Rahul Deokar
Tip1: Read. Read not only from your own genre but from all other interesting genres.
My personal reading has ranged from suspense/mystery thrillers to epic tales and philosophies from Ayn Rand, Kahlil Gibran, Fedor Dostoevsky and Albert Camus to spirituality from the East and West. I was fortunate to read and learn from some of my favorite authors: Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts), Sacred Games (Vikram Chandra), and Game of Thrones series (George R. R. Martin). Currently, I am reading this amazing book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
Tip 2: Stay fastidious about the time and space in which you write. Don’t let anyone/anything encroach.
My mornings are very precious to me. I like to start my day early, particularly for the creative aspects of the story where new plot twists and character conflicts are being introduced. My mind is most fresh and fertile in those pre-dawn hours when everything and everyone around you is quiet; only your ideas are clamoring to get distilled and transcribed.
Tip 3: Get used to the feeling of inadequacy when you read your own work. Learn when to stop fixing.
Do you get that nauseating feeling of inadequacy when you read your own work? Well, get used to it. This dismay will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful your book becomes. It is essential to the art of writing and should be valued. However, many a times, I struggle to know where to draw the line and when to stop making edits and adjustments. Every re-read of a chapter, a scene, a sentence, points out something to fix, and improve, and enliven. I have to force myself to stop making the edits once it gets to a certain state, pull myself away, and work on something else.
My personal reading has ranged from suspense/mystery thrillers to epic tales and philosophies from Ayn Rand, Kahlil Gibran, Fedor Dostoevsky and Albert Camus to spirituality from the East and West. I was fortunate to read and learn from some of my favorite authors: Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts), Sacred Games (Vikram Chandra), and Game of Thrones series (George R. R. Martin). Currently, I am reading this amazing book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
Tip 2: Stay fastidious about the time and space in which you write. Don’t let anyone/anything encroach.
My mornings are very precious to me. I like to start my day early, particularly for the creative aspects of the story where new plot twists and character conflicts are being introduced. My mind is most fresh and fertile in those pre-dawn hours when everything and everyone around you is quiet; only your ideas are clamoring to get distilled and transcribed.
Tip 3: Get used to the feeling of inadequacy when you read your own work. Learn when to stop fixing.
Do you get that nauseating feeling of inadequacy when you read your own work? Well, get used to it. This dismay will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful your book becomes. It is essential to the art of writing and should be valued. However, many a times, I struggle to know where to draw the line and when to stop making edits and adjustments. Every re-read of a chapter, a scene, a sentence, points out something to fix, and improve, and enliven. I have to force myself to stop making the edits once it gets to a certain state, pull myself away, and work on something else.
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