Saurabh Garg's Blog, page 2

10 books

There is this thing going around FB where people are listing their top 10 books. I refuse to not be a part of any fad. And thus, here is my list (in no particular order).

1. The Godfather. By Mario Puzo. As someone said, it is the dictionary of crime. It was the first time when I thought reading books could be fun. I loved reading it. I love love it. The characters have stayed with me for years. I can still recall the plots. I know the dialogues by heart and so on and so forth. If there is one book that you ought to read before you die, its this one. Or may be its English, August.

2. English, August. By Upamanyu Chatterjee. Its like my biography. Just that Ogu is little less lost, far more focused and younger than I. I can totally relate to everything that Ogu did while he was posted in Madna. I’ve went through every emotion that August lived through while he wrote the book. If there is one book that I wish I had written, it would be this. Here is a post I wrote about English, August.

3. The Count of Monte Cristo. By Alexandre Dumas. Its a work of pure genius. Its revenge. Served cold. This is what inspired me to work on The Nidhi Kapoor Story. If there was no Monte Cristo, there wouldn’t be any Nidhi Kapoor. I wrote about the strange dreams that I started having when I read the The Count.

4. Rich Dad. Poor Dad. By Robert Kiyosaki. Yes. Self-help. And yes, I am aware of all the controversy and debate around it. But, eat my shorts, as Bart would say. I read this recently and since then it has changed the way I look at things. I wish I had read this one sooner. May be just before I entered the business school.

5. Eat, Pray, Love. By Elizabeth Gilbert. Because I am as depressed as Groceries is. And her travel helped me get over some bit of my depression. I am serious. Just that I dont know if its a true story or a fictional one. I did goto Bali this year and vaguely tried to search for Ketut but could not find him.

6. On Writing. Stephan King. Of course. I don’t have to say anything anymore. It has inspired www.onWriting.in.

7. To Kill a Mockingbird. By Harper Lee. I instantly fell in love with Scout. I wish I had a girlfriend like her! Too bad Harper Lee wrote just one book. As an aspiring writer and a voracious reader, I see a good bit and a bad bit. Good, that she has made enough money from one that she does not have to rely on the mercy of readers / reviewers for sales of the next ones. Bad, that as a reader, I couldnt read more from her.

8. Jack Reacher (series) by Lee Child. This is what unadulterated, indulgence is. You are so enthralled by the man, Jack Reacher, that you dont want his fables to ever come to an end. I have read 13 / 14 books and when I realized that I had read almost all his books, I did not want it to come to an end. And I cant wait for the next one to come. Whenever it does. Someday, I aspire to write about a man like him. Or may be a woman.

9. Shantaram. By Gregory Davids Roberts. I did not like the way it ended but the way he has romanced Mumbai with his “brother” on bikes, uff! They must’ve been one hell of a time. If there is someone who has been able to do justice to Mumbai and its charm, its Shantaram. Read this one purely for his narration on Mumbai. And infectious smile of one Prabhakar.

10. The Mahabharata. By I dont know who. Surprise surprise. Not a modern fiction but a story none the less. I must have read this one a thousand times. Excluding the Geeta bits. The book is about righteousness, fairness, fair play, good, bad, evil, life, revenge, greed, love, jealousy and all such passions that a human being is capable of experiencing. Love the complex plots and epic connections and relationships. While writing, the notes would have ran into millions of pages. I know I’d never be able to, but I would give an arm and a leg to peek into the notes. Any ideas how?

And here is a bonus.

11. Warren Buffet letters. Again, technically not a book but it’s a collection of annual letters he writes to shareholders of Berkshire. Love his sense of humor, his candour and the simplicity with which he writes. He doles about advice on life and investing in the garb of these letters. Its one of those things I wish I had read sooner.

Thanks Internet for this meme. Thanks Radhika for the prompt. What is your list of 10 books that have stayed with you over the years?

P.S.: Too lazy to include links to these books. Easy enough to find I guess, if you want to read them.

In praise of writing

On Writing. via papershine.com

The last few days have been really busy.

