Pratibha R.D.H.'s Blog: Flights of fantasy, page 2
March 2, 2019
Writing Tips for Beginners
Writing is an intuitive process. The creative spirit of a person who has the penchant to express it through words is what inspires one to write. The sense of fulfillment one gets after completing a written piece is the driving force of every writer. The euphoria that follows in the aftermath of one’s creation gives that sense of purpose and structure in a writer’s life. But in the beginning, it is quite natural to have doubts about one’s ability and how to go about it. A few pointers here that can help develop your writing skills:
1. Read, read, read – Writers can be said to be a derivative of readers, book worms, or bibliophiles – however you might like to call them. People who read are exposed to different voices, conventions, and genres of writing. They not only absorb a huge range of vocabulary and idioms but also have a greater understanding of the nuances of language, style, formatting, and structure. Make it a habit to grab a few minutes to read every day whenever you have time maybe even when you are on the bus or waiting in the doctor’s chamber. Even some of the easily accessible social media platforms like say Facebook though has a bad name due to its narcissistic and addictive nature yet we can always get on its good side by reading all the rich articles it provides whether be it about self-help, politics or literature.
2. Start writing: Start writing by listening to the voice inside you and letting it guide you. It might even look like a child’s write-up in the beginning. But that doesn’t matter. Your first objective is to get your ideas on paper. Many writers start by writing about their daily lives or about their pent-up feelings in their dairies. But you will be surprised to find it reading almost like a small story in your life, thereby giving you the confidence to write more. Rewriting and editing this article repeatedly is what makes it better and publishable.
3. Practice: Writing is like a muscle which gets stronger with practice. It might be about anything from the recent school reunion you enjoyed or about your favourite book. Your grammar skills will be much needed here and if you have paid attention to your grammar classes in school, they will come in handy. Keep trying your hand in different topics that interest you and your confidence will grow along with your collection of write-ups. You can keep a goal of writing 500 words per day or during the weekends which will be like a mini workout. Even writing your opinions on blog posts or social media platforms regularly is like a writing exercise as you try to focus on the right words and syntax to be used. These days there is a broader opportunity to send your write-ups to many online websites and magazines that accept articles in different categories. Once you see your article published it will boost your confidence further. Those in school can start by submitting your write-ups to school or college magazines.
4. Inspiration: If you are not finding the right inspiration, go to the places that bring out your best. You can jog in a quiet area filled with nature or you might like to meditate whatever appeals and relaxes you. An evening walk around your neighbourhood whereby simply observing the world around you might bring your attention to some conversation or a person. This might inspire you to write a story or an opinion based article. Maybe some emotions are overwhelming you which on writing might not only bring clarity and calmness, which writing usually does but at the same time produce a beautiful piece.
5. Research: If you are still out of ideas then you can research on the topic you are going to write about. Once your subconscious is filled with enough information, you will find yourself peeling those layers and a torrent of words flowing from your pen.
6. Familiarity: Try your hand on topics you are passionate or knowledgeable about. This gets your paper flowing with words naturally and easily. If you plan to be a novelist, write on the genre you are familiar with as you have more knowledge on the kind of structure, tone, style, or elements used by the authors.
7. Grammar: Follow basic grammar rules such as using the active voice, strong verbs, correct tenses while avoiding contractions like don’t, wouldn’t and so on. Besides many good books on grammar, you will find valuable websites and resources in your very own free internet library.
8. Environment: Create a beautifully decorated writing area that appeals to your senses with preferred stationeries. Light up some incense or run some light background music to heighten your inspiration. Find a time that suits your mood and grab a coffee or juice that gives you that inspired kick.
1. Read, read, read – Writers can be said to be a derivative of readers, book worms, or bibliophiles – however you might like to call them. People who read are exposed to different voices, conventions, and genres of writing. They not only absorb a huge range of vocabulary and idioms but also have a greater understanding of the nuances of language, style, formatting, and structure. Make it a habit to grab a few minutes to read every day whenever you have time maybe even when you are on the bus or waiting in the doctor’s chamber. Even some of the easily accessible social media platforms like say Facebook though has a bad name due to its narcissistic and addictive nature yet we can always get on its good side by reading all the rich articles it provides whether be it about self-help, politics or literature.
2. Start writing: Start writing by listening to the voice inside you and letting it guide you. It might even look like a child’s write-up in the beginning. But that doesn’t matter. Your first objective is to get your ideas on paper. Many writers start by writing about their daily lives or about their pent-up feelings in their dairies. But you will be surprised to find it reading almost like a small story in your life, thereby giving you the confidence to write more. Rewriting and editing this article repeatedly is what makes it better and publishable.
3. Practice: Writing is like a muscle which gets stronger with practice. It might be about anything from the recent school reunion you enjoyed or about your favourite book. Your grammar skills will be much needed here and if you have paid attention to your grammar classes in school, they will come in handy. Keep trying your hand in different topics that interest you and your confidence will grow along with your collection of write-ups. You can keep a goal of writing 500 words per day or during the weekends which will be like a mini workout. Even writing your opinions on blog posts or social media platforms regularly is like a writing exercise as you try to focus on the right words and syntax to be used. These days there is a broader opportunity to send your write-ups to many online websites and magazines that accept articles in different categories. Once you see your article published it will boost your confidence further. Those in school can start by submitting your write-ups to school or college magazines.
4. Inspiration: If you are not finding the right inspiration, go to the places that bring out your best. You can jog in a quiet area filled with nature or you might like to meditate whatever appeals and relaxes you. An evening walk around your neighbourhood whereby simply observing the world around you might bring your attention to some conversation or a person. This might inspire you to write a story or an opinion based article. Maybe some emotions are overwhelming you which on writing might not only bring clarity and calmness, which writing usually does but at the same time produce a beautiful piece.
5. Research: If you are still out of ideas then you can research on the topic you are going to write about. Once your subconscious is filled with enough information, you will find yourself peeling those layers and a torrent of words flowing from your pen.
6. Familiarity: Try your hand on topics you are passionate or knowledgeable about. This gets your paper flowing with words naturally and easily. If you plan to be a novelist, write on the genre you are familiar with as you have more knowledge on the kind of structure, tone, style, or elements used by the authors.
7. Grammar: Follow basic grammar rules such as using the active voice, strong verbs, correct tenses while avoiding contractions like don’t, wouldn’t and so on. Besides many good books on grammar, you will find valuable websites and resources in your very own free internet library.
8. Environment: Create a beautifully decorated writing area that appeals to your senses with preferred stationeries. Light up some incense or run some light background music to heighten your inspiration. Find a time that suits your mood and grab a coffee or juice that gives you that inspired kick.
How to Write a Book Review
For people who love reading, discussing a book can be both an enriching and exhilarating process. But many a time it can be difficult to find fellow book lovers. Hence joining a community where we can discuss books can help feed that appetite of a true book lover. Nowadays there are many such communities like for eg the book clubs, including online ones in social media channels via Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. This is where book reviews come in as most of the members review a book and present it to their community. This informs the fellow members about what to expect in a book while at the same time stimulate various discussions about the finer as well as the weaker points of the book.
