How to write?

If you like playing God and sadly you are not Amitabh Bachchan of God Tussi Great Ho or Morgan Freeman of Bruce Almighty then becoming an author is perfect for you. An author creates characters, plans their  lives, decides the number of breaths they take, dictates each and every of their teeniest action; an author can carry the characters to spinning heights or hurl them to the ground and show no mercy. Strong words, powerful imagery but with every power comes responsibility – towards the plot, character growth and conflict resolutions. Drop any one of these and what you get is a fumbling incomplete story. Mesh them together and you just about wrote your first bestseller. Here  I’d like to reiterate what I wrote in my earlier post ‘Plotting a story’, ‘telling a story is easy, writing it to make publication worthy is TOUGH! But tough in no way implies IMPOSSIBLE’

Not conceiving a story, not editing a manuscript, not marketing my books - for me writing a book I consider the best part of my job. The most thrilling part, the soul satisfying essence of this profession! And this is what I’m most excited about sharing with you all. So without any delay let’s dive straight into it. Let’s write a book! 
 
Hmm….
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Okay here it comes!

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Now it’s definitely coming.
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Okay here’s the first word
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WTF?
LOL!

I’m simply laughing because you dared to think writing a story was easy. Not easy! Not impossible. It simply requires a lot, and a lot and some more of one of those P’s I mentioned in my earlier articles (you would know if you read my earlier posts). :) This P stands for practice. 
 
If you want to dive straight in writing a 300 page book then don’t let me stop you. However, writing a 300 page novel would be easier if you practiced writing 30 ten page short stories before. The idea being practice writing first. Write a few scenes. Write a plot. Write some long character descriptions. But write!
 
There is no magic book that will tell it all but there are some tips that I can share with you that might help you when writing.
 
Before writing the book I usually think through 90% of the story especially the climax. With the climax in place, I start back tracking the story to make sure the obvious loopholes are covered, questions answered. In a week or two of thinking, debating and a lot of mental back and forth over characters, their dependency on each other, and scene development I have a rough plot of a story.  Somewhere there is where I find my starting point. Like for example - for Right Fit Wrong Shoe I had two decided plot premises in place before I began to write, Nandini and Sneha’s friendship and Aditya Sarin’s character (a clarification -The reason I mostly use my books as examples is because for those I need no permissions nor am I infringing on anyone’s copyright issues.) Below listed are certain things every story deals with:
 
Plot: is a series of events within a story. One book can have several plots. However even two separate plots in a book have to have a common point otherwise they would leave the reader confused. Plot pace is extremely important to every story. Nothing stifles a story more than a plot that goes nowhere. So always pay attention to the plots and their pace.
 
Conflict: Every story needs a conflict. In fiction if it’s all good it’s boring. Conflicts in a story creates friction, heightens tension and evokes reactions amongst the protagonists and readers. For example in Right Fit Wrong Shoe Aditya’s anger for Nandini was the main conflict. It brought out different emotions in Aditya, Nandini and Sneha. 
 
Character growth: is very important to every character. Just like time changes with every second your characters too cannot remain constant. As the plot progresses your characters have to show a journey. For example in my second book Xcess Baggage, in the beginning Meghna’s character was meek and usually submissive.  However when her life was in peril she fought to survive even if it meant she had to challenge someone she was so strongly attracted to. However in the end Meghna did eventually resign herself to her fate thereby she went back to her meek, submissive self. So you see the full circle her character does in the book – submissive then defiant then rebellious and then back to submissive.  Byron’s character too started in the book as someone wanting to kill Meghna however in the end he wants her to live. A definite character growth! 
 
In my upcoming book Wrong Means Right End you will find all the elements I just mentioned above. As an exercise, pick up any of your favorite book dissect it like something in a Petri dish and pay special attention to plots, conflicts and character growth. 
 
Now lets talk about the WOW factor (self coined term) very crucial to any writing.
 
Words – Your words will decide the magnitude of impact your story is going to have on its readers. Big words do not necessarily show your prowess as a writer. You may win a few scrabble games with that but not necessarily write best sellers. Make your words crisp, simple and riveting. Avoid passive voice and go for active. Only use passive voice when required. Short sentences read tight and engage the reader better. Also try and avoid repetition of words. The words I tend to overuse are simply and almost. That’s the first thing I usually correct in my self edits. :)
 
Organize your story to make sure there is an even flow of plots and subplots. Organize your characters, timelines and locations in a concise manner with no loopholes or incomplete and awkward spaces in your story.

Word count- Any manuscript of 50,000 or more words is considered a fiction novel. There are usually 300 -400 words on each page. In MS word click on Tools and then click on word count which will give you the numbers of words in your manuscript. Be prepared that when you write your first draft it might go up to 80,000 words. Nothing to worry about! Believe me you are going to chop of a large chunk of your manuscript in your first self-edit itself. 
 
Few other tips: 
Romances are usually written in third voice.  
Shorter chapters make for better read as well as heighten tension in a story.
Some tips for your manuscript: Double-spacing and 1-inch margins all around. Usually editors prefer a Courier 12 sized font.

There are several books in the market on how to write fiction. You could try reading some of them. I haven’t used any of these so I can’t really recommend one specific book. However you should definitely read books in the genre you want to write to get some tips and learn some vital things. But please never plagiarize!
 
So all the best in your writings. Hope you find this post helpful. Do read this post several times and try to absorb its essence. Take notes and feel free to send me all your queries related to how to write. Incase I missed something crucial your questions might help me cover that. Please do not forget to comment.

On a side note, I’m quite excited to share with you all that Wrong Means Right End, the sequel to my debut best seller is available for pre-order. Visit the following links to order your copy of the first limited edition. You don’t have to but if you do, thank you in advance. Please do spread the word and once again best of luck to you. Like I said, writing a book is not easy and not impossible so write away! :)

 http://www.infibeam.com/Books/search?q=wrong%20means%20right%20end
http://www.flipkart.com/wrong-means-right-end-8129120461/p/itmdcnmyfayuwdmf?pid=9788129120465&ref=490486ea-480a-45fb-8bf9-d4b7a0385377