The 'Write' stuff

Is it just me or doesn't suddenly the literary side of life in India seem to be booming?

I mean, I write this in the backdrop of news that Amish Tripathi, the man behind the Shiva trilogy, just got Rs 5 Cr as advance for his next series – mind you, the man hasn't an inkling of what his next book would be - that’s like my boss paying me my next three years’ salary this month itself based on my previous performance.

.. ok, wait….. bad example… I probably may have to pay him back…

Anyways, ….

Few more examples

–  the Bangalore Literary Festival, the first Lif Fest in namma Bengaluru,  was a resounding success. 

–  the loveless IT engineer today pens his luckless endeavors at love and strikes gold – from ‘I too had a love story’, don’t be surprised if one of us comes with a ‘I too have a book’

–  many people who can’t even write decent fb status messages now have a blog, a point of view and in most lethal cases, both ( a la moi). 

Also, yes the mushrooming of courses that claim to ‘bring out the writer in you’.  Last week there was some short story workshop in the city, which true to its name was also short – 4hours in total – but long on the moolah - at Rs 2000/-. 

So in the midst of myriad activities in the booming writing space, this blog attempts to give you an update on two writing related programs that I'd personally vouch for:

The Writer’s Mentor

Meetup.com was one of the coolest sites that colored my earlier weekends – it was a great place to find dates, meet new friends and connect with like groups.  And one of the coolest discoveries on the meet up site under the ‘writing’ section was ‘The Write Club.’   In their own words, they’re  – “a small bunch of people will get together on weekends and write things together”. Today after seventy-two such sessions, the ‘small bunch’ has successfully grown to six hundred members, and gets about twenty-five people every week. 

The Write Club is hosted by two time author, Sharath Komarraju, and now with the success of Write Club, Sharath has started The Writer’s Mentor, a free writer’s mentorship program to help first time writers to get published. (yes, you did read the ‘free’ part right )

So who is Sharath again?  OK, this is the part where I hide under a rock or something – Sharath’s been in the industry for 5 years, is twice published, has another 3 books coming out in the next year and his 6^th book is currently under evaluation now (phew!). 

What it is, this WM? It’s a free mentorship service to help unpublished writers get published.  Period.

What’s the methodology?  Most of it is imbibed from the Write Club. The Write Club uses a technique of writing on a given topic and feedback is given immediately by the  eclectic group of writers, thereby getting feedback from writers of different styles. The focus is on the Craft, on Writing, Publishing, Editing, Ins and Outs of the Industry etc.  You can hear more about it from the man himself in my interview with him above. 

What’s the cost?  The four words that can turn on any Indian – “ Its free baby, free.”

Seriously, what’s the catch?  Well, Sharath’s idea is to meet writers individually, look into her writing, understand where she is on the development phase,  figure out how much mentorship she requires, provide mentorship and work with her so that she gets published.  Yes, good people like him still exist on earth! 

Why do I vouch for this?  The man‘s published, knows the industry, has got the knowhow,  the credibility and the drive.  And yes, the network.

How do I reach out to Sharath? At his gmail id (link here).  And you can 'like' him here.


The Bangalore Writer’s Workshop (BWW)

I was part of this workshop and they’re focused to the craft of the writing – I’ve seen people cry due to their very rigorous feedback.  At my time, they were very focused on the writing of books and not really on blogs- this could have changed now cos I know that they change their syllabi actively in accordance to feedback.

What it is, this BWW?  As the name says.  Is a once a week course spread over 8 weeks. Ya, they also run a short story workshop.

What’s the methodology?  Each batch has about 8 -10 writers and they meet every week.  You send your work to everyone in advance so at the meeting, you get feedback from everyone including the facilitators – it’s a very ‘critique and discuss’ sort of methodology that they follow .  Once the course is done, the alumni meets up once every month continuing with the  ‘critiquing’ and ‘discussing’ of your (new) work.  In the process, a community of active writers, or BWW alumni, forms.  Once a while, they bring in published authors to whom you can ask questions.  Yas, they also run a book club.

What’s the cost?  8.5k for the writers workshop and 6.5k for the short story workshop.  The fees increase, so you can blame the government for the inflation.

Why do I vouch for this?  Cos they kill themselves to make you learn. Check out my feedback for their course (here).

How do I reach out to BWW? Apply at their website (link here)

Readers can comment below of other writing related courses/programs/websites that they found interesting.

Remember, life is short – either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

In either case, hope this post helps.

Banquet on the Dead Book Review

Quite a character, ain't he..?

Bottom Line

One of the better books of the season, Sharath’s book is an engaging murder mystery that proves to be a page turner.  However weak characterization and loose ends in the story prevent it from becoming a true clutter-breaker that it could have become.

Author

second time author, Sharath Komarraju

Details

Rs 250 || 265 pages || Westland Publishers

Writers, authors and scriptwriters should sooo see, study and analyze the Dark Knight Trilogy to learn the art of creating something that is so bloody damn freaking awesome.  

Like millions, I too am a crazy raving fan of Christopher Nolan’s Bat and one common observation about the trilogy is that many people liked the second Dark Knight movie the most (which introduced us to that awesome piece of sheer magic, also known as the Joker)   Popular media has also validated that by rating this movie higher that the other two.

Have you ever wondered why?

Well, using methodology from a writers’ workshop that I’m part of, here’s why.

The beauty of ‘The Dark Knight’ is due to the rich characterization of the main characters, esp that of the Joker. Period.