Book reviews also help to make your social media channels more substantial as more book lovers gravitate towards your channels to know about the books they are reading or look forward to reading. It also establishes relationships with publishers as most of them seek reviews for their authors. There are also other other benefits like they help build careers when their book-related channels on YouTube and Instagram are monetized as their list of subscribers continues to grow every day. Then again it also helps enhance your writing skills. It promotes reading comprehension and critical thinking as you will be reading the book with the intention of analyzing the argument of the book and then go about to explain it with clarity and structure.
Let’s see what things we must keep in mind when we write a book review
Firstly, you have to mention what is the genre of the book – whether the book is fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi or a mystery thriller so that the readers know what kind of book to expect. You can inform the readers if the book has conformed to that genre or it has deviated from it through the course of the story.
Secondly, you must list the title and the author name. You can mention a little about the author and maybe even explore the title of the story whether it explains the subject matter or not.
Thirdly, summarise the story briefly by talking about the characters, the conflict and the goal of the story. The conflict will include the kind of settings or conditions the characters are subjected to and consequently the obstacles they are facing while the goal will focus on how they are trying to resolve or overcome their problems.
Fourthly, mention the point of view in which the book has been written. Is it first person, second person or is it third person point of view? Has the first person point of view managed to expose the whole plot as well as the supporting characters in a coherent way? Has the third person multiple point of view messed up the story or instead has it helped to make the story even more intriguing?
Fifthly, you must mention the settings of the story, meaning the period and location when the story took place. This also includes the weather conditions or the social setting and that entails the mannerisms, customs or the lifestyle of the people where the story takes place. Settings are important as the personalities of the characters are often affected by the general mood that the story evokes which maybe cheerful, family-like, isolated or depressing.
Sixthly, you must mention the theme of the book which is the central message of the story or the underlying meaning. Maybe it talks about the battle of good over evil or a political rivalry between different ideologies or simply about nuances of human nature. You can also mention the metaphor, simile or symbolism used to emphasize the theme of the story.
Seventhly, you can talk about the pacing of the story whether it is action oriented or slow placed. Did the tension build up as per the action scenes of the story? Was there a right balance between the tension scenes and the rest scenes where the characters would strategize on their next course of action? Readers can decide to buy the book as per the pacing of the book depending on their own preferences.
Eighthly we need to analyze the character development in the story. Does the story have round characters meaning fully developed ones which learn, grow or deteriorate as per the changes in the story or are they simply flat one-dimensional characters? Whether the characters are static or dynamic can be determined by how much they are affected by the events in the story. You can give a feel of the characters by telling your readers how convincing and lifelike they felt or how much they resembled more real people.
Ninthly, you can mention the quality of writing whether it is coherent, concise and original. Is it too wordy and overemphasized or succinct and to the point? Did it have its own unique voice? You can tell your readers whether you found the writing forceful enough or whether it could convey the message in the way it wanted to. Then also you can mention the development of ideas in the story, whether they were developed in a structured way or was it all over the place. To be more precise did an idea start with something then leave you abruptly hanging while jumping right into another or was there a natural cause and resolution of ideas.
Lastly, you can talk about the fluidity of writing whether one scene flowed smoothly into another or was there a natural sequence in the way every scene unfolded.
Once you have analyzed and evaluated the book, you have to mention your own reaction to it. Was it entertaining, mysterious, eerie or memorable? Did you like it or why did you rate it the way you did? Did the book raise issues or awareness? Talk about the author’s perspective on the issue and whether you agree or not agree to it. Could the book convey what it wanted to or were there pieces that were overemphasized and not necessary? Is the argument relatable to other books in that genre and in what way? Are there possibilities the book could have been better or the plot could be made more tension paced? Keeping these points in mind you can say if the book appealed to you and if there is a scope for more books of this kind. You can mention how the book had an impact on your life or whether it influenced your opinions. You can end the review by mentioning the final feeling the book evoked in you and whether the issues were relatable to everyday life.
On a final note, remember to be kind to the author. You are here to critique the book, not the author. You are reviewing a book which has been written as per the author’s imagination or perspective and not as per what you would like the book to be. In a review, you are free and encouraged to expose the shortcomings of a book but not criticize it for being something that it never intended to be in the first place. In this manner, you can provide a well-balanced review with logically backed up explanations for every agreement or disagreement that you mentioned. At the same time, the audience too gets a realistic information about the value of the book.
Book reviews also help to make your social media channels more substantial as more book lovers gravitate towards your channels to know about the books they are reading or look forward to reading. It also establishes relationships with publishers as most of them seek reviews for their authors. There are also other other benefits like they help build careers when their book-related channels on YouTube and Instagram are monetized as their list of subscribers continues to grow every day. Then again it also helps enhance your writing skills. It promotes reading comprehension and critical thinking as you will be reading the book with the intention of analyzing the argument of the book and then go about to explain it with clarity and structure.
Let’s see what things we must keep in mind when we write a book review
Firstly, you have to mention what is the genre of the book – whether the book is fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi or a mystery thriller so that the readers know what kind of book to expect. You can inform the readers if the book has conformed to that genre or it has deviated from it through the course of the story.
Secondly, you must list the title and the author name. You can mention a little about the author and maybe even explore the title of the story whether it explains the subject matter or not.
Thirdly, summarise the story briefly by talking about the characters, the conflict and the goal of the story. The conflict will include the kind of settings or conditions the characters are subjected to and consequently the obstacles they are facing while the goal will focus on how they are trying to resolve or overcome their problems.
Fourthly, mention the point of view in which the book has been written. Is it first person, second person or is it third person point of view? Has the first person point of view managed to expose the whole plot as well as the supporting characters in a coherent way? Has the third person multiple point of view messed up the story or instead has it helped to make the story even more intriguing?
Fifthly, you must mention the settings of the story, meaning the period and location when the story took place. This also includes the weather conditions or the social setting and that entails the mannerisms, customs or the lifestyle of the people where the story takes place. Settings are important as the personalities of the characters are often affected by the general mood that the story evokes which maybe cheerful, family-like, isolated or depressing.
Sixthly, you must mention the theme of the book which is the central message of the story or the underlying meaning. Maybe it talks about the battle of good over evil or a political rivalry between different ideologies or simply about nuances of human nature. You can also mention the metaphor, simile or symbolism used to emphasize the theme of the story.
Seventhly, you can talk about the pacing of the story whether it is action oriented or slow placed. Did the tension build up as per the action scenes of the story? Was there a right balance between the tension scenes and the rest scenes where the characters would strategize on their next course of action? Readers can decide to buy the book as per the pacing of the book depending on their own preferences.
Eighthly we need to analyze the character development in the story. Does the story have round characters meaning fully developed ones which learn, grow or deteriorate as per the changes in the story or are they simply flat one-dimensional characters? Whether the characters are static or dynamic can be determined by how much they are affected by the events in the story. You can give a feel of the characters by telling your readers how convincing and lifelike they felt or how much they resembled more real people.
