*** Special Feature - October 2016 ***
Quick Recap:
1st October - Introducing the Author
8th October - 5 books that define my childhood
15th October - 10 Random Facts about Me
22nd October - Why I Write
About the Author:
Namrata is A Lost Wanderer who loves travelling the length and breadth of the world. A published author in various anthologies and magazines she enjoys capturing the magic of life in her words. She is forever in pursuit of a new country and a new story.
Contact the Author:
Website * Facebook * Twitter
Advice for Aspiring Authors
As a
published author I am asked very often to give tips for aspiring writers. If
there is one tip I could share with them it would be this – Tell
a story that you just cannot hold it within you anymore. You remember
that feeling of being in love so much that you had to tell it to the person you
were in love with? Telling a story is
akin to that. Just like love envelops you completely, the story and its
characters engulf you pushing you to tell their story.
Every time
someone says I want to be the next *insert a best-selling author’s name* I am
always taken aback. Why would you want to be a second hand version of someone
else? The world already has one; there is no need for another. Why not try
bringing in your own USP and make the world notice you? That happens when you
stop following the herd and try to do what you always believed in firmly.
However weird and unrealistic it might sound, your belief in it will make it
real. Remember Harry Potter was rejected many times before being selected? Not
everyone is able to judge a masterpiece in the first instance. The main
question is and should always be – Did those rejections make J K Rowling give
up and change her thoughts on writing? No, she kept trying because she believed
in her own work.
There is
also a doubt regarding cliché plotlines. To that I only have one answer. If
your treatment is unique even clichés can sound refreshingly different. Famous romance novels like Love Story, Romeo
Juliet, P.S: I Love You, The Fault in our stars etc. which are considered masterpieces
have more or less the same premise but if you look at narrative that is where
they are amazingly different making a brilliant read. There is nothing wrong in
making your characters larger than life. The key is to make them relatable.
That is when they leave an everlasting impact on the reader.
If you would
have noticed in majority of the classics simplicity ruled the roost. When a
reader is able to decipher what you want to convey and connect with it in more
than one ways that is when the book becomes more than just reading. It becomes
an experience which they want to relive again and again, not to mention share
with others too. Make your book an experience and not mere story telling.
I personally
like stories where at the end of it all I feel for at least one character. It
could be hate, anger, jealousy, pity, sympathy, love, care or concern. When a
reader feels for a character it means s/he lived the story. For this the
characters need to be fleshed out well and made to be multi-dimensional instead
of cardboard cutouts.
All this and
more is worthwhile if there is at least one person who gets back to you after
reading your book with these words, “You touched my heart with your writing!”
Give life another chance. Laugh a little longer. let go of your past. Hold onto what you love. In short LIVE rather than just exist!
Some told, some untold, some heard and some unheard - this collection of stories will make you look at life in a different light and make you ponder over its definition of it till now.
Book Links:
Goodreads I Amazon
Giveaway
2 Lucky winners will receive Amazon Gift Vouchers of 250/- INR each
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