Sharath Komarraju's Blog, page 64
August 24, 2014
Meetup 146: Culture Shocks
Last Saturday, at Write Club, Ashwin Kumar hosted a session. I couldn’t be there because I was away on a speaking engagement, but I’m assured by people who went that it was great fun. There were three exercises in all: Exercise 1: Tragedy versus humour You’re a student who has failed his exams You’re a […]
August 22, 2014
Contest 3: Who is Your Favourite Detective?
Note: This contest is OPEN. The closing date for entries is Wednesday, 3rd September. The winner will be announced on Friday, 5th September. How do you enter the contest? It doesn’t get simpler. You leave a comment to this post. If you leave two comments, they will count as two separate entries. The maximum number […]
Contest 2 Results: And the Winner Is…
Right guys, so Contest 2 has come and gone. A friend of mine who entered the first contest said that this one won’t get as many responses because it is a ‘touchy issue’. (Yes, all my friends are pessimists. Birds of a feather.) He was right. We didn’t get as many entries as we did […]
August 21, 2014
Short Story: Arranged Marriage
This was my first published piece of fiction. Up until then I’d had winners at writing competitions and a couple of novel sales under my belt, but no story of mine had yet appeared in a journal that paid money to its authors. You could understand, therefore, why this story is close to my heart, […]
August 20, 2014
On Saying Thank You
Back when I was working for IBM, after a particularly grueling client meeting, my boss and I went out to lunch. After we ate in silence for a while, each nursing our own thoughts about the massacre that went on in the conference room, he cleared his throat and said, ‘Thank you very much for […]
August 19, 2014
Questions on Female Feticide that We Must All Ask Ourselves
Feticide. Saving the girl child. Killing in the womb. I was at the movies the other day. Before the main reel began to roll, they showed us a short film of a female fetus singing from the womb to her parents. That she wanted to live. That she wanted to grow into a real person. […]
August 18, 2014
5 Lesser Known Tales from the Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is often known as the fifth Veda. It has often been said that reading the Mahabharata from start to finish will fill the reader’s mind with such knowledge and enlightenment that he is sure to achieve heaven. Whether or not that is true, the epic is a virtual forest of stories, with new […]
Meetup 145: Character Motivation in Fiction
In his book, Writing Popular Fiction, bestselling author Dean Koontz lists seven possible character motivations in fiction: Love Curiosity Self-preservation Greed Self-discovery Duty Revenge Sometimes you will have characters that are driven by a combination of the above listed motivations, but for the vast majority of fiction that we will read and write, this should […]
August 17, 2014
Photo Post: License to ‘Killick’
They kissed. Lightly, at first, gently testing the water. The temperature seemed just right with strong indications of warmth in the near future. They waded into the shallows, nuzzling against the reefs, the waves slowly dissolving their essence. A distinct lack of sharks, sting-rays and men o’ war in these depths promised greater safety and […]
August 14, 2014
Short Story: Science Project
An early short story about a rather unique science project. Dear Vishnu, It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Ever since we finished school and moved away to different parts of Megha Kash, we haven’t really been keeping in touch like we promised each other we would. But that’s okay, I guess life can and does […]