Ninthly, you can mention the quality of writing whether it is coherent, concise and original. Is it too wordy and overemphasized or succinct and to the point? Did it have its own unique voice? You can tell your readers whether you found the writing forceful enough or whether it could convey the message in the way it wanted to. Then also you can mention the development of ideas in the story, whether they were developed in a structured way or was it all over the place. To be more precise did an idea start with something then leave you abruptly hanging while jumping right into another or was there a natural cause and resolution of ideas.
Lastly, you can talk about the fluidity of writing whether one scene flowed smoothly into another or was there a natural sequence in the way every scene unfolded.
Once you have analyzed and evaluated the book, you have to mention your own reaction to it. Was it entertaining, mysterious, eerie or memorable? Did you like it or why did you rate it the way you did? Did the book raise issues or awareness? Talk about the author’s perspective on the issue and whether you agree or not agree to it. Could the book convey what it wanted to or were there pieces that were overemphasized and not necessary? Is the argument relatable to other books in that genre and in what way? Are there possibilities the book could have been better or the plot could be made more tension paced? Keeping these points in mind you can say if the book appealed to you and if there is a scope for more books of this kind. You can mention how the book had an impact on your life or whether it influenced your opinions. You can end the review by mentioning the final feeling the book evoked in you and whether the issues were relatable to everyday life.
On a final note, remember to be kind to the author. You are here to critique the book, not the author. You are reviewing a book which has been written as per the author’s imagination or perspective and not as per what you would like the book to be. In a review, you are free and encouraged to expose the shortcomings of a book but not criticize it for being something that it never intended to be in the first place. In this manner, you can provide a well-balanced review with logically backed up explanations for every agreement or disagreement that you mentioned. At the same time, the audience too gets a realistic information about the value of the book.
How to write a novel
The first thing that you need to figure out while writing your story is what kind of story you are going to write about; or to be more specific what genre will it belong to. Will the story be in the romance genre or a sci-fi; or would you opt to write a dystopian fiction altogether?
The best way to decide is to check your bookshelf and see what kind of novels are you inclined to read more. The genre that you usually read more is the one you are pretty familiar with. You will have sufficient content and ideas for a beginner which will easily help you tune into the writing process. For example, you are a fantasy freak and you decide to write a fantasy novel. In that case a lot of the elements would have already been embedded in your subconscious. You would be already familiar with the different kinds of world building used in fantasy novels. Some of which are based on legends across the world; some from real history such as that of medieval Europe, Renaissance era or Native American folklore and some may be a world totally invented from the author’s imagination.
Next we have the different kind of supernatural rules that operate in the fantasy world. You will observe that the author uses this consistently throughout the book – almost similar to a formula. You would have been familiar with different styles of magic used and the tone of characters – meaning the language they use. So finally all you have to do is sit quietly, reflect, may be meditate and you will find random ideas dangling in your mind’s cosmos. As you quickly jot down points, you find these ideas take shape into a rough outline where you can gradually imbibe the different elements such as the settings, the plot, the theme, the style, the characterisation, the point of view and the tone into your novel.
On the contrary, in case of a mystery novel, the learning curve for crafting out a mystery novel would be pretty steep as it will not be your familiar territory. You have to start with reading more crime novels, get familiar with the crime terminology, research how detectives work, study the techniques used and understand how the author keeps the suspense element strong all throughout the crime novel.
Next you need to find an idea for your story. Many people have different ways of picking story ideas. For some there are so many that it gets difficult to choose that one particular idea that they would like to hone into their novel. For the rest of us who are not yet inspired we have to go browsing for one – browse the unlimited free shop, meaning our universe. For that you may have to go out for a walk in the park, or a beautiful natural area with a lot of scenic beauty around. Listening to music, going for movies, taking a bath, spending time with children or simply day dreaming – are some other ways to be inspired. You can also draw out your own experiences in life or add a twist to the folk tales handed down by your grandparents. Keep your mind prepared to absorb signs from the universe and let your subconscious know that you are ready to receive ideas. You can even keep a dream journal as some ideas may come to you through your dreams! Your ideas may come to you as an image in your mind’s eye. Sometimes a particular setting in a restaurant or a classroom may set off an image.
Another way to get your ideas is through research. For e.g., if you are writing about fantasy, you can research about mythology, esoteric beings in the other world, different forms of folk magic used across cultures such as Wiccans, North American Indians, Africans etc. If you are writing about crime novels then your research will involve learning about criminal terminology, watching crime documentaries, DNA analysis, pathology, forensic anthropology, forensic criminology and so on.
To summarise, each of us have our own magic trick to be inspired. All we need to
explore is our own channel of self-discovery.
The best way to decide is to check your bookshelf and see what kind of novels are you inclined to read more. The genre that you usually read more is the one you are pretty familiar with. You will have sufficient content and ideas for a beginner which will easily help you tune into the writing process. For example, you are a fantasy freak and you decide to write a fantasy novel. In that case a lot of the elements would have already been embedded in your subconscious. You would be already familiar with the different kinds of world building used in fantasy novels. Some of which are based on legends across the world; some from real history such as that of medieval Europe, Renaissance era or Native American folklore and some may be a world totally invented from the author’s imagination.
Next we have the different kind of supernatural rules that operate in the fantasy world. You will observe that the author uses this consistently throughout the book – almost similar to a formula. You would have been familiar with different styles of magic used and the tone of characters – meaning the language they use. So finally all you have to do is sit quietly, reflect, may be meditate and you will find random ideas dangling in your mind’s cosmos. As you quickly jot down points, you find these ideas take shape into a rough outline where you can gradually imbibe the different elements such as the settings, the plot, the theme, the style, the characterisation, the point of view and the tone into your novel.
On the contrary, in case of a mystery novel, the learning curve for crafting out a mystery novel would be pretty steep as it will not be your familiar territory. You have to start with reading more crime novels, get familiar with the crime terminology, research how detectives work, study the techniques used and understand how the author keeps the suspense element strong all throughout the crime novel.
Next you need to find an idea for your story. Many people have different ways of picking story ideas. For some there are so many that it gets difficult to choose that one particular idea that they would like to hone into their novel. For the rest of us who are not yet inspired we have to go browsing for one – browse the unlimited free shop, meaning our universe. For that you may have to go out for a walk in the park, or a beautiful natural area with a lot of scenic beauty around. Listening to music, going for movies, taking a bath, spending time with children or simply day dreaming – are some other ways to be inspired. You can also draw out your own experiences in life or add a twist to the folk tales handed down by your grandparents. Keep your mind prepared to absorb signs from the universe and let your subconscious know that you are ready to receive ideas. You can even keep a dream journal as some ideas may come to you through your dreams! Your ideas may come to you as an image in your mind’s eye. Sometimes a particular setting in a restaurant or a classroom may set off an image.
Another way to get your ideas is through research. For e.g., if you are writing about fantasy, you can research about mythology, esoteric beings in the other world, different forms of folk magic used across cultures such as Wiccans, North American Indians, Africans etc. If you are writing about crime novels then your research will involve learning about criminal terminology, watching crime documentaries, DNA analysis, pathology, forensic anthropology, forensic criminology and so on.
