Dear Rodinhooders,
After a wonderful and successful settled career, this rodinhood platform woke the devil in me and made me leave my job. A well settled career seemed to be blurred as I moved more and more towards this community of Rodinhooders.
Does that scare you?
It scared me in the beginning while entering different forms of businesses and venturing out for different areas of interest. But after a year of turmoil, day by day if I look back there has been a complete transformation in the way I talk, dress up, address to things in life and take risks. It has woken up several creative aspects of my personality. A much more confident and shaped personality.
From being an avid music listener, an acknowledge’r of photography, a reader, a die hard traveler and now a wanna be writer. Been through a lots of up’s and down’s in life and have fallen in love more than once, which I believe is natural to people. 🙂 ha ha
I want to script down a romantic thriller, can some panelist here advice me the things I need to take care of while writing a good romantic book, how do I get it edited, how to hire a proof reader for it etc etc.. and later on how do I find some publisher who can help me to publish this article which I believe will be a best seller in coming days.
Once again I’d like to thank this community for waking up that devil in me. Thank you Rodinhooder’s proud to be one of ’em.
asha chaudhry
hey pawan,
first piece of advice (romantic fiction/non fiction or anything else…) – you need to sound believable!
dude – you’ve been a member for less than 50 days, and trhs has managed to make you leave your job??!!!!
yeah that scares me alright :)))
pls check this post out – perhaps shobhit can guide you – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/how-do-i-get-cheese-from-my-chalk
we’ve got lots of published authors here – so i’m sure you’ll get some great advice.
take care and be ready for the grind. getting started, maintaining a daily writing discipline, getting someone to accept your manuscript… all take a lot of hardwork. so don’t lose heart and follow your dream…
all the best!
Dr Saurabh Bhatia
Pawan
As Asha says, sound believable. Your transformation may be a reality (even if improbable), but fiction has to be believable.
Next: Genre- Romantic Thriller? Seriously? You’d like to say what’s itching to come out of you and let the publishers decide the genre or you want to write according to Genres? Genre based writing is an industry where a thousand writers make their living hiding behind one famous name and churning 20k words a day.
How to write: I have written enough to tell you that a software which is somewhat more than MS Word helps. I used to use yWriter which is a FAB software if you use windows. I used it till i used a PC. Now i write books on iPad so I have shifted away from it and use Evernote, which is good on all platforms. Moreover Simon Haynes also has software which will allow you to track publishing, submissions etc. Try it.
Language: While your command over english is not important, (and editors will smoothen out your ‘advice’ to ‘advise’), I find that Microsoft’s guide to technical manual writing is particularly useful in learning economy of words without compromising expression. I also would recommend a thin book like ‘Oxford Guide to Plain english’.
Editing & Proof Reading: I can put you in touch with some professionals when you are ready. Remember they charge you by the word and cost can go easily like 75 paise per word or lesser.
Cover Designing can be anything from 2000 to 15,000 rupees. I do my own myself coz i can use pics that i shoot myself.
Publishing: Since you are asking this on a forum, I will assume (at the risk of being wrong) that you will not be able to publish the book using your influence nor will publishers bend over backwards to encash your page-3 persona. In this case, all you have got left is Merit, which will take you max to the reception of a publishing house. Beyond that, you either be damn good or be ready to invest some bucks to bear the risk of publishing you. Hatchet.com (Gurgaon) is particularly useful for new writers and my friend Melvin Durai, author of ‘Bala takes the plunge‘ was launched by them.
eBook and POD: if you wish to ride the wave of ePublishing and releasing your book as eBook, then Amazon is a fantastic platform. Your books can be out for free and even if you don’t have ISBN, amazon gives you an Amazon BN. Your book will be delivered to Kindle also thru Amazon distribution. However, if you wish to indulge in the vanity of a book which can be seen lying around on who’s who desks, then go for Print-on-Demand. Pothi.com (BANGLORE) and Dogears.com (GOA) are Indian versions of American Lulu.com or CreateSpace.com
More after reading your first chapter 🙂
Pawan Naulakha
Thanks a ton for the advice or rather ‘advises’ on the topic.
You have really enlightened me.
I just went through the Link which Asha had shared and I’ve god some really good perception about the novel, what all it takes to script down an thriller.
The first chapter is on the verge of completion will hit back to you soon.
Pawan Naulakha
Hi Asha,
Though I joined this community a little while back but I was following most of the post’s and alok’s articles in the magazine Entrepreneur. That kept moving the fires in me. Am happy to be an entrepreneur now.
It’s really taking a toll to get the book scripted daily but am working on that since day 1. hope to get it done soon.
Abey John
Pawan my two paise: 🙂
Paisa 1: Get a copy of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. It was first published in the 1920s and still relevant. My favorite rule – Omit needless words. That really kicks the crap out of me every time I re-read my own writing.
Paisa 2: Get Stephen Kings’s On Writing. Will take you the nuts and bolts of writing well.
All the best. Look forward to seeing your book in print! 🙂
Pawan Naulakha
Hey thanks john,
Your 2 paise advice is worth more than 2 trillion to me.
Looking fwd to get hands on them as I plunge into my second chapter.