation. It’s a time-consuming, concentrated effort to make the book a better, more absorbing read for your readers. After all, the book is meant for them, right?In this context, I found “Ten Editing Tips” by Margaret Atwood of much use. These are perhaps basic points but paying attention to them can make a big difference to your book. It can make your book a winner, instead of sinking without a trace!

NaNoWriMo 2011

Prem Rao — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:36:55 +0000

It’s been signed, sealed and delivered, as they say! I completed NaNoWriMo 2011 for which I wrote 54, 919 words in November for my thriller “ Let The Dead Stay Dead.” I have been a great fan of NaNoWriMo ever since I did it for the first time in 2009.I am thrilled that with this I have achieved a 3 in 3. I now have successfully completed NaNoWriMo in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

You now know the reason why I was so irregular in my blogging this month! I hope to be back with a bang!