To summarise, each of us have our own magic trick to be inspired. All we need to
explore is our own channel of self-discovery.
Plotting a novel & writing scenes
Once you have the idea for your novel, take some time to develop it into a one or two line summary or maybe a story goal. For e.g., it might be something like: “A Mumbai based artist plans to avenge the death of her sister, who dies under mysterious circumstances.”
From here you brainstorm different ideas as it comes to you. Your idea maybe in the form of an image who may also be the main protagonist of the novel. For the purpose of our article, let’s visualise the image as that of a female who is an artist and in her early twenties. You can give her a name, say, Nina Sareen. You can describe her personality – maybe she is quiet and reserved, and you write that down. Then next you can write about how she feels, meaning her emotional state at that point of time. Her emotions could be running high as she is vastly devastated by her sister’s death, and also agonised because her death has not been resolved in a correct manner by the police. Then from here you can jot down ideas about the sister who has passed away. Give her a name, say, Maya Sareen. You can mention her profession which could be that of an upcoming model in a reputed fashion house. Then you can roughly jot down ideas about the suspects here. It could be her ex-boyfriend or her colleague. You may jot down the consequences that might have taken place, for example, the police closed down her file as a suicide case. The reasons you can jot down roughly as because the victim was going through a depressive phase at being jilted by her boyfriend. And also one more reason you can mention, such as, she had been found to take prescribed drugs. So you allow the free flowing of ideas and randomly jot them down as they come to you. You can have a rough sketch of your ideas in clusters or in a Venn diagram, however it suits your creativity and sense of organisation.
Once this is done you can use these ideas to write different events or situations you visualise happening in the story. This may be as long as ten to fifteen pages or more.
You could write about how Nina is in her daily life, where does she live and how are the people around her. You can give more details about her, such as, she is a multi-media artist who works in an advertising agency. She lives a very quiet life in Mumbai city, just to highlight the contrast in her personality as regards to a busy capital city like Mumbai. Then you can write in detail about the conflict that brings about a change in her personality. You can ponder awhile to empathise how protagonist would be feeling or how she would be passing days in her life. Then we can dangle the ‘opportunity’ factor here which Nina could use to bring about a change in her life as well as resolve the conflict she is facing. At this point of time you can bring up some supporting characters that might come to help or have a connection with her conflict. You can also take some time to describe each of the supporting characters and write what relation they have with each other. Maybe there is a probability of a romance surfacing or you can add some pointers about who the antagonist might be. So once you have this content, make a rough outline of all the ideas, events and characters in a linear fashion. It should all be shaped in a logical sequence. This is what is called the backbone of the story.
Once you have a rough backbone of the story, write different scenes that work towards the resolution of the story goal. In each of the scenes, write a small summary of may be four or five lines. If you are out of ideas for a particular scene just keep it for now and move on to the next scene; you can come back to it later. After finishing a rough draft of all the scenes, you can develop each scene into a chapter of maybe of 2000 or 3000 words depending on the word count of the book.
You can also plan the number of chapters beforehand and divide these chapters into three parts –
also known as the three-act structure. The three-act structure is a popular model, used by many authors to write their plays, novels, poetry, comic books, short stories etc. In this structure what you do is plan the number of chapters for your entire novel – say thirty chapters. The first part or Act 1, also known as the beginning, consists of ten chapters. The beginning explains the setup of the novel such as introduces the protagonist, the conflict, the circumstances that come about due to the conflict, the opportunity for change, the objectives and action plan the protagonist takes to resolve the conflict. You also write about the settings here and introduce the supporting actors.
The middle portion of the three-act structure is where the confrontation takes place. It consists of the changes that take place in the protagonist’s life due to his or her decisions, other subplots of the supporting characters, enemies gained, the experiences and lessons learnt that further strengthen the story goal. Some fun incidents in the protagonist’s life can also be added here such as celebrations, reunions and romances. You can also introduce the antagonists here or they may be already introduced but here is where their shady traits are revealed. In relation to the antagonists, you can show how they weaken or strengthen the protagonist in achieving his or her goal.
The third act or last ten chapters, is where the resolution takes place. Pressure mounts as the protagonists faces obstacles after obstacles. Encounters are shown where the protagonist faces relentless defeat and despair as nothing seems to be right here. Other discouraging situations come up, and maybe some secrets are revealed too. There may also be some sacrifices involved or maybe death of one or two characters. Tension reaches its peak here till crisis reaches final climax and then resolution occurs.
As you keep moving onto the next chapter you have to make it a point to revise the previous chapter so that it is not too messy later on. Once you complete the whole draft, you go back to the beginning for another round of re-edit.
For e.g., here in my story, let’s suppose Nina finds out that her sister was jilted by her boyfriend before her death. Maya’s boyfriend was none other than Mumbai’s famous billionaire, Rahul Panag. Although an initial suspect, the police set Rahul free after not being able to find any substantial evidence against him. So here we have the conflict of Nina trying to find out more about her sister’s death. In her quest to find out more, she accidently meets Ryan Panag, the brother of the billionaire. Luckily for Nina, Ryan comes as a perfect opportunity for her to resolve her conflict. Ryan is a new client in her agency and Nina successfully manipulates her boss to assign her Ryan’s project.
Hence this is one of the action plans she takes to resolve the conflict. She also learns that the brothers belong to a dynasty of rich tycoons and prior to Maya’s death, their whole family was vehemently against her marriage to Rahul. As the story progresses, Nina studies Ryan closely and tries to find out more background information about him and his family. She changes her mode of dressing and style just to make Ryan fall in love with her. In Act two, Nina will achieve her goal as Ryan proposes to her. But again there is a dent to her plans as she finds herself falling in love with Ryan too. There are circumstances where she meets other characters such as Ryan’s family who all seem to be very nice. There will be other supporting characters here, like for example, her best friend Tasha. But again there is Rahul’s friend circle who behaves suspiciously towards her. One of them may be introduced as the antagonist. Towards the third act there is a fight between Nina and Ryan as he realises her true motives for falling in love with him.
Once you have all the scenes roughly drafted, it gets easier to develop it into full fledged chapters. Before you know it, you find your fingers are flying around with sentences, dialogues and events all falling easily like a heavy downpour. In no time, your first draft is ready and from then on you keep going back to remove unnecessary paragraphs, bad sentences or add some new ones. Henceforth, you go on polishing your manuscript with as many re-edits required, till you feel completely satisfied with the final manuscript.
Now that your novel is complete, you can sit back and revel this moment for a while. Hey! You are the author of this huge manuscript which everyone calls a novel. Your novel! Time for celebrations and new hope as you gather information about various literary agents across the country or seek to pursue alternative methods of publishing.
