A snowy landscape strewn with barren, dying trees. A world so white that the horizon blends perfectly with the ground, not leaving any scope to demarcate between sky and snow. You might be imaginative enough to be envious of me sitting on snow and writing this article. Alas, this sums up a description of Siberia from ‘Kane and Abel’ by
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If you, like me, are astounded that anyone actually needs to be told reasons for reading humour, then this piece is not for you. Or, maybe it is – for after all, more often than not, one is only preaching to the choir and it would ill-suit me to dispense with my only possible audience. But there I go too
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From the time you had dreamt of writing a book, to finally writing it and getting it published, you have treated your book only with love. And of course, you’ve wanted that everyone does so. But, when you are sending your baby out in the world, for readers to devour and enjoy it, be prepared that it will also be
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If you’ve ever written a book or if you’re planning to write one soon, then I’m sure you understand the pains that come with it. You can’t escape those long, torturous hours wrestling with yourself in your head about what your characters’ arcs will be. And once you do, you can’t help falling in love with these characters and spend
Read moreFantasy is not a creation of the modern world. In fact the roots of fantasy go back thousands of years to an age of myths and legends, when wandering storytellers sat by a fire and recounted fantastic tales of wondrous worlds, populated by gods, heroes and monsters. Starting from the ancient epic of Gilgamesh and The Tales of King Arthur
Read moreI was seven or eight when I first read an abridged version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s masterpiece, Treasure Island. It was such a refreshing change from the squeaky-clean fare I that had been reading till then – I distinctly remember Enid Blyton’s Come to the Circus – that I positively fell in love with the book. More than anything else,
Read moreHow can someone be funny and serious at the same time? It is like asking me to see a respected guru in a capering clown. But, then, that is exactly what a satirist aspires to be and do. Satire seeks to make you laugh and make you think. The point of all satire is to show up the foibles of
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Continuing from my previous post on author-reviewer relationship, here is a post on how to be a good book reviewer. Everyone who reads cannot be a good reviewer, let’s be very upfront about this. You need a keen eye for detail, to spot the soul of the story and then write a review. While the present trend is to get
Read moreWhen The Heavens Smiled is a heart-stopping mystical tale of love by Ritesh Arora which talks about love surpassing all odds and winning. As a reader I read novels as they are, sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes confusing. But as a reviewer I can only say to the publishers that the stories being published in recent times are not maintaining the basic requirement of sharp
Read moreRomance stories are always all time hits with Indian people. From the days of the Vedas – we can find classic characters who have conquered the minds of people with their dramatic tales of love. And even in those early days storytellers had shown exceptional maturity. The stories often ended in tragedy or on a sad note. There were enough
Read moreIs that a flying saucer I see? Yes, saucer flies and there is nothing extraordinary about it. Does the flying saucer fit into your story? That’s a question that you ought to ask yourself before introducing the green aliens and their saucers in your story. I agree that readers like surprises. However, that doesn’t mean that they want flying saucers and meteors
Read moreHow much did you know about Voldemort and Snape until you reached that point in the story where you HAD to know about them? You didn’t have to learn about Tom‘s thieving habits and his sly nature from the day one. It was revealed eventually… when it was required in the story. If Rowling hadn’t written about Umbridge recently, or
Read moreTo be a good author, one needs to read a lot. Reading is not only a great teacher of nuances of writing, character building, plot creation, etc but it also encourages you to know more about the author, their styles, their muses and their habits. It is always a good idea to pick up personality traits from the best in
Read moreBorn in Bengaluru, India and a Master of Software Engineering from Brandeis University, Waltham, USA, Nagendra Murti is a technologist and a customer advocate by profession. He is also an avid bird-watcher, photographer and wildlife enthusiast. His constant gripe is the disappearing lakes of Bengaluru due to chaotic urbanization and is looking for avenues to help with that cause. When time
Read moreWith two novels in her kitty, Ruchi Vasudeva has arrived and some. While her first novel Bollywood Fiance For A Day has charming Zaheer swooning the females off their feet, her second novel You Can’t Fight Royal Attraction has gorgeous Saira making every girl want to be her. In short, Ruchi Vasudeva creates some memorable characters. Ruchi Vasudeva is a doctor by
Read moreA north american with memories of India, returns back after decades to write a fiction based in the country of her childhood memories. Part memoir – part fiction the Jana Bibi Adventure series is back this winter with its second instalment. We get inKonversation with the creator of the vivacious fortune teller Jana Bibi and her intriguing parrot – Betsy
Read moreA chance for short fiction writers amongst our members to get published in a paperback releasing by mid 2014. The winners will also have the rare distinction of being published in the book as the Winning entries from The Tales Pensieve.
Read moreThe ritual is simple. Write a story/ tale around the given collection of prompts adhering to those rules. Upload the story using the form below. Go have coffee, read a book, twiddle your thumbs, celebrate raksha bandhan or go on vacation till you get a winner announcement eMail from us.
Read moreStart of this week we get inKonversation with a writer from the heart of India. Aarzoo Sharma, lives in a small village Chahlan in distt. Ludhiana, Punjab and writes about life in english novels and in punjabi poems. Read the reclusive young author talk about how writing as the safest mode of unleashing his wrath for certain things in life and
Read moreThe first interview of 2013 coincidently happens to be the wordsmith who penned one of the best books I read in 2012 – Kunal Mukherjee, debuting author of My Magical Palace and our very own WordMaverick of December 2012. Consultant, traveler, writer and much more, he dons many caps (the one in the picture not counting ;)). A real setting,
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