Tips on Writing a Great Villain by Shilpa Suraj

How the bad guy (almost) won!

For someone who normally wrote straight up romances, trying my hand at a romantic thriller was to put it mildly, challenging. I got off to a flying start, albeit a murderous, bloody one. Aria and Karan, my protagonists, met under less than pleasant circumstances and sparks flew, along with quite a bit of blood and gore. And then we settled into our story, the three of us….them with the crime and romance to wade through, me with the writing of it.

For someone who has led a very sedate, straight and narrow life, trying to plot an intricate and tricky fraud leading to multiple murder story was...words fail me…and when words fail an author, it’s kind of a problem. Just a teensy one. Teensy-weensy, pain in the you-know-what one.

So I got Aria and Karan to cool their heels a bit while I spent time racking my brains, chewing other people’s brains and generally trying to figure out how a criminal brain would work. Life went on in both the fictional and real world until we stumbled, charged and sometimes desperately ran towards our finale. Days away from typing The End, I realized my villain was, well for want of a better word, stupid. So back to the drawing board I went, Karan and Aria’s eyes boring accusing holes into my back, they’d been interrupted mid steamy scene by my epiphany and were not amused.

This time, my re-worked, spruced up villain came back to do a much more credible job of being a murderous sleaze and we picked up where we left off – mid-steam – and ran with it towards the climax, pun intended.

All jokes aside, while being one of the more challenging things I’ve attempted, this book has also been a lot of fun to write. Stepping out of my comfortable box and trying my hand at something new has taught me a lot. Key learnings being:

- Research is key to everything you do.

- Speaking to people in the relevant field will net you a goldmine of information that all the surfing on the internet can’t.

- Your villain needs to be smart or the protagonists aren’t going to have any fun outwitting him.

- I’m really not cut out for a life of crime. I am in one word – a stupid criminal….ahh well, three words! J

About Shilpa Suraj:

Shilpa was a year and a half when she was first introduced to the world of books. Her mother would park her with a picture book on the floor of the kitchen while she finished her cooking for the day. While it’s no longer the kitchen floor, you can still find her tucked away in a cosy nook somewhere with her nose buried in a book. While books in all genres interest her, it was romance that captured her heart. While racing through every romantic fiction book she could beg, borrow or buy, her overactive imagination started to work overtime and weave its own stories. Years in the corporate world followed by a stint of entrepreneurship crystallised her belief that all she really wanted to do was give life to the stories bubbling inside of her. She briefly managed to tear herself away from the world of fiction to find her own personal happily ever after and now spends her time happily focusing on the two loves of her life – family and writing romances.

Know more at: shilpasuraj.com

Check out SHILPA'S BOOKS:

The Girl He Left Behind

Rescued By Love

PLAYLIST for TMCRA

Like plenty of authors, I too have mood music that goes with my prose. (*cough*) All rhymes purely unintentional. 
TMCRA has a romantic suspense plot and so these are the songs I've chosen to get me back in the write frame of mind. If you have any suggestions to add to this list, I'd love to expand it.

Now, while the heroine of TMCRA will never go out of her way to "look good" for a man or "appearances" she learns to compromise with couture for the greater good.

This is not so much the song, but the video just makes me grin.

Everyone needs a cheerleader. And both my LONER protags will learn how to lean on each other.

The girl should not get hurt.

LOVE is a satire.

I can't NOT have Maroon 5 on a list...any list.

And don't even ask about the death toll in this book.

I'll have a Bollywood list up soon. :)

A WRITER'S YELLOW BRICK ROAD to DEPRESSION

Recently, I came across this article featuring Jhumpa Lahiri, best known for her novel, the Namesake. 

WHY PULITZER-PRIZE WINNER JHUMPA LAHIRI QUIT THE US FOR ITALY.

Expecting some great life-affirming truths the author wished to impart on the world (which in a way, she did), I was shocked by what the article did clarify for me. Truth: I am not a fan of Lahiri's work. I think she's a brilliant writer, and has written brilliant books. But, I am a happy-ending kind of reader and I find her stories a bit too melancholy...actually I find them depressing.

