Comments on: My as yet untitled novel http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/ A Desi girl in Blighty Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:39:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: <![CDATA[Nithya]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-419 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:34:10 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-419 Hi Lavanya The only e-mail I have of yours is your work mail and I keep getting mails back saying you have left. Please get in touch with me on my gmail id as I haven't heard from you in a while. Thanks. Nithya Hi Lavanya
The only e-mail I have of yours is your work mail and I keep getting mails back saying you have left. Please get in touch with me on my gmail id as I haven’t heard from you in a while.
Thanks.
Nithya

]]> By: <![CDATA[Nithya]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-416 Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:14:29 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-416 Hi I work with a start up publishing house called Rolled Up Sleeves. I am interested in the kind of writing you are doing. Please e-mail me at neetuu@gmail.com if you are interested in working with us. Thanks. Nithya Krishnaswamy Hi
I work with a start up publishing house called Rolled Up Sleeves. I am interested in the kind of writing you are doing. Please e-mail me at neetuu@gmail.com if you are interested in working with us.
Thanks.
Nithya Krishnaswamy

]]> By: <![CDATA[Lavanya]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-422 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:29:34 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-422 cool! give us a preview when you are done! nah i think i shall keep plodding along. i did try to shelve it but i kept coming back to it. so i shall keep poking and tweaking it. i read somewhere that Kiran Desai started working on her book 7 years back. not hinting at anything here, of course! cool! give us a preview when you are done!
nah i think i shall keep plodding along. i did try to shelve it but i kept coming back to it. so i shall keep poking and tweaking it. i read somewhere that Kiran Desai started working on her book 7 years back. not hinting at anything here, of course!

]]> By: <![CDATA[Amrita]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-418 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:04:54 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-418 Its mostly done and i feel very smug, thanks. Don't give up on it, just shoot for manageable goals. and you dont need to go from start to finish. write scenes instead if that works better for you. Its mostly done and i feel very smug, thanks. Don’t give up on it, just shoot for manageable goals. and you dont need to go from start to finish. write scenes instead if that works better for you.

]]> By: <![CDATA[Desigirl]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-421 Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:49:02 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-421 Yep! Saw your new idea(s) - you are a menace! Now we have to put on our thinking hats and cook stuff up for it. Like coming up with a name, for starters. I sometimes wish I could just give up pretending to work on this story but I can't. So I sit reading and re-reading it and tweaking bits here and there. Of late, I am pretending it is an Indian movie, hoping the visual appeal would help me move it along. How is your one coming along? Yep! Saw your new idea(s) - you are a menace! Now we have to put on our thinking hats and cook stuff up for it. Like coming up with a name, for starters.

I sometimes wish I could just give up pretending to work on this story but I can’t. So I sit reading and re-reading it and tweaking bits here and there. Of late, I am pretending it is an Indian movie, hoping the visual appeal would help me move it along.

How is your one coming along?

]]> By: <![CDATA[Amrita]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-420 Mon, 09 Apr 2007 07:05:51 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-420 LOL! did you see my new idea? Its on the forum. Yeah, I used to be all sniffy about writing a romance novel until i began to actually write one. I think my post about it is up on DC somewhere. its hard work! as for word count and so on... the standard is size 12 Times New Roman font double spaced. aim for about 250 pages or so of that. anytime! :) LOL! did you see my new idea? Its on the forum.

Yeah, I used to be all sniffy about writing a romance novel until i began to actually write one. I think my post about it is up on DC somewhere. its hard work!

as for word count and so on… the standard is size 12 Times New Roman font double spaced. aim for about 250 pages or so of that.

anytime! :)

]]> By: <![CDATA[Desigirl]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-423 Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:23:22 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-423 Shhh! Don't talk loudly about a new column - Aaman would start rounding the troops!!! :D Hmm, sound advice here. To think I used to be scornful of chick lit! That was when I read a few books and tho the ones here are about shopping and nail polish, I still wanted to write a book so I have been reading some okay ones, some godawful ones and have jotted down loads of ideas. Every time I read a chick lit novel, I think of what I like about it and what I don't. Like you said before, it is just like an Indian movie plot! Thanks for the word count tip btw - I wondered about that. Thank you soooo much for all this babe. Appreciate it. Shhh! Don’t talk loudly about a new column - Aaman would start rounding the troops!!! :D Hmm, sound advice here. To think I used to be scornful of chick lit! That was when I read a few books and tho the ones here are about shopping and nail polish, I still wanted to write a book so I have been reading some okay ones, some godawful ones and have jotted down loads of ideas. Every time I read a chick lit novel, I think of what I like about it and what I don’t. Like you said before, it is just like an Indian movie plot!
Thanks for the word count tip btw - I wondered about that.
Thank you soooo much for all this babe. Appreciate it.

