Love Books? Read Some Excellent Writing Advice And Also Win Prizes!

 

Debbie Herbert: My biggest challenge in writing is plotting. I like to start with a unique premise and then spin a world from there. To do this, I often look at local legends. In my last book, Siren’s Call, I struck gold in discovering a mermaid legend from Native American mythology. I found the Choctaw Nation culture fascinating and learned so much about them and their history.

Sreemoyee Kundu: The biggest challenge I have is also my strength – being true to the characters and allowing them to breathe and live out their own destinies. If there is something I have learnt, it is this that books have their own destinies and writers are just a medium for a story waiting to be told.

What I learnt…what I keep learning from every story I write is that the world can’t do without conflict. Write an un-conflicted character and bleah, no one is interested. Write one with a mountain of issues…and suddenly everyone identifies with him/her. Go figure.

Aditi Mathur – The most challenging part for me when I am writing is to keep a check on the word count. I tend to go with the flow and end up writing a little too much. For my book Soldier & Spice: An Army Wife’s Life, the first draft was of *gasp* over 87000 words. I promptly edited it myself, and knowing that the genre did not ask for such a huge content, I got it down to somewhere around 62K.

But editing your own work is a nightmare, and feels downright cruel. So keeping a piece within the required world count is my biggest challenge.

From writing my first book I learned that you can build as many plot frameworks as you want, and you can finalize whatever algorithms/twist/turn you can – but in the end, the story tells itself. I’ve learned that the story  comes to life on it’s own, author is a medium. So many times I’ve started a piece, knowing where I want it to go – but by the end, I surprise myself by the totally unplanned turns it takes. I learned to listen to the story, and I try not to dictate it. Makes sense?

Bhaavna Arora: The most challenging part about writing is only writing and you can only overcome it by writing. I’ve learnt a lot through my own writings. The research that I’ve done for both my books was intense and very informative. I’ve  thoroughly enjoyed the journey of writing both my books.