From here you brainstorm different ideas as it comes to you. Your idea maybe in the form of an image who may also be the main protagonist of the novel. For the purpose of our article, let’s visualise the image as that of a female who is an artist and in her early twenties. You can give her a name, say, Nina Sareen. You can describe her personality – maybe she is quiet and reserved, and you write that down. Then next you can write about how she feels, meaning her emotional state at that point of time. Her emotions could be running high as she is vastly devastated by her sister’s death, and also agonised because her death has not been resolved in a correct manner by the police. Then from here you can jot down ideas about the sister who has passed away. Give her a name, say, Maya Sareen. You can mention her profession which could be that of an upcoming model in a reputed fashion house. Then you can roughly jot down ideas about the suspects here. It could be her ex-boyfriend or her colleague. You may jot down the consequences that might have taken place, for example, the police closed down her file as a suicide case. The reasons you can jot down roughly as because the victim was going through a depressive phase at being jilted by her boyfriend. And also one more reason you can mention, such as, she had been found to take prescribed drugs. So you allow the free flowing of ideas and randomly jot them down as they come to you. You can have a rough sketch of your ideas in clusters or in a Venn diagram, however it suits your creativity and sense of organisation.
Once this is done you can use these ideas to write different events or situations you visualise happening in the story. This may be as long as ten to fifteen pages or more.
You could write about how Nina is in her daily life, where does she live and how are the people around her. You can give more details about her, such as, she is a multi-media artist who works in an advertising agency. She lives a very quiet life in Mumbai city, just to highlight the contrast in her personality as regards to a busy capital city like Mumbai. Then you can write in detail about the conflict that brings about a change in her personality. You can ponder awhile to empathise how protagonist would be feeling or how she would be passing days in her life. Then we can dangle the ‘opportunity’ factor here which Nina could use to bring about a change in her life as well as resolve the conflict she is facing. At this point of time you can bring up some supporting characters that might come to help or have a connection with her conflict. You can also take some time to describe each of the supporting characters and write what relation they have with each other. Maybe there is a probability of a romance surfacing or you can add some pointers about who the antagonist might be. So once you have this content, make a rough outline of all the ideas, events and characters in a linear fashion. It should all be shaped in a logical sequence. This is what is called the backbone of the story.
Once you have a rough backbone of the story, write different scenes that work towards the resolution of the story goal. In each of the scenes, write a small summary of may be four or five lines. If you are out of ideas for a particular scene just keep it for now and move on to the next scene; you can come back to it later. After finishing a rough draft of all the scenes, you can develop each scene into a chapter of maybe of 2000 or 3000 words depending on the word count of the book.
You can also plan the number of chapters beforehand and divide these chapters into three parts –
also known as the three-act structure. The three-act structure is a popular model, used by many authors to write their plays, novels, poetry, comic books, short stories etc. In this structure what you do is plan the number of chapters for your entire novel – say thirty chapters. The first part or Act 1, also known as the beginning, consists of ten chapters. The beginning explains the setup of the novel such as introduces the protagonist, the conflict, the circumstances that come about due to the conflict, the opportunity for change, the objectives and action plan the protagonist takes to resolve the conflict. You also write about the settings here and introduce the supporting actors.
The middle portion of the three-act structure is where the confrontation takes place. It consists of the changes that take place in the protagonist’s life due to his or her decisions, other subplots of the supporting characters, enemies gained, the experiences and lessons learnt that further strengthen the story goal. Some fun incidents in the protagonist’s life can also be added here such as celebrations, reunions and romances. You can also introduce the antagonists here or they may be already introduced but here is where their shady traits are revealed. In relation to the antagonists, you can show how they weaken or strengthen the protagonist in achieving his or her goal.
The third act or last ten chapters, is where the resolution takes place. Pressure mounts as the protagonists faces obstacles after obstacles. Encounters are shown where the protagonist faces relentless defeat and despair as nothing seems to be right here. Other discouraging situations come up, and maybe some secrets are revealed too. There may also be some sacrifices involved or maybe death of one or two characters. Tension reaches its peak here till crisis reaches final climax and then resolution occurs.
As you keep moving onto the next chapter you have to make it a point to revise the previous chapter so that it is not too messy later on. Once you complete the whole draft, you go back to the beginning for another round of re-edit.
For e.g., here in my story, let’s suppose Nina finds out that her sister was jilted by her boyfriend before her death. Maya’s boyfriend was none other than Mumbai’s famous billionaire, Rahul Panag. Although an initial suspect, the police set Rahul free after not being able to find any substantial evidence against him. So here we have the conflict of Nina trying to find out more about her sister’s death. In her quest to find out more, she accidently meets Ryan Panag, the brother of the billionaire. Luckily for Nina, Ryan comes as a perfect opportunity for her to resolve her conflict. Ryan is a new client in her agency and Nina successfully manipulates her boss to assign her Ryan’s project.
Hence this is one of the action plans she takes to resolve the conflict. She also learns that the brothers belong to a dynasty of rich tycoons and prior to Maya’s death, their whole family was vehemently against her marriage to Rahul. As the story progresses, Nina studies Ryan closely and tries to find out more background information about him and his family. She changes her mode of dressing and style just to make Ryan fall in love with her. In Act two, Nina will achieve her goal as Ryan proposes to her. But again there is a dent to her plans as she finds herself falling in love with Ryan too. There are circumstances where she meets other characters such as Ryan’s family who all seem to be very nice. There will be other supporting characters here, like for example, her best friend Tasha. But again there is Rahul’s friend circle who behaves suspiciously towards her. One of them may be introduced as the antagonist. Towards the third act there is a fight between Nina and Ryan as he realises her true motives for falling in love with him.
Once you have all the scenes roughly drafted, it gets easier to develop it into full fledged chapters. Before you know it, you find your fingers are flying around with sentences, dialogues and events all falling easily like a heavy downpour. In no time, your first draft is ready and from then on you keep going back to remove unnecessary paragraphs, bad sentences or add some new ones. Henceforth, you go on polishing your manuscript with as many re-edits required, till you feel completely satisfied with the final manuscript.
Now that your novel is complete, you can sit back and revel this moment for a while. Hey! You are the author of this huge manuscript which everyone calls a novel. Your novel! Time for celebrations and new hope as you gather information about various literary agents across the country or seek to pursue alternative methods of publishing.
How to write interesting characters for your novel?
The best approach to develop interesting characters for your novel is by observing people in your own life; meaning your family, friends, neighbours and acquaintances. Readers will be able to relate more to those characters as they will sound and feel more realistic. So for a while, keep a keen eye on the people around you. Observe their style of talking, their facial expressions, frequent mannerisms, their special qualities or weaknesses. This will help to add more depth to your character as you go on developing it – in the sense make it more believable and relatable.
Once you have a vague image of your character, go on adding more details to it in your mind’s eye and write it down as it comes to you. For the purpose of this article, let’s suppose your character is a female. Below in this article I have compiled eleven factors that you can keep in mind while developing and writing about your character:
1. Name: You need to give her a name, so that it makes you feel as if you are thinking of a real person. While choosing a name you can also use one that reflects some quality of your protagonist. For example, she maybe named Dawn because of the kind of innocence she radiates that is relatable to the freshness of dawn. Or you can name her Grace, because of a graceful, ladylike quality about her that you want the readers to feel. But then, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. It entirely depends upon your unique style of showcasing your character.