Even before I started writing, when I looked at novels purely from a reader's perspective, I found something missing in her stories. I've read only two: the Namesake and Unaccustomed Earth. What I found missing was sunshine. Happiness. A meaning to the sadness within her characters and stories. For me, there has to be one. It's fine to write about the sadder truths of life, but there must be a reason for it. In fiction especially, I want to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want to be left with that glimmer of a rainbow. And I don't get that from Lahiri's works. I understand that others might. But I don't, at all.

So, the article about her move to Italy and back validated some things I'd always thought about her. That she's uncomfortable with her lot in life. She feels misplaced in most surroundings. Mainly, she's a depressive personality. And maybe the reason why her work reflects that. She could've chosen to paint the article in a positive light about experiencing a new culture or broadening the horizons of her family, but she chose to focus on her inner displacement and non-fulfillment issues.

What I don't understand is if she doesn't feel like an "expert" then why teach Creative Writing at Princeton? Those students enrolled in that class expect an expert teacher. If being a writer feels "fraudulent" in some way then find another way to fulfill your creative side. The world has many, many options, you know. Find one that appeals to you, speaks to you. Don't beat the same door, if it doesn't make you happy. Some people don't have a choice and are stuck in professions that don't fulfill them. Lahiri does have a choice (after several bestsellers and a pulitzer, you bet she does) and yet is choosing to be stuck. Why?

Which brings me to this article: WHY WRITER'S ARE PRONE TO DEPRESSION The gist:

~ some writers feel the need to FEEL all what their characters feel. If the character is suffering or is miserable, well then, the writer is screwed. (Bloody hell, Hemingway!)

~ it's a solitary occupation. Writers tend not to interact much with the outside world, especially while writing. 

~ that leads to feelings of loneliness and of being misunderstood. 

~ sometimes writing leads to lack of exercise, lack of basking in the sunshine and/or people-bonding, which are recipes for depression.

The article gives some great advice on how to combat the Writer Syndrome...or at least try to voluntarily or by force. Get exercise. Go look at the sun, flowers, water or forest. Socialize. Get those endorphins chugging. 

The only point I sort of disagree with is about joining writer groups. While it may be a necessary beast to tackle, I think if you're not a group sort of person, then it's not for you. Though for a beginner writer writing groups can be the boost you need to push forward. 

So, long story short, this is what I picked up from the two articles: Every writer must follow his/her own Yellow Brick Road home. A writer's journey is individual and personal, there isn't a ONE SIZE FITS ALL Dorothy Shoe. I am a happy writer. :) 

WRITING in the AGE OF AMAZON

These days, the advice writers, writing blogs, Twitter, Facebook author groups, writer's conferences, author/agent/publishing panels, your neighbor's grandmother's niece's dog walker's writing guru gives is to WRITE FAST AND PUBLISH FASTER.

Get a book out every three months and beat Amazon's algorithm. Which is fine if you're a fast writer and confident of the quality of the product you're putting out. But what happens if you're not?
Does the slow writer need to pack up shop and move to Tahiti in hopes of securing a neverending muse? Does he need to compromise on his end product? Does anyone even care what the end product is anymore? Evidently, bad writing and bad editing has become so much the norm that its actually a shock to read a really good book these days. 

I've been plagued with these questions these last few weeks. I even got lost in the rat race for a bit, trying to churn out pages, make ulcer-inspiring deadlines, shmooze with agents and editors who all seem as confused by the changing book market as me...until I asked myself what I hoped to accomplish with my writing?

Did I simply want to become an author who beat Amazon's algorithm? Why do I write? What do I hope to accomplish at the end of a book?

I won't deny being a bestseller would be appealing. But do I want that at the cost of my end product...not to mention my sanity? I don't think so. What I want most is to find a few patient readers who'll love my book and the care I've taken to bring it to life. 

This is not writing advice. This is just me remembering what I love about writing is...to simply write.

EDICTS of EDITING

So, I've been editing a mammoth manuscript...again. I feel I've been editing this manuscript for a long, long time. And everytime I do, it somehow gets bigger instead of smaller. Maybe I should quit (editing) while I'm ahead, hm? Anyway, let me take you through my editing process. First you...

Once that's done...and this is ready...

And you think OMG this is sooooo pretty. How can I hack it up? Murder my own babies? Cut them up, shred them, delete them, eat them? Nahiiiiii!

But I must. Nahiiiii!

I HAVE TO...

So, I gather my courage (and the brain that's swollen from the fact that I wrote that whole freaking (pretty) manuscript ALONE) and just do it. 