Amongst other things, I have been playing a fervent ping-pong match with team at Grapevine India. They have sent me the edited and proofread version of tnks and I was supposed to give an approval on it. I did not like a few things that they removed. And they did not like a few things that I really want in the final version. Both of us (Grapevine and I) are guilty of clinging onto things and thus we are squabbling over it. And squabbling over things is a very very time consuming and exhausting.

Thankfully, we’ve reached a truce and agreed on the final draft. And it means two things.

A, we are on track to meet the October release deadline for the book. Yay!

B, I can now start working on the next plot. In fact, today I wrote a few lines for the next one. And I loved working on it. Loved it like crazy. Words magically appeared on my screen and the time seemed to be moving fast. I realized that I love creating new things. That chase of new new thing has remained with me even after all these years!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I live. To see time fly by. To see words popping in my head.

When I write, I forget everything that is wrong with my life. I instead become the God and I, for a change, can control things. I can mould characters and their behaviors. I can change the course of incidents and situations and everything else as per my whims. I can give birth, take a life, nurture something, torture someone and be indifferent without any guilt. No, I am not a egomaniacal narcissist. As yet.

Just that I am the happiest when I am writing. And nothing else comes close.

Coming Soon. In October 2014!

Just heard from my publisher (Grapevine) that we are looking at releasing the book in October of this year. What does this mean? It means…

A. I have about two months to get a marketing plan in place.

B. I still have time to get the cover image done the way I want it done. I can now pester friends and strangers alike to help me with the cover. Actually I already did it. Just posted a question on Quora.

C. I have two months to kill. I had thought that I’d start the next one right after the launch. But since the launch is two months away, I can waste time. If I have to publish one book a year, every month counts. And I definitely cant waste two.

D. It give me more jitterbugs in my stomach about how would it do and how would I face audience and critics and all that. I am fearful that people may not like what they read. If that happens, then what? Etc etc.

But all said and done, I can’t wait for October. Why? Because #tnks would be out in October! In the meanwhile, if you want, you can help me with tnks!

Hello Grapevine India.

I am so so happy and so so proud to announce that The Nidhi Kapoor Story (web, facebook) has been accepted by Grapevine India. If all goes well from here on, we are looking at releasing the book by August of this year.

Its a big big moment. And I am totally excited about it.

Publishing a book has been on my bucket list for longest time ever. Took me some time but its here. Of course a lot of people have helped me do this. I am grateful for having access to such great people.

I may argue that its the end of a long-cherished and a long-held dream. But honestly, I think its just the beginning. Now that I have gone through the grind of writing a full-length story, there is no way I am going to stop now.

#tnks would be the first in a long line of books that I would eventually write and publish. To be honest, I already have a list of ideas and plots that I want to extend into books. Of course a travel book (another thing from my bucket list) is up on the cards. I intend to start with the next one in September (when I take my week off). But, for the time being, I want to focus on #tnks and creating a kickass book that people enjoy reading.

I sincerely hope that you’d like it and #tnks would be worth your time and money. This is what you can expect from #tnks.

Oh, I need all the help that I can get. It could come in shape of pre-orders, marketing ideas, distribution ideas, contacts of other people who may help. If you think you can help me, please add your name to the form below and I would be in touch.

You may alternatively click on this link to fill details later.

Thanks!

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Draft 2

Took about 80K words for the first draft.

Time for an update.

Earlier this month (and throughout), I sent out the first draft of tnks to a few friends. Some of them have come back with their reviews, recommendations and list of changes.

First things first. In terms of review, the general sense is that the story is not great shakes per se but is not bad either. So one battle one. The task up ahead is to make it better. As good as these guys expect it to be. Hopefully if I change a few things, it would fly. I need to thus work on it.

In terms of recommendations, there are a lot of valid suggestions. In fact almost everyone has pointed out a fatal flaw in the plot. I need to fix that for sure. Apart from that I am not sure if I will heed to everything that people have said but I will give every input a thorough consideration when I work on the next draft.

For the next draft, I hope to start working on it from the 1st of March. In fact I told the first set of reviewers to come back to me by end of this month. Some of them have. Some of them haven’t. But I would start the next part of writing in another couple of days. The best place to do anything is here. And the time to do so, is now.

