Adite Banerjie's Blog, page 9
December 31, 2013
Happy New Beginnings!
“The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.” — Dave Weinbaum.
At the start of 2013, I knew it was going to be an exciting year for me. I had taken a step into the unknown world of romance writing the previous year. 2013 was the year when my debut book would be out. I was filled with hope and excitement at a brand new beginning, at having reinvented myself as a writer and embarking on a new adventure. And what a year it has been. One book is out and yet another has been...
December 10, 2013
Romancing Mills & Boon…the Indian Way!
Back in the 1970s and 1980s romance was synonymous with Mills & Boon novels and Hindi movies. Both were escapist, told happily ever after stories and were regarded as guilty pleasures. Those were the days when Valentine’s Day celebrations were unheard of in India and teenaged girls read M&Bs on the sly!
Has the Indian environment for romance novels changed? Do young women still enjoy reading stories about tall-dark-handsome heroes sweeping away nubile, young women into Happily Ever After Land...
November 24, 2013
Dakota Madison – The Indefatigable Writer
Millions of writers all over the world are penning their novels during NaNoWriMo month. If you think writing 50K words in one month is an uphill task what would you say about a writer who has challenged herself to write 12 novels in 12 months? Meet romance author Dakota Madison who could well be the Poster Girl for NaNoWriMo. I chatted her up to find out what keeps her motivated and how she manages to be so productive.
NaNoWriMo is in progress right now. A lot of writers are intimidated at th...
November 19, 2013
NaNoWriMo – Tips and Tricks
November is NaNoWriMo month when thousands, no millions of writers, all over the world take on the challenge of writing a novel — or 50,000 words — in a month. Here’s a pep talk I posted for NaNoWriMo challengers in India.
So, you think you can write a novel in a month?
Difficult but do-able, right? With a bit of dedication, some discipline, a healthy dose of writer’s passion and lots and lots of caffeine you can overcome the beast that mocks you for actually taking on the challenge.
The first b...
November 15, 2013
New Voices Fellowship for Screenwriters
The emergence of screenwriting workshops and contests is a new and welcome trend in the Indian movie business. For far too long screenwriting has been treated like a hit-or-miss thing and screenwriters have been given the stepmotherly treatment. As audience preferences have matured, writers are being called upon to write a wide variety of scripts — ranging from the song-and-dance masala fare to smaller budget indie-style screenplays. Clearly, there is a need for writers to amp up their screen...
November 4, 2013
Crafting Compelling Characters – 5 Tips from 5 Authors
Writing compelling characters lies at the heart of any storytelling venture. No matter what the genre it can be quite a challenge to craft engaging characters whom readers can fall in love with, or at the other extreme, love to hate!
For this blog post, I asked five debutant authors what they found most challenging about crafting their characters and here’s what they had to say. And don’t forget to check out their tips!
Over to the Authors!
Renita D’Silva, debut author of Monsoon Memories
Th...
October 28, 2013
When Krish Met Maya….
One of my all time favourite movies is When Harry Met Sally. And guess which scene pops into my mind as soon as I think of that movie? You guessed it!–the restaurant scene which ends with that wonderful one-liner, “I’ll have what she’s having”!
In my book, The Indian Tycoon’s Marriage Deal, I have a scene where the Hero and Heroine — Krish and Maya — discuss Krish’s marriage proposal. And this is what happens…
Krish watched from a secluded alcove as one very angry Maya stormed into the coffee...
October 24, 2013
Book Release and its Aftermath…
Now that your book has been launched, what next? Well, on to your next book, right? Well, yes and no! Soon after The Indian Tycoon’s Marriage Deal was released in September, I found I had morphed from author to a mouthpiece for my book. Suddenly, I was interacting with reviewers/bloggers who could get the word out about my book, doing interviews with the media and answering a ton of questions about characters, their histories, my inspiration, so on and so forth. And of course, I was delighted...
October 12, 2013
New Age Romance in Bollywood Films
Bollywood and romance are synonymous with each other. Some of the top box-office grossers of all time have been romances, starting with the classic Mughal-e-Azam (1960). The period film–starring the iconic Dilip Kumar and the beautiful Madhubala as Prince Salim and the courtesan Anarkali and was loosely based on an episode in the life of Mughal Emperor Jehangir–reigned the Indian box-office as the top grossing film of all time, a distinction it held for 15 years!
The Seventies and Eighties sa...
October 7, 2013
An Indian Romance
I met Adite through the blogging world. Her book The Indian Tycoon’s Marriage Deal was about to be out and she was feeling the jitters of an author debutante. But once I read her book I had a strong feeling that this book is not only for Indian readers but also should be distributed in the International market. While her story had all the ingredients of a Bollywood-ish Masala, the way she portrayed India and the thoughts of the characters tells us clearly that we readers and writers are now ready to portray India as it should be portrayed – Young, dashing and Rich....
Read the rest of the interview here...