2. Age: The readers need to know the age of the character to build a clear and defined image in their minds. Is she a teenager or someone in her late twenties? Usually, the age would be mostly dependent on the storyline and the genre. If for e.g., it is a middle grade book then the character’s age would be somewhere around nine to twelve years old, whereas for a young adult book, the character should be around fifteen to eighteen years old. The age also determines the tone used by the characters, whether it is a mature voice or a chirpy, young voice.
3. Occupation: Once you have determined her age, you can write about what she does. Is she is a student, or a career woman, or simply someone with a daytime job to support her family? The protagonist’s personality will be largely determined by this because, supposing you are talking about a high school student here, then you are portraying a typically young person. Hence her tone of voice, like most teenagers, will be often headstrong and opinionated or maybe light and carefree. Again like most teenagers, she maybe very impulsive or spontaneous in her actions. Then again your character maybe a research scholar and carry an intelligent look about her, and also is quite serious about her outlook in life. Another example we can cite is that of a waitress who has a gregarious personality as per the demands of her job. On the contrary she might have a dual personality where she is very cheerful and outgoing at her work place but reserved and quiet when she is at home or with her close circle of friends.
4. Physical descriptions: It’s time to describe her physically now and the possibilities are limitless here. She maybe very pretty, or on the contrary, be very average looking but with a charming smile or a cute nose. Or she may have captivating eyes on a handsome face, complemented by a luxurious, shiny mane of hair. There are no boundaries here and you can portray her as you would like your readers to glimpse a vision that is close to yours.
5. Character traits: Once the sex, age, occupation and physical descriptions are done, you need to write about her character traits. Describe how she really is as a person with her peers, friends or family and how she is when she is alone. How does it affect her relationships in turn? One thing you have to keep in mind while developing your protagonist is that besides her heroic qualities, she will sound more real if you also add some flaws to her character. This will help add more depth and dimension to her personality. In the real world nobody is perfect, so showing some of her weaknesses makes her sound more credible. She may be reserved, but at the same time very easy-going and helpful. Or she maybe cheerful, bubbly and talkative but at the same time also sensitive and gullible. Strive to make her sound more like a round character instead of flat. For example, she maybe a very friendly girl as well as straightforward and helpful but her straightforward nature makes her too frank for some people’s liking. As a result, she has many enemies too. Or, she maybe very independent and individualistic but she also is very stubborn which leads to many tensions in her relationships with her friends. Then again, she may have a calm and peaceful disposition but this is the very reason that makes her a soft prey to nasty and loud people around her. Balancing the heroic qualities of your protagonists with one or a few flaws can help the readers look up to the protagonists as well as relate to a piece of their own weakness too. Similarly, when you write about the antagonists, you can highlight a good quality to their otherwise villainous nature. For e.g., supposing your antagonist is a male who is aggressive, opportunistic, self-centred and deceitful. Here you can throw in a virtue amongst his basket of vices, such as, he is loyal where his family is concerned and can do anything for them.
6. Settings: You can relate her moods and emotions to the settings of the novel so that it gives the readers more insight to her character. For e.g., she lives in the country but she longs for the hustle and bustle of city life. Hence that makes her grumpy and emotionally needy. Or, she may be relocated to the city but she longs to be in the countryside; hence that makes her restless as well as a loner. That would explain her emotional state in the novel and naturally help to pave the way to write about the character’s motivations.
7. Situations: The situations in her life will be another factor to show how the character handles her emotions, trauma, setbacks or happy events in her life. Maybe she lost someone close to her; hence she is devastated and withdrawn. Or, maybe she has been accepted by the college of her dreams, hence she is very excited and optimistic about her future. The situations in her life add a better perspective to the character’s traits and helps the reader to imagine the character better.
8. Past: The past of a person largely determines why the protagonist is the way he or she is. You can talk about the influences or the kind of upbringing the protagonist had in shaping her character. For e.g., the character might have had a submissive mother and a controlling father. So she decided very early in her life that she would always stand up for herself, come what may. Hence she is very assertive in her dealings which may sometimes border around aggression. Or the character’s role model was her mother who was very ambitious, so she too grew up to be ruthlessly ambitious and goal-driven. Or maybe the character was always compared to her better performing siblings; hence there is a kind of insecurity in her which she tries to hide with subtle sarcasm.
9. Objective: The objective of the character shows what she strives to be at the beginning of the novel. Maybe she wants to be rich since she grew up in scarcity and deprived economic conditions. Hence the character is goal-oriented as well as extremely persevering. Or the character grew up in a very ambitious family where parents never had any time for each other. Hence the character is very laidback and wants to enjoy life. Or, maybe she simply follows her passions and creativity but doesn’t bother too much about money; and therefore she strives for a sense of personal achievement and contentment.
10. Motivation: The motivation of the character strongly determines the nature of the character which in turn is a major factor in driving the plot. Maybe the protagonist is a quiet and mellowed kind of person who mostly minds her own business. But the murder of her mother changes her and so she is motivated by powerful emotions such as anger, resentment and a strong sense of vengeance. The novel then becomes a story of vengeance or crime as determined by the motivation of the main character. Or maybe the protagonist wants to win a beauty pageant but she isn’t motivated enough as she is instilled with qualities of humility and modesty by her parents. But an inciting incident like being ridiculed as a doormat by the popular girls in her school motivates her to prove herself. Hence the novel is more of a chick lit which features peer rivalries, popularity contests, romances and friendships between the characters. Or, again for instance the character may not be ambitious enough. But the tragedy of losing her father at not being able to avail funds for medical aid propels her to be ruthlessly ambitious and money-minded. So the storyline is basically about the character’s hunger for power and money. Motivation, therefore, is the major factor that determines a character’s development. In the course of the novel, the characters go through various changes as they try to achieve their goals in face of their challenges. For example, a very shy woman maybe motivated to change into an extrovert or a conservatively dressed female may turn to be a bold and flashy dresser just to achieve the goals in her life.
11. Show and not tell: Lastly, keep in mind that when writing about your character, you have to show her personality through the dialogues she has with the supporting characters instead of making readers follow long descriptions. This is a far creative way to show your characters and their traits. Maybe your protagonist is rebellious and therefore, whilst an argument with her mother, you can show her rebellious side. Or she is an earthy and sensible kind of teenager and to show this side of her character you can throw in a scene of her with her girl friends. In this scenario her girlfriends maybe mostly talking about fashion, parties and boys while she appears bored and her mind wanders elsewhere.
So keeping these points in mind, you go on developing your characters and make them grow as the situations keep changing in your novel. As the characters evolve, the readers too will feel they are reading about people in the real world. The protagonists’ journey also becomes the reader’s journey as they go through the same emotional highs and lows, and reader ends up wanting to know more.
