Ashwin Sanghi is an Indian author in the thriller fiction genre. He is the author of three bestselling novels, The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant and The Krishna Key. If you are looking for some guidance on writing thrillers, or fiction, he is the person to look up to! Here are 5 tips from the man himself:
1. Focus on the Plot
According to Ashwin Sanghi, “There are three things that make the novel—plot, plot and plot”. No doubt, plot is the most important thing in any book or novel. A good plot acts as a solid base and a strong foundation for the whole story. Without a substantial plot, it is very likely that your story or book will fail to deliver, and will more often than not, be underwhelming. Thus, as Ashwin Sanghi says, the main focus while writing a book must be towards building of the plot and storyline of the book. On his plot development methods, he states, “After preliminary research, I zero in on an idea, and then I spend at least four months exploring the topic and in plot-building.” Such importance must be given to the development of the plot.
2. Discipline in Writing
According to Ashwin Sanghi, discipline in writing is not as important or necessary as it is made out to be. As long as your mind is in the right place and as long as you have creative ideas, it doesn’t really matter if you treat your writing as a strict job or not. He says, “There are some writers who are extremely casual and careless in their approach and they still seem to turn out wonderful material. At the end of the day, writing is not just another occupation.” He also goes on to say that if an artist lacks an artistic temperament and sensibility, their work will be average, irrespective of the amount of discipline or the number of hours they spend on writing. Ashwin Sanghi states, “Creativity cannot be manufactured using tools that are applied in the ordinary workplace.”
3. Write about Exciting Things
Another important lesson to be made note of is that, you get the most pleasure out of writing when you write about things as far away from your real life as possible. The things that you fantasize about, and the things which make you the happiest, end up being the best books. Says Ashwin Sanghi, ”I don’t think that anything that takes me back into my work environment would excite me enough to write a novel about it. The subject needs to be way out there, almost outer space.” This will allow you to transport yourself to a happy place where, in the words of Ashwin Sanghi “I can indulge my hopes, beliefs, aspirations and fantasies.”
4. Effective Marketing
One of the key ingredients in making your book a successful one is effective marketing. You need to figure out ways of engaging your potential readership. According to Ashwin Sanghi, “Video trailers are one way to whet the appetite. Another way is to offer a free preview of one chapter of the book.” This can really help in the decision-making process of a reader who has a limited budget available for reading. Also, he states, “Active participation on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are terrific for building up one-on-one relationships with one’s readers.”
5. Never Give Up
Finally, no matter how badly you face rejection at first, always remember that rejection is part of the process of getting published. In the words of Ashwin Sanghi, “Whenever you feel dejected, just remember that Jonathan Livingston Seagull (by Richard Bach) was rejected 140 times, Stephen King’s Carrie was rejected 30 times and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter was rejected 12 times. The answer is to keep tapping into publishers and literary agents until you strike a deal.” Remember, it’s about lifting yourself up when you are knocked down by life.
Image credit: AshwinSanghi on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Pranay.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Pranay Kanagat is a freelance writer who has a love for writing on various subjects. In particular, he enjoys creative writing. He is also studying for an Engineering degree.[/author_info] [/author]