Writing Tips

I have an ace up my sleeve. Now that I am back in the saddle, I want to go back to the drawing board and work on the case of mistaken identity. I am willing to spend countless hours to give a down to earth description of  what’s going on in the area with an ear to the ground! You get the idea, I am sure.  I have used a long list of clichés!

James Hayman

Most introductions to authors on their website are, let’s face it, quite drab! They are conventional and say the usual things in the usual way. Recently, I came across one that grabbed my attention. I am sure it would grab yours too. It remains one of the best introductions to an author’s website that I have seen in recent times.

Publishing a Novel

Did you know that publishing a book is the second highest goal in the United States? I am still in the category of being one among many who has this goal. Which makes me proud that shortly, I shall become a published author. My debut novel “It Can’t Be You” is being published by Cedar Books, imprint of Pustak Mahal, one of India’s largest publishers in a couple of months.

Congratulations, Anuradha!

Over 2000 people from 44 countries participated in the recent 2010 Commonwealth Foundation’s Short Story competition. I am delighted to share that Anuradha Kumar won the prize in the category of Science, Technology & Society. Her short story titled ” The First Hello” is worth a read.

Janet Fitch’s Rules for Writing

Thanks to a tweet by Jon Winokur’s Writers Digest, I got directed to Janet Fitch’s 10 Rules for Writing. I loved the point about sentences. I have found myself guilty of writing in almost the same way- most of the time. The need to vary sentence length has made an impact. I hope to improve. From now!

Seth Godin’s Advice

Here’s some great advice from someone who has been there and done all that- long ago. Seth Godin. The author of many best sellers, Seth gives his advice to authors in a 2006 blog post which is worth reading/re-reading, as the case may be.

Great Dialogue!

Every writer faces the challenge of writing engaging dialogue. Conversations in your story take it forward, explain many facts , bring out the speakers’ emotions and in general determine the pace of the story. Long winded conversations can put off the reader. Very cryptic ones can confuse them. How does one then write a great dialogue?

Editing Your Book

If you thought writing your book was tough, you don’t know what editing can be like!  It’s tough too- because there is always so much scope for improvement in our writing. Editing helps make our writing more interesting- and readable!

It Can’t Be You

Let me invite you to my blog dedicated to my first novel called IT CAN’T BE YOU.

I am thrilled that my first novel is complete. It’s roots go back to November 2009 when I wrote the first 50,000 words for the National Novel Writing Month popularly called NaNoWriMo.

Improving Your Writing

Take pleasure in pointing you to some good tips on improving your writing . Today’s comes from Janice Hardy’s blog The Other Side of the Story. She writes of a tendency to repeat ourselves. I must say that, although inadvertently I am sure, we often underestimate the intelligence of our readers by stressing the obvious.