Once you have a vague image of your character, go on adding more details to it in your mind’s eye and write it down as it comes to you. For the purpose of this article, let’s suppose your character is a female. Below in this article I have compiled eleven factors that you can keep in mind while developing and writing about your character:
1. Name: You need to give her a name, so that it makes you feel as if you are thinking of a real person. While choosing a name you can also use one that reflects some quality of your protagonist. For example, she maybe named Dawn because of the kind of innocence she radiates that is relatable to the freshness of dawn. Or you can name her Grace, because of a graceful, ladylike quality about her that you want the readers to feel. But then, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. It entirely depends upon your unique style of showcasing your character.
2. Age: The readers need to know the age of the character to build a clear and defined image in their minds. Is she a teenager or someone in her late twenties? Usually, the age would be mostly dependent on the storyline and the genre. If for e.g., it is a middle grade book then the character’s age would be somewhere around nine to twelve years old, whereas for a young adult book, the character should be around fifteen to eighteen years old. The age also determines the tone used by the characters, whether it is a mature voice or a chirpy, young voice.
3. Occupation: Once you have determined her age, you can write about what she does. Is she is a student, or a career woman, or simply someone with a daytime job to support her family? The protagonist’s personality will be largely determined by this because, supposing you are talking about a high school student here, then you are portraying a typically young person. Hence her tone of voice, like most teenagers, will be often headstrong and opinionated or maybe light and carefree. Again like most teenagers, she maybe very impulsive or spontaneous in her actions. Then again your character maybe a research scholar and carry an intelligent look about her, and also is quite serious about her outlook in life. Another example we can cite is that of a waitress who has a gregarious personality as per the demands of her job. On the contrary she might have a dual personality where she is very cheerful and outgoing at her work place but reserved and quiet when she is at home or with her close circle of friends.
4. Physical descriptions: It’s time to describe her physically now and the possibilities are limitless here. She maybe very pretty, or on the contrary, be very average looking but with a charming smile or a cute nose. Or she may have captivating eyes on a handsome face, complemented by a luxurious, shiny mane of hair. There are no boundaries here and you can portray her as you would like your readers to glimpse a vision that is close to yours.
5. Character traits: Once the sex, age, occupation and physical descriptions are done, you need to write about her character traits. Describe how she really is as a person with her peers, friends or family and how she is when she is alone. How does it affect her relationships in turn? One thing you have to keep in mind while developing your protagonist is that besides her heroic qualities, she will sound more real if you also add some flaws to her character. This will help add more depth and dimension to her personality. In the real world nobody is perfect, so showing some of her weaknesses makes her sound more credible. She may be reserved, but at the same time very easy-going and helpful. Or she maybe cheerful, bubbly and talkative but at the same time also sensitive and gullible. Strive to make her sound more like a round character instead of flat. For example, she maybe a very friendly girl as well as straightforward and helpful but her straightforward nature makes her too frank for some people’s liking. As a result, she has many enemies too. Or, she maybe very independent and individualistic but she also is very stubborn which leads to many tensions in her relationships with her friends. Then again, she may have a calm and peaceful disposition but this is the very reason that makes her a soft prey to nasty and loud people around her. Balancing the heroic qualities of your protagonists with one or a few flaws can help the readers look up to the protagonists as well as relate to a piece of their own weakness too. Similarly, when you write about the antagonists, you can highlight a good quality to their otherwise villainous nature. For e.g., supposing your antagonist is a male who is aggressive, opportunistic, self-centred and deceitful. Here you can throw in a virtue amongst his basket of vices, such as, he is loyal where his family is concerned and can do anything for them.
6. Settings: You can relate her moods and emotions to the settings of the novel so that it gives the readers more insight to her character. For e.g., she lives in the country but she longs for the hustle and bustle of city life. Hence that makes her grumpy and emotionally needy. Or, she may be relocated to the city but she longs to be in the countryside; hence that makes her restless as well as a loner. That would explain her emotional state in the novel and naturally help to pave the way to write about the character’s motivations.
7. Situations: The situations in her life will be another factor to show how the character handles her emotions, trauma, setbacks or happy events in her life. Maybe she lost someone close to her; hence she is devastated and withdrawn. Or, maybe she has been accepted by the college of her dreams, hence she is very excited and optimistic about her future. The situations in her life add a better perspective to the character’s traits and helps the reader to imagine the character better.
8. Past: The past of a person largely determines why the protagonist is the way he or she is. You can talk about the influences or the kind of upbringing the protagonist had in shaping her character. For e.g., the character might have had a submissive mother and a controlling father. So she decided very early in her life that she would always stand up for herself, come what may. Hence she is very assertive in her dealings which may sometimes border around aggression. Or the character’s role model was her mother who was very ambitious, so she too grew up to be ruthlessly ambitious and goal-driven. Or maybe the character was always compared to her better performing siblings; hence there is a kind of insecurity in her which she tries to hide with subtle sarcasm.
9. Objective: The objective of the character shows what she strives to be at the beginning of the novel. Maybe she wants to be rich since she grew up in scarcity and deprived economic conditions. Hence the character is goal-oriented as well as extremely persevering. Or the character grew up in a very ambitious family where parents never had any time for each other. Hence the character is very laidback and wants to enjoy life. Or, maybe she simply follows her passions and creativity but doesn’t bother too much about money; and therefore she strives for a sense of personal achievement and contentment.
10. Motivation: The motivation of the character strongly determines the nature of the character which in turn is a major factor in driving the plot. Maybe the protagonist is a quiet and mellowed kind of person who mostly minds her own business. But the murder of her mother changes her and so she is motivated by powerful emotions such as anger, resentment and a strong sense of vengeance. The novel then becomes a story of vengeance or crime as determined by the motivation of the main character. Or maybe the protagonist wants to win a beauty pageant but she isn’t motivated enough as she is instilled with qualities of humility and modesty by her parents. But an inciting incident like being ridiculed as a doormat by the popular girls in her school motivates her to prove herself. Hence the novel is more of a chick lit which features peer rivalries, popularity contests, romances and friendships between the characters. Or, again for instance the character may not be ambitious enough. But the tragedy of losing her father at not being able to avail funds for medical aid propels her to be ruthlessly ambitious and money-minded. So the storyline is basically about the character’s hunger for power and money. Motivation, therefore, is the major factor that determines a character’s development. In the course of the novel, the characters go through various changes as they try to achieve their goals in face of their challenges. For example, a very shy woman maybe motivated to change into an extrovert or a conservatively dressed female may turn to be a bold and flashy dresser just to achieve the goals in her life.
11. Show and not tell: Lastly, keep in mind that when writing about your character, you have to show her personality through the dialogues she has with the supporting characters instead of making readers follow long descriptions. This is a far creative way to show your characters and their traits. Maybe your protagonist is rebellious and therefore, whilst an argument with her mother, you can show her rebellious side. Or she is an earthy and sensible kind of teenager and to show this side of her character you can throw in a scene of her with her girl friends. In this scenario her girlfriends maybe mostly talking about fashion, parties and boys while she appears bored and her mind wanders elsewhere.
