Book Launch # 1 of 'The Girl Who Loved a Pirate' by Vinita Nangia & Sumant Batra in Delhi

Here are the highlights from the Delhi launch of 'The Girl Who Loved a Pirate', India's first spy thriller on pirates. 

• Packed house. 
• All books sold out. 
• Fantastic conversations. 
• The most stupendous experience.

Thank you Vinita Nangia & Sumant Batra for releasing the book. Thank you all those who made it to Oxford Bookstore, Connaught Place despite massive traffic jams on Friday evening. Thank you The Park, New Delhi for sponsoring the prize.

In Safe Hands!

Packed House.

The Cute Pirate

The good looking Pirate

My Writer Friends

Book Signing. 

Dad and Mom

The Expression Says it All

The Pirate With a Twist

The Pretty Creative Writing Mentors

The Chotu Pirate

The Serious Pirates 

Holding Their Attention 

Here's the coverage in The Times of India. Click here to read online. 

NEWS STORY in Photo Journey assisted by Literature Studio: "I have never seen such a fabulous turnout for a book launch. From famous bloggers to founders of literary organisations, everyone was there, and so were writers and avid readers. Vinita Nangia of The Times of India and Sumant Batra, Founder of the Kumaon Literary Festival, were in conversation with the author. The event was a huge success. And the copies simply flew off the rack. Every single one was sold and there was a long queue of people who wanted to get their copies signed." Click here to read more. 

NEWS STORY in the blog of Readers Club Delhi: "The book launch took place at the Oxford Bookstore in Connaught Place and one could see people of all ages dressed up as pirates. From old men in their late 70’s to toddlers, almost everyone in the room had a black flap covering an eye, long black beard along with the famous scarf bearing the pirate symbol of a skull and swords and a red horn. One couldn’t help but grin just by looking at them."

“There is lot of love, emotion and chemistry between the characters” said Kulpreet Yadav and also added one of the lines “A pirate. A girl. A spy. Can the relationship work? The clock is ticking.” Click here to read more. 

Here's the coverage in Business Standard newspaper.

Word of Author advertising: How novels can play a role in promoting Brands

I was invited to speak at ITC Maurya, New Delhi, during the recently concluded Brand Partnership Meet which was attended by over 80 leading brands from all over the country.

As a bestselling novelist and a startup enthusiast who believes that stories can emotionally connect brands with their customers, I proposed that brands should explore the possibility of leveraging the power of literature for their branding and sales. I called it the 'word of author advertising'.

The idea had positive influence on many and I was almost mobbed during the tea break. The concept is at the idea stage at the moment and I invite readers to discuss this at various forums to find an implementable model that connects brands with books.

      My short interview after the session. 

(Watch it here on Youtube) 

Why You Should Write Short Stories before Writing a Novel

I did it the other way around.

The year was 2006 and I was at the Howrah railway station in Kolkata. My train was 8 hours late and I had no idea how to kill time. So I looked around, ate macher jhol as a mid-morning snack, sat in a chair, and began to stare at the giant clock in the atrium, hoping for its arms to move faster. But the time slowed down and I found myself reflecting on the novels I had read during my childhood.

As I immersed in the past, the stories that I recalled settled around me. The images were vivid and the plots complete. Novels by my favourite writers: Fredrick Forsyth, Ian Fleming, Sidney Sheldon, James Hadley Chase, Agatha Christie, Alistair MacLean, Wilbur Smith, Leon Uris etc.

There is something magical in the air at Howrah.

I have no idea what it was--still don't--but at that moment I found the Haryanvi in me wanting to write a novel. In those 8 hours that I sat there, I wrote the few chapters of what was later published as my first novel, The Bet.

The novel, sadly, turned out to be a mistake. As a writer I wasn't ready to write a full-length novel and in hurry to publish it, I ended up with a novel that was poorly written.

Did I learn my lesson from it?

No.

Few years later I followed The Bet with another mediocre novel. But by 2011, I realised my mistake, albeit the hard way.

For a writer to be able to write well, one should begin with shorter pieces of fiction. Short stories, just like a novel, have the same elements: characters, conflict, setting, Point of View and plot.

In an interview to Bibliostar TV in 2013 Stephen King says, "Novels are a quagmire that a lot of younger writers tumble into before they are ready to go there. I started with short stories because the novels that I wrote when I was twenty were so bad that they were not accepted by the publishers and I didn't even bother to revise them."

In my journey as a bestselling novelist, writing short stories has helped me immensely. It has taught me the importance of each and every word. It has taught me the economy of emotion. And it has allowed me to be in greater control of my plot.

In India, sadly, we don't have creative writing courses, unlike the west, and for those of us who want to write, there's no easy way to learn. With an intention of helping other writers and involving myself even more in the fascinating world of short stories, in 2011, I founded a literary magazine called Open Road Review. This not-for-profit model that's free to access, advertisement free, and funded entirely from my savings to promote short story writing and reading at a global level, has attracted millions from all over the globe.

In short, if you want to become a better writer, my advice would be that you begin with writing short stories.

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This blog first appeared at The Huffington Post here.