The feedback also helped me realize that I was wrong in assuming that the first draft itself would fly and would catch fancy of a publisher. Despite suggestions and inputs from friends about the fallibility of the first draft, I was somehow confident about it. But I’ve been proved wrong. Glad that I sent out to friends.

Once I do the next draft, that’s when I’d start talking to publishers. Till then, godspeed and good luck to me.

Oh, one more thing, do let me know if you would want to read the second draft. 

First set of reviewers

Just a couple of minutes ago, I sent out the first draft of #tnks to a few friends. Friends. Not literary critics. Not nitpickers. Not reviewers. Not editors. Simple folk like me. Who may someday want to pick up the book from the bookstores. The ones that I know want to see me succeed. The ones who were around when I needed them. Through thick and thin.

Thank you guys. In advance. For reading the the raw, uncut version. The one that would contain most mistakes. The one that would be toughest to read. The one that would be blander than tasteless wine.

To be honest, I had finished the draft almost half a month ago but then I had this serious case of butterflies in my stomach that I did not want to send it. I was am scared about opinions. I am scared of comments, reviews that the story would elicit. The ones I have sent to, they are my best friends but they are also my toughest critics. They are the ones who would not hold anything back. They would be brutal. And to be honest, I may not be ready for the brutality. After all, this is the first time I am doing something entirely by myself.

But guess these things have to be done. Someone, I think Murakami, said something about the pain that a butterfly has to go through to come out of its chrysalis. Honestly, I am not capable of understanding these heavy words and metaphysical emotions but I do know that I need to live through this pain if I want #tnks to see light of the day.

That’s it for the update at this time. I am assuming that my friends would take a few weeks to get back to me. Lets see what they come up with. Till then, I would start thinking on the next one. And may be, start talking to a few publishers or agents.

In the meanwhile, if anyone wants to read, do write in.

That’s all Folks!

As a kid, every time I saw this “That’s all Folks!” signage and heard the accompanying cheery music that came along with it, I got really sad and depressed. Sad as in SAD. S A D. Depressed as in DEPRESSED. D E P R E S S E D.

Why? Because the amazing cartoon that I was watching (Looney Tunes more often than not) was coming to an end. And I did not want it to end. I would cry because it was coming to an end. Since I could not control what started and ended when on the TV, I would cry all the more at my helplessness.

Today, years later, yet another thing came to an end. Something that I did not want to end. Something that I could prevent from ending and yet I let it end. I’d come to it in a bit. Meanwhile, I want to talk about the new-found respect I have for the guys who thought of “That’s all Folks!”. For, today, I realized that the end means conclusion. An end. The “That’s all Folks!” marked the beginning of the end. So that other things may be started. In fact, everything we do eventually comes to an end. It has to. That’s how the world has been designed by Mother Nature. And rather than crying about it, cribbing about it, we need to embrace it. With open arms. When something ends, we need to go forth. And celebrate it. We need to start looking forward to next. Start preparing for the next. We need to go on. Must go on. To the next adventure. To open that next door that beacons at us. The next dark alley that has always lured us. The unknown. 

Ok, ok. I’d stop. There is more that I can talk about end but I need to end the rant. To talk about the next. I don’t know what that next is. I mere have a vague idea. I’d come to it in a bit. But I know what I ended today. The first draft of #tnks.

Took me 6+ months, 3 missed deadlines, 80K+ words, 240+ pages, 2 laptops, innumerable coffees and countless rickshaw rides to nearest Starbucks to work on the first draft. And today I finally completed the first draft of the book.

It also required me to quit my job, eat out of my savings and rely on temporary jobs to pay my bills. All said and done, this journey was totally worth it. I now know at least one thing that I want to do in life.

Am I good at it? Will I be appreciated? Can I make a living out of it? Can I make a dent? Jury is still out but I am willing to put in effort and wait for it.

For the time being, the big news is that that I have managed to finish the first draft of the book. And now that I have completed the first draft of the book, what is next? Two things. A, get some friends that I trust to read / review the book. And B, start talking to publishers, agents, designers, editors and other such people.