Whew. Done. You'd think...

WTH? That's...that's...no different. In fact, its stupid. So you do it again...and again...

Until you (think) you've got it right. You finally chiseled the pages, chapters, paragraphs, lines, words and punctuation in perfect sexy shape.

You take a day or two to admire it...just stare at your words...your work and hold it and squeeze it and fall in love with it all over again...Before the publishing madness takes over your life. :)

Very much for reading!

The Write Club: members only.

Writing is a lot like boxing. 

The day you decide to become a WRITER is the day the gloves come off. You, my friend, have now opened yourself up to all manner of criticism and advice. Yes, praise too, but that doesn't come as easily as judgment.

A WRITER must train hard. Build core strength and muscle and endurance. Learn to think on his feet. Take a punch...in the gut, the heart, the face. But more importantly, deflect the punches that could knock him off his feet. Most of all, the WRITER must develop abs and skin of steel.

Then, comes the time to throw the hat into the ring and expose your soul to the world. 

Scared but hopeful, a WRITER enters the boxing ring (aka the PUBLISHING WORLD) and faces his OPPONENTs (insert : EDITORS, REVIEWERS, CRITIQUES) sometimes with sometimes without gloves on (insert: w or w/o an AGENT in his corner.)

The WRITER must apply the lessons learned skillfully, sometimes all in the same match. Plot, hook, structure, goal, motivation, conflict...pow pow pow.

Then pray his skills are solid and fate is on his side. Or else face THE KNOCKOUT PUNCH (insert: REJECTION.)

And when TKO comes to pass, the WRITER, like Mohammed Ali, must struggle back to his laptop, bloodied and bruised but stronger than ever, and have another go at the championship...or die typing!

Do you have what it takes to be a member of 

THE WRITE CLUB?

(all images, GIFs and YouTube videos borrowed from the Internet.)

CREATIVE JUICES: MINE

I realize that the title of this post sounds a bit narcissistic. I'm not denying it isn't, but this is just what happens to me when I write well. Um yes, when I write badly its worse. I also realize that you may have read a thousand other posts on "My Writing Process." One or two that I might have written too...but this one's less words and more GIFs, for time's sake.

Anyway, here's me in the throes of new prose. Oh hey! I'm a poet too.

When I start, I'm all...

Somewhere before the middle, I get like...

Then I'm like...

I had it. I just had it! Where the #@$* did it go?

Thats when I phone a friend...

And am ready to....

But, all is well because your friend gets you like no one else...

Then I'm like...

And THEN the volcano erupts...

And finally its that day...

Would you believe I go through this with every book?

(gif sources: web searches)

COME SEPTEMBER, 2014

It's LABOR DAY! The end of summer. My excuse train just left its last station and won't stop now for two months, come high water or Hagrid. 

What happens in the next two months? Well, PLAN A is that I FINISH LUHU, my work in progress, whose protagonist I am finally...finally...have made nice with. So, crossing fingers, Peeps, this will go smoothly.

My issues with LUHU were many: plot question-marks, my utter bewilderment with its characters motivations, my protagonists lack of focus, destination, or drive...which wasn't such a bad thing but wasn't sitting well with me. 

Not NORMAL, I kept thinking. This book is not normal for me. First time I'm attempting First Person POV. First time it may not be a Happily Ever After. First time the sense of the book is melancholy. (I don't do melancholy well.) Which is great in real life but frustrating in LUHU-land.

Hence, the heavy delays in writing. But, as I get to know Simi (THE PROTAGONIST) better, I'm getting over many of the above mentioned hang-ups. Hurrah! 

And now its BACK TO THE SPINNING WHEEL, for me.

I'll leave you with an excerpt. Be sure to check in here or on my FB page and/or Twitter for regular updates about LUHU. Plus, do sign up for my NEWSLETTER. I generally send those out twice a year but am thinking I might do them seasonally...to share news of my writing life and yippee, contests. With prizes! :) 

LUHU EXCERPT:

I loved that Dr. Archer spoke directly to me. He addressed Nirvaan only sporadically. Childbearing was a woman’s prerogative, after all. Though in my case, I’d hardly use the word prerogative. Coerced would be more apt.

