How to beat writer’s block (the fun way)

Writers are famously lazy, but years of writer’s block, well, that is too sour. I have heard people getting stuck in writer’s block for as long as eleven years, thank the animals (for once, please) they have a regular job. All right, you are here not for small talk, but to get a hand to pull you out of this quicksand. I begin.

Open question: …

Dramatist C.D. Sidhu, a word portrait

Edited by Ravi Taneja

This book was gifted to my daughter, Enya, by my uncle, Dr. C.D. Sidhu. I read through it very slowly, taking in its essence, tasting its exotic flavour. From this book, I learnt more about a man who fought all his life for what he loved: drama.

Dr. Sidhu has written thirty six plays till date (and performed them all), six books on criticism, three academic books, and edited two books; all in …

Udaipur: Stepping across cultures

Narrow lanes where only a car can pass through at a time climbed up to hotels and shops in old Udaipur. It made me do two things: fight with claustrophobia and try to get a glimpse of the famous lakes.

The largest lake in Udaipur, Lake Pichola, is blocked from view by hotels, shops and houses; none of them higher than the third story. The only place from where you can get a full view of …

What’s all this about word count?

Put A Love Story by Eric Segal beside War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and the argument does not stand. But I am not thinking about selling, for a change; I am thinking about determining the volume of your book accurately.

I read somewhere an easy way to do it. If you divide your book into scenes, which is how most …

Show, Don’t tell: Emotions and Expressions

From editors to fiction gurus we hear the same advice Show, Don’t Tell. Careful use of verbs instead of a truck-load of adjectives is what an experienced writer will say. I add that transforming emotions into expressions is one of the must-do jobs of every fiction writer. It is a simple trick if you know it.

Emotions and Expressions

We feel emotions

…

Tropes and Schemes

I composed this e-book to help myself and others get acquainted with the nuances of writing. I’ve included as many as 69 tropes and schemes with explanations and examples, so you won’t need to bother to make a list.

Download Tropes and Schemes

Dangers for Fiction Writers

Dangers for Fiction Writers is a free ebook that warns you against possible flaws that might scar your fiction. From boring beginnings, slow pace, unconvincing characters, faulty jumps in time to bad structure, scale, complexity, narration and action; Dangers for Fiction Writers will help you glide through the potholes.

Download Dangers for Fiction Writers

Begin Writing Fiction

How many times have you thought of writing a book? Many, you will say. But you never got down to the actual writing. Begin Writing Fiction is a concise e-book that helps you with building characters, POV, setting, plot, narration, dialogue, style and avoiding clichés so that you can begin writing your book today.

Download Begin Writing Fiction

Udaipur: Stepping across cultures

Narrow lanes where only a car can pass through at a time climbed up to hotels and shops in old Udaipur. It made me do two things: fight with claustrophobia and try to get a glimpse of the famous lakes.

The largest lake in Udaipur, Lake Pichola, is blocked from view by hotels, shops and houses; none of them higher than the third story. The only place from where you can get a full view of …

Chosen

Chosen spans the lifetime of a woman who, at sixty-three, discovers that she wronged her mother all her life and thinks her guilty of her death. (As the work is in progress, I cannot disclose details.)

Chosen is a literary novel, and will be close to 90,000 words. Right now, I have completed one-fourth of the book.

The Rise of the Dawn: A novel by Shruti Chandra Gupta

The Rise of the Dawn tells the story of a young man who becomes a social handicap because of his need to avoid his past. His dead sister, tyrannical father and loving mother find a way to reach him; through dreams. After years of living in isolation, it is the love of two women that helps him awaken the strength to confront and accept his past.

The novel explores the trinity of past, present and future; the swing of banality and high drama; and the eternal conflict between …

The Window

From the window the hot wind charged into the room, stung Kesha on the cheek and comfortably spread out like an unassuming guest.

‘Close the window!’ Rishi said from behind the newspaper.

‘With so much smoke from the parathas, we will either die of suffocation or get killed by the heat,’ she said, slapping a ball of dough on the kitchen slab.

Rishi didn’t answer. Something tickled her from the inside.

‘I told you …

When a bird swam

Her voice rose, traveling to the farthest corner of the room.

“You just don’t understand papa. It happened in Germany, Africa, Afghanistan, Nicaragua. And it will happen here! The scent of freedom can never be trampled upon or confined in prisons. The Sukarmis . . . ah! The very name is glory, they are fighting for your freedom papa, your freedom; and they are ready to lay down their lives for it.”

What’s all this about word count?

Put A Love Story by Eric Segal beside War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and the argument does not stand. But I am not thinking about selling, for a change; I am thinking about determining the volume of your book accurately.

I read somewhere an easy way to do it. If you divide your book into scenes, which is how most …

Books I recommend on fiction writing

These are some of the books I recently read. In each book listed below, I learnt something new and invaluable about fiction writing. I borrowed them from the British Council Library so they are not a part of my bookshelf. I did not photograph any of the earlier books so those photos are borrowed from the net. Will make it a habit to click from now on.

The links for all these books direct you to amazon where you can look at the description of the book, its contents, customer reviews and ‘look inside’. I have only included the summary of two books because those are with me right now. Others I have conveniently forgotten (but I do copy the important pages for future reference, which I can’t share with you because of plagiarism).

8 interesting sites on writing fiction

1. Writing Fiction by Crawford Kilian

Crawford Kilian is a published author of many books. As expected, he has excellent advice on every topic he chooses to write on. This site is highly recommended for all fiction writers.

10 Handy Fiction Writing Resources

1. Here to Create

This page has the ‘I-wanted-it’ list of great resources for fiction writers. From character building, POV, dialogue, plot, conflict, story world, structure, ideas to everything writing related under the universal sun.

2. Fiction Factor

On this page, you will find good advice on various topics such as conflict, sub-plot, main plot, narrative, ending etc. A …

List of best publishing websites

Book Market


This page has a list of 400+ book editors including editors of first novels with full address, phone number, fax, e-mail and website address.

Cader Books

On this page, you will answers to questions ranging from how to find an agent to how to write a good book proposal. The information provided is concise and well articulated….