Over the next few weeks, I shall do so. And like every-time, I shall keep you guys posted.

At Starbucks

I love sitting at Starbucks and working on my book.

Even though I am alone when I am there, in my head, I am on a date with Nidhi Kapoor. Or may be with Rujuta on some days. There are days when I there with Tarana. Like today, I was with Rujuta and I had a wonderful time.

Coming back, irrespective, there is someone or the other to talk to when I am at Starbucks. I mean someone from my book. A character or two that I have cooked up. And when I am with someone, I love having conversations with them. In fact, conversations with these imaginary characters have helped me write.

Rather than thinking about the next line, I ask Nidhi about it. Or Tarana. Like today I asked Rujuta about her past and what made her the way she is. She had a lot to say. So much that I had to type fast. Really fast. So these answers from imaginary friends help me write. A friend told me that I am not an inherently creative individual. She may be right but then I think that this superpower that I have to converse with these imaginary characters help me craft what I am working on.

To be honest, the entire Nidhi Kapoor story is a result of these conversations.

The book is coming to an end. About three more days before I finish the first draft. I am hating that the book is coming to an end. I dont know how to keep it alive. Soon, I’d be the saddest and loneliest man that I know of. Why? Because all this while I had company of these three amazing women and in some days, I would be alone.

Guess such is life. But then, there is something that I am looking forward to. The next plot. I am hoping to write this one with a friend. We are still discussing it but if it goes as per plans, it would require me to sit at Starbucks even longer. But, but the challenge is, I do not like coffee. Or the iced-tea. Or anything that has any milk in it. Except ice-cream. I also don’t want to eat any snacky things that they offer at Starbucks; after all I am on a weight inch loss spree and I want to avoid anything that is fattening.

And I don’t want to sit at Starbucks and not buy anything. You see, reciprocity is a brilliant mental model and of all the people I know, I am the most severe case. If I am going to spend three hours everyday at Starbucks, I ought to buy something from them. No?

What do I do? What do I order? Someone help!

Reading vs Hearing

Yesterday I was dinnering with a friend and talking about The Nidhi Kapoor Story. While we were at it, he told me something very insightful about the way I write. He said, “my sentence structure is very conversational.”

I did not understand this at first. When I prodded him more, he said that he meant that when he reads things that I write, he does not have to make any special efforts to comprehend what he is reading (aka what I’ve written). Its like someone talking to him. Its like a regular, everyday conversation that two people are engaged in. There is back and forth of ideas, thoughts. The words, the sentences, the meaning is plain jane and is commonplace. He said he could consume it while sleeping and yet comprehend it.

So, next, I asked him, “What is the other kind?”

He said, the one where you use flowery language and you write with the intent of using words to exaggerate the meaning, club them with other interesting words to create poetry. Poetry not as poems but poetry as expression. Where, while reading, you need to focus on what is written. Where, when you do comprehend what is written, you are filled with pleasure. Pleased at the ingenuity of the writer. For example, Jack Kerouac‘s brilliant timeless piece, “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.“

When was the last time you heard someone use “burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles” in a day to day conversation? Unless you were talking to a drunk man. Or unless you were sitting across a poet high on something. Or unless it was a philosopher. Such people, like Jack, they think in rhymes. They ponder over deeper meaning of words. And they have a mastery over human emotions. And then equipped with all this, they coin new words and twist the rules of grammar, rules of language to create masterpieces. It must be such a pleasing sight to see such masters in action.

Truth be told, I would love to create poetry like that. I believe that its my reason, my purpose. To create poetry I mean. But I am not equipped to do it right now. In some time may be. I shall wait. Hopefully you guys wait as well.  

And, second truth be told, I could get offended at the entire commonplace and plain jane remark but I choose to take it as a compliment. The Nidhi Kapoor Story is an important milestone in my writing career and I plan to, want to, evolve as a writer with every such milestone.

Anyway before I get into a rant, to summarize, writing is a battle between prowess with words to create poetry vs intent of narrating the story as if you’re talking out loud. I am definitely the later kinds. What about you? What is your forte? Writing poems? Talking / Thinking out loud?