I took a deep breath and let it out. I wasn’t ready to be a mother. Not yet. Maybe I’d never be. The thought of being responsible for another person’s health and security scared me like nothing else. Nirvaan knew that. I’d thought of children as waves crashing over a distant horizon. I’d discussed…or no, we’d never discussed having a baby, Nirvaan and I. Not before we got married. Not after. Not until Nirvaan was diagnosed with cancer and the option of freezing his sperm before his first chemo came up—a treatment that had left him irreversibly sterile.

I didn’t want to deny my husband this wish. But I do not want a baby. Not now. Not when our lives were in flux again.

“Well, that’s a lot of information to sort through,” said Dr. Archer, winding down at last. The walls in his office weren’t the calming colors of the Pacific Ocean. They were the no-nonsense white of his doctor’s coat. “Meanwhile, we can start monitoring your cycle. You need to come in for a detailed consult next week, Mrs. Desai. We’ll do some more blood work, a preliminary ultrasound. Narrow down the best route for you. Prescribe medications for maximum ovarian stimulation and so forth.” He glanced at his desktop monitor. “I have Monday afternoon and Thursday morning open. Or, you can call my assistant for later dates.”

“Monday’s great,” replied Nirvaan when I pretended to scroll through my largely appointment-less phone calendar.

Monday was only three days away. I could be pregnant by the end of the month. My husband might be dead by this time next year.

My breath turned to stone in my lungs. The white walls of the doctor’s office shrank, pushing at me. I thought I’d finally scream.

“Call whenever you’re ready.” Dr. Archer’s words were kind. His pale blue eyes were kinder. “Call if you have any questions. Any doubts. Your youth really is in your favor and its not infertility that we are dealing with in your situation but extenuating circumstances. Even though we have a limited amount of your husband’s sperm to work with, we have an excellent success rate, Mrs. Desai. Rest assured.”

Hysteria bubbled up in my throat. He thought I was worried this wouldn’t work. How do I confess to him, to anyone, that I was petrified that it would?

I'm glad I didn't quit this story. What does thee think, Peeps? 

SHAKE and then STIR

Sometimes things should not only be stirred but shaken good and strong. 

I am happy to say that I'm back in writing mode. The only thing that's not making me happy, or rather is confusing me is the telling of this particular story.
I am a linear writer. I write in sequence, page by page, chapter by chapter. It has worked for my 3 manuscripts so far, making up almost 600,000 words in total. It is not working for LUHU, this  particular story. Is it because LUHU differs from the other 3 in narration? Is it because I'm using 1st person POV for the very first time? Is that why I find LUHU a hard story to sink my bones into? 
If I'm only writing from the heroine's point of view, I'm limiting the story to her and her understanding of the world and events. Or is it because this story is different from my usual happy tales of romance and myth? It's almost a tragedy...almost...and I am first and foremost a happy writer. A happy person too. 
But I want to write this particular story...have to write LUHU how I've imagined it. Surprisingly, the heroine of LUHU must learnt to step out of her comfort zone too. 

So, wish me luck on this endeavor, Good Readers. And I will wish you all a good day :)

FICTION WITH A CAPITAL F.

Authors, especially published ones, get asked a lot of strange questions. Anywhere from, How do you come up with a story? to Do you write by hand or type or shout out words from your rooftop till someone hears and records them all? All relatively normal queries from those fascinated by the writing process and more or less benign, in terms of annoyance ratio (to said author). But by far the weirdest question I have been asked, several times now, is whether my romance novels are based on my own life experiences and is my main character me? 

It is true that an author brings some of his/her self into his/her book/s, into the plot and in the characterizations of the characters, in so far as his/her understanding and knowledge of the world goes. But, to answer your question, Dear Non-Reader (clearly such persons are non-readers) NO! My "fictional" novels are not "memoirs." When I write a memoir or an autobiography, I will call it such and not "fiction." 

Think about it. So far, I have completed 3 manuscripts, of which 2 have been published already. In those 3 manuscripts are 3 male protagonists, 3 female protagonists and dozens of secondary characters interacting with each other and living in their fictional worlds, surviving their particular set of trials and tribulations to get from the beginning of the novel to the end. Agreed, all of which have come out of my head. But, all characters and situations, I hope to hell, as per my research and double-double-toil-and-trouble cauldron boiling skills are unique in their own ways and equally scintillating to read. 

