Interview with Anand Neelakantan | Author

Anand NeelakantanHow does a busy corporate executive write a book and break into the elusive league of best-sellers?

Booksoarus caught up with acclaimed author Anand Neelakantan whose book Asura: The Tale of the Vanquished was named the Number 1 best-seller by Crossword and CNN-IBN. He was also chosen as one of the six most remarkable writers of 2012 by DNA.

As his next book Ajaya, the story of Mahabharta recounted from the point of view of Duryodhana, is gaining momentum and praise alike, Anand speaks to us about the power of perspective, his passion for mythology and his journey as a writer.

Read more

Infusing newspaper style drama into your writing

Drama is derived from the Greek word drao and it means action. In order to sustain readers’ interest and to keep them constantly engaged, a writer has to keep the drama going. Fiction imitates life and society. When it comes to taking lessons on drama, our beloved media zooms into focus. Making news out a mundane activity like Sanjay Dutt weaving baskets in Yerwada jail is drama! While, we do not endorse the overt dramatization of trivialities, we look for lessons that might help.

Read more

How to show the passage of time while writing novels

In two of our earlier posts we briefly spoke about the element of time in writing. While working on the plot of a story, for instance, it is important to consider when things are happening.
While writing about the setting of a novel too, we’d mentioned how it is important to demonstrate to readers when the book is set.
In this post we bring to you how you can demonstrate the passage of time effectively.

Read more

Dialogue writing tips for your novel

You might move your readers with your lyrical prose and bring to life fictional cities, extra-terrestrial life, new worlds and whole landscapes, all through deft narrative description but at some point your characters have to converse. Else, admit it, it is going to be plain boring for them and most importantly for your readers. Dialogue writing is an aspect of the craft that new writers sometimes get completely wrong and bad dialogue can kill the interest in the story.

Read more

Writing styles: Are you different from the other authors?

Writing stylesIf you are a relatively new writer in English (or any other language for that matter) you might have been asked, “So, have you found your writing style?
Have you wondered what writing styles really mean? Is style about being an expert words-smith? Is style the garb or is style the garnish? Is style the primary ingredient in the narrative dish or is style the plating?
There are no sacrosanct answers, just some exploratory ideas about what constitutes writing style.

Read more