Adventures of a Writer

Reviews are a lifeline for authors. It's validation for the hours, days, weeks and months an author spends writing a book. They also help an author to figure what readers like or don't like about the book. Sure, there will always be those who just hate your book and won't tell you what about it they hated so much! Believe me, there can be nothing more soul-crushing than that. But you learn to ignore them as far as possible. And then there are those reviewers who tell you why they enjoyed your book! That's a review to die for! Recently, I got one such review. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Sue, for your 4 Pink Hearts for Bombay Heights ! It's just what I needed to give my sagging motivation a mighty boost! Review:  It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what I found so charming about Adite Banerjie’s Mumbai-based romance Bombay Heights . The plot seems entirely predictable; Sanjana, the heroine is conventionally independent and strong-minded, yet me...

By Jaideep Sen Vijay Khanna – Zanjeer Vijay Verma – Deewar Vijay Kumar – Trishul and Shakti   The name has been permanently embedded in the mind of the Indian cinegoer by writer Salim Khan Saab. The character of Vijay, symbolising victory, came into being in Zanjeer. Salim Khan Saab created Vijay before his historic collaboration with Javed Akhtar Saab. And, what a victory march it was for the terrific trio of Salim Saab-Javed Saab and Mr. Amitabh Bachchan who played the character to such perfection from Zanjeer to Shakti. The Terrific Trio: Salim Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Javed Akhtar The name was coined for a reason: the socio-political climate in the country was quite volatile at the time. The common man was looking for an uprising in the form of a fearless rebel who could take on injustice head on and break its jaw with the fist of revolt. By giving centrestage to the common man in the triumph of good over evil, there could have been no better name ...

A couple of years ago filmmaker Runjiv Kapur told me about a heartbreaking incident in north India. A young girl had been shot and brought into a reputed hospital 'brain dead'. The girl's parents, as can be imagined, were overwhelmed and devastated. The hospital authorities were aware of the sensitive situation and yet they could not let go of the opportunity to help people who were desperately in need of organ transplants. They approached the grief-stricken parents and requested them to consider donating her organs. That one decision could help give a new lease of life to seven people. The window of opportunity was short -- as the transplants needed to happen within a few hours of brain death. The parents found it in their hearts to overcome their personal loss and willingly agreed to donate their child's organs. The processes were put in place. The hospital went ahead with the procedures but at the eleventh hour some community leaders came to know of this and r...

Welcome to Week D of the A to Z Writing Series. My post for the week is 'Deus Ex Machina'.  Did you say, what the heck is that? So, here's a little definition. Deus ex Machina is a Latin term which actually means 'God from the Machine' . The term originated in Roman and Greek Drama where at a certain point in the climax of the story God would drop down from the sky (via a crane, and hence the reference to machine) to provide a resolution to the story.  In modern story telling using the Deus Ex Machina - or divine intervention - is considered to be poor writing. While it may be argued that in life, coincidences and random events do happen, when you're telling a story, use of such a device to resolve the protagonist's dilemma or crisis can often leave your reader dissatisfied. Whether your story is a romance or a thriller, your protagonist is the one who drives the story with his/her choices. To keep the reader engaged and turning the pages, the ...