So keeping these points in mind, you go on developing your characters and make them grow as the situations keep changing in your novel. As the characters evolve, the readers too will feel they are reading about people in the real world. The protagonists’ journey also becomes the reader’s journey as they go through the same emotional highs and lows, and reader ends up wanting to know more.
May 23, 2017
April 21, 2017
The Haunting (5-sentence original mystery)
My head was aching and I reached out to my husband asking him for a glass of water. He looked surprised at being woken up and to my horror he tried to strangle me. I struggled to reach for the lamp at the bedside table and managed to hit him somehow. I could feel that horrible pain in my chest as I felt the same old sucked out sensations invading my body. “You will always be mine,” were the last words I heard as the bedroom door closed with a thud.
#mystery #thriller #mysteryweek #suspense #horror #goodreads
#mystery #thriller #mysteryweek #suspense #horror #goodreads
April 18, 2017
New release: Paranormal crime fiction
Child of Paradise
My new novel released - A Paranormal Crime Fiction::::
Released as Paperback and EBook in online stores of Amazon and Flipkart across US, UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Canada and India (at Indian prices for the first time in India!).
Available at:
Child of Paradise (Paperback)
Child of Paradise (EBook)
March 27, 2015
Eat, Pray, Love book review
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Review:::
Loved this one! After a long time I found a book which I couldn't wait to get back to. In fact I wanted to live through and feel every place that Gilbert visited in this book. Honestly, she has this amazing knack to make you live through her experiences as though it really happened to you.
Her life and experiences in the ashram in India totally fascinated me. I could almost feel the spiritual cleansing and her sense of peace she attained in the course of her spiritual journey. I would love to have a taste of a similar experience someday and feel that kind of spiritual empowerment.
And her Bali experience - that was awesome too. The artist house where she meditated every morning and bathed in the beauty of the flower filled garden absolutely infatuated me. I would really love to embed a similar setup in my home someday – so that definitely goes in my to-have list.
Her daily routine of cycling through the greens of Bali was another aspect that strongly appealed to me - that would be just so physically and mentally rejuvenating, I feel. All in all, I loved the life she led in Bali - the meditation, the learning, the cycling (being a nature lover myself), her encounters with the local people there (especially Ketut, Tutti and Wayan) and all the other interesting anecdotes.
I loved the real life examples of the law of attraction affirmations she practised in the book which made many of her wishes come true ( like for e.g. her divorce settlement) - and finding her future husband after all her heart ache and emotional upheaval she went through, was almost like having a fairy tale ending.
So there was a magical element to this real life story too - something which brings us all a sense of hope in the reality of life. Makes one believe that life can be truly a fairytale if we look within ourselves and change the way we view things - the universe truly conspires to give us what we wish for - if we wish it in the right way of course!
Also there were a lot of paranormal elements to this story that really moved me. It is a proof that there is more to this life on earth than what science and physics can explain. Some examples I can quickly point out here are the guidance that Gilbert received in her dreams from her Guru that was almost prophetic, the way the Gurugita hymn caused intense physical reactions in her as well as an inner turmoil, her friend's dream about her which was almost like a spiritual metaphor of her Gurugita experience and how magically the hymn helped her nephew to overcome insomnia right across the other side of the world purely through meditation and thought.
I too strongly believe that we can find spiritual teachers in different forms if we are ready to receive them. This is what she says regarding spiritual guidance, “There is a theory that if you yearn sincerely enough for a Guru, you will find one. The universe will shift, destiny's molecules will get themselves organized and your path will soon intersect with the path of the master you need. It was only one month after my first night of desperate prayer on my bathroom floor — a night spent tearfully begging God for answers — that I found mine, having walked into David's apartment and encountered a photograph of this stunning Indian woman.”
The movie is nothing compared to the book - it can actually be compared to an orange peel that needs to be removed in order to taste the fruit's rich pulp and juices inside. Gilbert is one of the authors I really look up to!
Loved Ketut and all his advices - this one was the best: “You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clear away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver.”
"Smile in your liver" is one of the important quotes that I try to live by as much as I can and have imbibed it in my spiritual practice.
Also want to add another of Ketut's philosophies which deeply touched me:
“You have been to hell, Ketut?"
He smiled. Of course he's been there.
What's it like in hell?"
Same like in heaven," he said.
He saw my confusion and tried to explain. "Universe is a circle, Liss."
He said. "To up, to down -- all same, at end."
I remembered an old Christian mystic notion: As above, so below.
I asked. "Then how can you tell the difference between heaven and hell?"
Because of how you go. Heaven, you go up, through seven happy places. Hell, you go down, through seven sad places. This is why it better for you to go up, Liss." He laughed.
Same-same," he said. "Same in end, so better to be happy in journey."
I said, "So, if heaven is love, then hell is... "
Love, too," he said.
Ketut laughed again, "Always so difficult for young people to understand this!”
Few more spiritually enriching excerpts that I would like to add from the book are:
“This is the hymn I call ‘The Amazing Grace of Sanskrit,’ filled with devotional longing. It is the one devotional song I have memorized, not so much from effort as from love. I begin to sing the familiar words in Sanskrit, from the simple introduction about the sacred teachings of Yoga to the rising tones of worship (‘I adore the cause of the universe ... I adore the one whose eyes are the sun, the moon and fire . . . you are everything to me, O god of gods . . .’) to the last gemlike summation of all faith (‘This is perfect, that is perfect, if you take the perfect from the perfect, the perfect remains’).”
“The Gurugita does have an impressive spiritual lineage; it's an excerpt from a holy ancient scripture of Yoga called the Skanda Purana, most of which has been lost, and little of which has been translated out of Sanskrit. Like much of Yogic scripture, it's written in the form of a conversation, an almost Socratic dialogue. The conversation is between the goddess Parvati and the almighty, all-encompassing god Shiva. Parvati and Shiva are the divine embodiment of creativity (the feminine) and consciousness (the masculine). She is the generative energy of the universe; he is its formless wisdom. Whatever Shiva imagines, Parvati brings to life. He dreams it; she materializes it. Their dance, their union (their Yoga), is both the cause of the universe and its manifestation. In the Gurugita, the goddess is asking the god for the secrets of worldly fulfilment, and he is telling her. It bugs me, this hymn.”
“Look, the Gurugita isn't supposed to be a fun song to sing. It has a different function. It's a text of unimaginable power. It is a mighty purifying practice. It burns away all your junk, all your negative emotions. And I think it's probably having a positive effect on you if you're experiencing such strong emotions and physical reactions while you're chanting it. This stuff can be painful, but it's awfully beneficial.”
View all my reviews
January 28, 2013
The Pilgrim's Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress by John BunyanMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
I remember I bought this book when I was twelve because there was a lot of hype surrounding this book. But I had to literally struggle to understand the deeper meaning of it in addition to it being long and tedious for a girl of twelve. Anyway I was compelled to finish this book because I had persuaded my mom to buy me this book and she had always ingrained in me against wasting good money. And I was conditioned to make good use of the money I spent on this herculean mammoth of a literary work of Sir John Bunyan. Never again! Whew! Lol!
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