]]> By: <![CDATA[Amrita]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-417 Sat, 07 Apr 2007 06:57:51 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-417 Ha, it doesnt have to be something major like that. First of all have a plot. If you don;t have one, then it won't work. I know people talk about "discovering themselves" as they write but those are people who take 10 years to write one bloody novel and its usually gibberish that needs extensive work by some poor editor. [You know all about that side of it, eh?] Second, settle on a word limit. shoot for something manageable like 45-55000 words. thats a standard 180-250 page book. Next, remember you want to start a book with your second most compelling sentence and end with your most compelling sentence. This works for articles too but its good advice for a book as well. basically, it means start in a way that grabs attention and then end in a way that'll make it tick in the reader's mind. A good way to hook people in, is the cliffhanger method - try and divide chapters along hooks. You'll make it more subtle as time goes on but there's absolutely nothing wrong in aiming for a pageturner. Also remember the best way to write into a subject is to read up on it. Chicklit has a definite formula to it that writers vary but generally work within. So read, read, read. Good ones, bad ones, all of it. Try and figure out what makes the good ones good and the bad ones bad. One way to do this is to write reviews [400-500 words] on it. Hey you know what we should do? We should start a chicklit column between the two of us. That way we'll know whats going on and go back and forth on the finer points of it. Ha, it doesnt have to be something major like that. First of all have a plot. If you don;t have one, then it won’t work. I know people talk about “discovering themselves” as they write but those are people who take 10 years to write one bloody novel and its usually gibberish that needs extensive work by some poor editor. [You know all about that side of it, eh?]

Second, settle on a word limit. shoot for something manageable like 45-55000 words. thats a standard 180-250 page book.

Next, remember you want to start a book with your second most compelling sentence and end with your most compelling sentence. This works for articles too but its good advice for a book as well. basically, it means start in a way that grabs attention and then end in a way that’ll make it tick in the reader’s mind.

A good way to hook people in, is the cliffhanger method - try and divide chapters along hooks. You’ll make it more subtle as time goes on but there’s absolutely nothing wrong in aiming for a pageturner.

Also remember the best way to write into a subject is to read up on it. Chicklit has a definite formula to it that writers vary but generally work within. So read, read, read. Good ones, bad ones, all of it. Try and figure out what makes the good ones good and the bad ones bad. One way to do this is to write reviews [400-500 words] on it.

Hey you know what we should do? We should start a chicklit column between the two of us. That way we’ll know whats going on and go back and forth on the finer points of it.

]]> By: <![CDATA[Desigirl]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-415 Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:29:47 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-415 Thanks, Ams. Really appreciate your feedback. I wasn't too sure about the narration but wanted to try with the switching points of view. I know I have slotted some major bg details up front but I wanted to establish the framework. I could always move it to another place. Rewriting and redrafting is what I have been doing for a good while. Tell me - how the hell do I work in the hooks? Some pook suggested making the bloke a mass murderer or something but that doesn't gel, does it? Thanks, Ams. Really appreciate your feedback. I wasn’t too sure about the narration but wanted to try with the switching points of view. I know I have slotted some major bg details up front but I wanted to establish the framework. I could always move it to another place.
Rewriting and redrafting is what I have been doing for a good while.
Tell me - how the hell do I work in the hooks? Some pook suggested making the bloke a mass murderer or something but that doesn’t gel, does it?

]]> By: <![CDATA[Amrita]]> http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-414 Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:21:29 +0000 http://desigirl.net.in/blog/2006/09/14/my-as-yet-untitled-novel/#comment-414 Hey Dg - that's some good groundwork you have going there. Great character work. One suggestion, if you're planning to switch perspective like that between two characters then you should go for the omniscient narrator and write in the third person. It'll read more smoothly. One way of getting through block by the way, is to keep plugging even when you hate it all. And on the days when nothing occurs, go back, redraft and rewrite. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite! Good luck! Hey Dg - that’s some good groundwork you have going there. Great character work. One suggestion, if you’re planning to switch perspective like that between two characters then you should go for the omniscient narrator and write in the third person. It’ll read more smoothly.

One way of getting through block by the way, is to keep plugging even when you hate it all. And on the days when nothing occurs, go back, redraft and rewrite.

Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite!

Good luck!

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