Learning basic stepping stones of literary life:
Plot arc, sympathetic characters, protagonists and antagonists, sidekicks and foils,
setting, tone, mood, voice,
suspense, subtext, subplots, brevity of prose,
obstacles and pitfalls, incremental movement towards or away from character's ultimate goal,
chapter division, scene division, paragraph division, sentence variety, effective dialogue
be yourself, emulate others
be original
be marketable
RESEARCH AT THE DESK
RESEARCH ON THE GROUND
Overnight stay at the beach
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| Scariest part of any camel ride |
Nothing to do with novel, just a proud aunt boasting
RESEARCH ON THE STREETS
REALLY IMPORTANT SENSORY-BASED RESEARCH
paan
Once you've eaten Pakistani food, there's no going back
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Naryal Pani (coconut water)
STRESS RELIEF
Teaching Bombay Jam, what a great distraction
IT TAKES A VILLAGE: TEACHERS
Elementary School Teachers:
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Community of Writers at Squaw Valley- the first teachers always lay the foundation...
High school and college teachers:
Writing group, support line, sanity-makers
International Teachers
Aspi Mama (L), opened his house, heart, and fridge to a very invasive house guest
Maju Mama (R), put years and years (and years) of work, suffered countless emails and a hijacking to Starbucks,
to help his (ex-)favorite niece develop a key concept in the novel
Danu and Sehr were drove me all over Karachi, while I drove them crazy with lists of places they'd never dreamed of visiting
Zarin Mami, kindest, most patient host
Danu and Freyoo, allowing for hours of being grilled on all subjects
Tech support: Kuraish Godsend Irani, answering frantic Facebook messages for the past three years and counting
Zane and Zara, for being my lifeline for all things Karachi,
for doing things they probably didn't want to do to help this novel grow.
And finally, no personal growth happens without a good shrink:
Monthly breakdowns, no cooking, binge cooking, bad cooking, tears, self-doubt, self-hatred,
this man put up with it all
COLLEGE GRADUATION
Complete manuscript- June 28, 2013
So that's it. Like any parent, I've done my best. I've provided the best education, the best teachers, the best therapists. And now my baby is going out into the big bad world and I have no more control over her life. Will she find work? Will someone find her attractive and take her in? Will she have a long and prosperous (shelf) life?
I don't know. All I can do is wait and see.
Totes kidding. Like a clingy stage mum, a book parent can do plenty. This one certainly is.
More on that later... |
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