Now to address your question again, while I do not lead a dull life (not by a long shot) I couldn't possibly base or even identify with,all those dozens of characters or even the 6 main ones. Or have the energy to get into the hair-raising escapades that some of them get into and still live to write it all down. Sorry, shout it from the rooftops!

Dear Non-Reader, get this, fictional novels are just what they claim to be. Fiction with a capital F.

(source of GIFs: random search on web)

OH! Lest I forget, have you partaken in the Bootie and the Beast Sweepstakes yet?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A WRITING PROCESS BLOG TOUR.

Hark! Author at work!

Much thanks to the boisterous K M Jackson for inviting me along on this blog tour and for always being so happy and encouraging in all things. And for getting me hooked on Scandal! 

Paying it forward, I encourage you all to check out Kwana's musings about the writing process and her books at Kwana Writes. I have just finished her self-published novel, Bounce, and I have to say I abso-loved it!

Now, as for this blog tour, I will attempt to answer the questions that have been bouncing about the Internet since...whenever this tour started.

What am I working on?

Shockingly, working on many things to do with the writing business though I'm not seriously writing (a story) at the moment. I have a book releasing in early April (big cheerleading shoutout) and am going insane trying to decide how much or how little time, money and effort I ought to be pouring into its promotions. Of course, I seem to have gone a bit overboard with Book Trailers (never realized how much fun they are to create.) So, here's one for your enjoyment.

What else am I working on? I have recently finished a manuscript and am in the process of finding a publisher. Plus, my head is bursting full of an unconventional love story that I am desperate to pen down...right now! But I won't/can't until Bootie and the Beast releases.

How does my work differ from the others of its genre?

The more things seem different, the more they are the same. I believe that to be true and I think my writing emulates that belief. My characters might be products of diverse cultures and my story might be steeped in cultural mores but love, hatred, passion, apathy, revenge, good and evil...any and all human traits transcend culture. So while my work might seem differently flavored from others of its genre...I think its core would be the same.
Undeniably, I bring my own brand of culture...or rather, multi-culture into my stories, as I am an EU National of Indian descent living in the USA. I am fascinated by the human psyche. Why a person does what he does or makes the choices he makes? In the simplest of terms: what makes a person tick? I consider myself an amateur philosopher, anthropologist, historian and mythologist and try and work some of those threads through my stories, always. 

Why do I write what I do?

It's the HEA! The Happily-Ever-After at the end that I love so much and so I must write romances. As I mentioned before, I obsess over mythology and that lures me down the path of fantasy. Now, what could be more appetizing than a fantasy steeped in myths with a brilliant love story threaded through it? Nothing, Peeps. Nothing.

How does your writing process work?

Like a movie playing in my head. What I mean is, I picture the scene as a movie in my head first. I guess I think in visuals. The words are but a description of that scene my mind directed and produced. When I am deep into the craft mode or writing mode, I even dream plot lines or the next move my character should or shouldn't make. Its rather disconcerting sometimes as my dreaming is not restricted to slumber-time.  I could very well be driving to the grocery store in the dead of a winter afternoon and suddenly find myself in Bermuda at sunset with hot, pink sand under my feet and salty air in my mouth...sometimes with a scimitar in my hands. Which is why I more or less become a recluse when I am in writing mode.

And thats it for this round of questions about my writing process. Before I sign off, I shall tag the next writer to carry the torch of this blog tour forward. Be sure to look for her blog post this friday, Peeps. 

Photo credit: Besa Photography

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is a South Asian American who has lived in Qatar since 2005. Moving to the Arabian Desert was fortuitous in many ways since this is where she met her husband, had two sons, and became a writer.  She has since published eight e-books, including a momoir for first time mothers, Mommy But Still Me; a guide for aspiring writers, So You Want to Sell a Million Copies; a short story collection, Coloured and Other Stories; and a novel about women’s friendships, Saving Peace.

Her coming of age novel, An Unlikely Goddess, won the SheWrites New Novelist competition in 2011.

Her recent books have focused on various aspects of life in Qatar. From Dunes to Dior, named as a Best Indie book in 2013, is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf. Love Comes Later was the winner of the Best Indie Book Award for Romance in 2013 and is a literary romance set in Qatar and London. The Dohmestics is an inside look into compound life, the day-to-day dynamics between housemaids and their employers.