If you remember the movie (how can you not, eh? J) the story wasn't really that great; but the characterization of the Joker was so powerful and you could almost smell him - he just got inside our heads  and just creeped us out as the mass murdering, sinister and unpredictable madman.  And it was the fitting nemesis to the ideals that Batman symbolized. The clash of these larger-than-life characters was what the movie was all about, with the character of the Joker getting etched into our collective conscience with his lines, quirks and mannerisms, which further added layers and layers to his tremendous character.

The other two movies in the trilogy however focused more on the story telling rather than the characterization – understandably so, as the story had to be told- in the first, it was the story of how the Bat began and the third was focused on how the legend ends.  But that story telling was at the expense of characterization – proof being that the characters of villains of the first and third movies pale in comparison to that of the Joker.

So in conclusion, people who want to build a story should focus on two things – the actual storytelling and the characterization; the richer the latter, the more memorable the overall story is and that’s what can take a not-so-great story into the realm of the unforgettable.

Now in this light, here’s my review to second time author, Sharath Komarraju’s ‘Banquet on the Dead’:

Sharath’s book is an engaging murder mystery set inside an ancestral house in Hanamkonda, a small town somewhere near Hyderabad.  The book traces how the seemingly complicated case is eventually solved by the cop-and-reformed-criminal-duo of Inspector Nagarajan and Hamid Pasha.  Kauveramma, a wealthy matriarch with a supposedly profound love for life, was found dead in the neglected family well.  The closed case was reopened due glaring inconsistencies - the old matriarch was terrified of water, there was no water in her lungs and the other relatives (also residents) of the sprawling house stood to profit hugely from her death - the case is thus reopened.

The story telling:

A perfect murder mystery is one where there is a strong plot, strong characters, multiple suspects and most importantly, an unpredictable and satisfying end.  

Sharath’s book has most of these elements. The book starts off directly with the murder, immediately brings in the two main protagonists and then each subsequent chapter introduces us to a new suspect and his version of what had happened on the day of the murder. What adds to the thrill is that everyone has a strong motive to kill the old lady. In the end, the duo weaves everybody’s stories together, linearly peels off inaccuracies to unearth accurate clues, weeds out the relevant nuggets of information from the irrelevant, dishes out and dismisses various theories and through sound reasoning and rational deduction, connects the dots to finally reveal the killer.

The strongest part about the book is Sharath’s writing – he’s a keen observer of life and his ability to recreate scenarios in simple language is what makes the book work. There aren’t too many jargons being used and the story telling is engaging – there were times when I wanted to know what happened next and kept me hooked – Sharath’s very strong talent of articulation, sometimes captivates the reader with its sheer simplicity.

I’d say the end is good (not great though, but good yes).  It answers the big questions, even though there were a few loose ends; but nevertheless the end does have a juicy element of surprise.

What could have been improved:

*Definitely the characterization -  Hamid Pasha’s various mannerisms added dimensions to his personality but there wasn’t any depth in Nagarajan’s character.  Considering each chapter of the book was basically the introduction of a new suspect, a huge opportunity for characterization was missed. This is what made this book merely just another good-read, when powerful characterization could have catapulted this book to a whole new level. Considering that Sharath ended the story with a promise of more stories with the Nagarajan+Hamid duo,   I feel Sharath missed an opportunity here to endear these characters to the readers.

*Too many characters – Due to weak characterization, many of the characters - particularly the female characters - appeared similar and thus were confusing to tell apart.

*Loose ends - In the end, you know why the killer killed her but the motive was not specifically mentioned there.  Of course, the motive was explored earlier, a few chapters back, however I would have wished that in the end, it was repeated again right after the killer was identified so that I know conclusively that “The motive behind the killing was…”.  Again, there is a glaring loose end here which reveals itself only after you get over the genuine surprise of the end.  Also, I felt that Sharath sometimes took liberties with the reasoning and few instances of reasoning were a tad too simplistic. But like I said earlier, the writing and the end still makes it work.

*Misdirection - Misdirection in murder novels keeps the readers clued in to the guessing game.  Sharath’s story was pretty much unidirectional and I felt that ample opportunities to misdirect were unexploited.  I never really got into that mode of wondering who the killer really is; I just let the story uncover itself.

 What next:

*Sequels –  Sharath ended the book with an obvious indication that Nagarajan and Hamid will return with the next case.  With more characterization, I’m sure readers would welcome it.

*Bollywood – Considering Talaash has suddenly made murder mysteries cool again, I wouldn’t be too surprised if this story finds its way to the big screen.  I’d suggest Sharath to approach the Malayalam movie industry, which is currently showing sudden openness to fresh new ideas.  And the milieu of this story fits it too.

*Marketing – I’m not sure if Sharath has focused too much on the marketing side of this book. Like I mentioned earlier, this is definitely one of the better books that’s come into the market. But awareness levels for this book are very low.  Even Sharath’s website seems to mention only his first book. The book doesn't seem to have a great social media presence either.  Crosswords-Indiranagar didn't know of the book but once they checked, they told me it was doing decently well in sales. Also, as seen below in the pic taken at the above bookstore, there were just two copies of the book tucked away on the bottom row in a lonely corner of the store. Think marketing for this book has to be enhanced.

*Also, I felt the title of the book was a little too heavy for its own good.  Sure, after reading the book, one may be able to find meaning in the title and the cover picture - but to a first timer, I think the title and the somber cover might just put her off.

So in conclusion, I guess Sharath should study Heath Ledger’s Joker to take notes on characterization but like Nolan, he can rest a proud man for bringing about a genuine good read, in the face of the increasing crap that is coming our way in the guise of Indian fiction.

Good job, Sharath!

(You can buy the book here.)