Saturday 25 January 2014

Bestseller- Hayye Rabba!

Here's the recipe to a modern day Indian 'bestseller' novel-

Take a boy who is a loser yet studly. Take a girl who's pretty and doesn't know it. Throw them together in a been there done that, absolutely unoriginal romantic plot. Add several villains like fate or a college or relatives or even distance. Give it a punch of tragedy or two in the middle or at the end (pick between a death or reluctant family members). Let that entire concoction simmer over shamefully horrible grammar. For garnish, use pitifully limited vocabulary. Voila! There you have your bestseller novel. 

I exaggerate not, but this is in all honesty the plight of most works by most new authors. It seems like there is a plethora of publishing houses, wannabe authors and mindless readers who encourage such quality deprived writing. Earlier, when people were struck by midlife crisis, they took rash decisions like buying something ridiculously expensive or getting into a relationship with the wrong kind of person or something on those lines. But now, writing a book is how people with decent command over the language deal with age related crisis. And with opportunities available dime a dozen, one doesn't particularly need a lot of talent to get published. 

These days, it seems like the editors at publishing houses have started to skip a very major step in the process of the actual publishing of a book- proofreading. Yes! Imagine my horror when I found numerous grammatical errors within the first 10 pages of this book I recently started to read by a 'National Bestselling Author'. It wasn't one if my wiser decisions but I plead not to be judged. I do not mean to sound arrogant or spiteful for I am no authority on literature or language but that is what makes my case so strong. When someone like me- an absolute amateur- can pick faults in a book that holds the seal of a very prominent publishing house, (no, I am not taking names), how is the existence of such a book even justified?

I sound very critical but I can't help but be, because I have grown up reading some amazing authors. I appreciate the talent of writing. Hell, I'm a blogger, of course I encourage writing as much as I appreciate it. But just because I have a blog and manage a 500-700 worded piece every now and then, it doesn't mean I go write a book. It isn't like I never want to, I do. Someday. When I believe I am capable of it. That's the point I'm trying to make. Writers need to hone their raw talent until they're polished, before they set out to publish. They need to focus on the quality of their writing more than anything else. 

I am not making a general statement about all Indian authors, no. Infact, I recently came across books by Judy Balan who also happens to run my most favourite blog on the web. Those books are the most honest to God, hilarious and humane books I've ever read by an Indian author. I was absolutely floored. 

It is true that a writer needs to be inspired. It's what they find their inspiration in, that matters. Feel inspired to actually write and make a differece, to bring a smile on a gloomy face, to heal a heart or to break one. Feel inspired to touch a life and not to find fame and that will make all the difference. 

21 comments:

  1. What you say is true. One more thing that you didn't mention is - the reliance on 'marketing' and 'blog tours' for publicizing the books. People are almost made to give positive and glowing reviews for an average book! IMO, the only publicity that a book can receive is from a happy reader sharing the news with others, without being asked for. Not by bombarding everyone on your friend list with 'buy my book now' sorta messages!

    Destination Infinity

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I probably missed out on that because like I said, I'm no expert. But yes, I couldn't agree more. The social media sphere is practically being abused. But I guess this contemporary literature caters to the needs of the population that thinks they want to read but in reality they don't, if you know what I mean. Anyway, thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

      Delete
  2. U are absolutely right on this. Recently I too hooked on some novels from young writers but did not end up reading it completely. Reading the preface and last page almost made me feel i read it twice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha. I know exactly how you feel. If I may say so, modern Indian literature has been Chetan Bhagatized. And I don't mean it in a good way.
      Thanks for sparing the time to visit my blog!

      Delete
  3. I agree with everything you said. It's so bad that I have given up reading Indian writers...I usually give the new young writers a try .. but there's nothing that you can take from the books these days.. no story. no language.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's discouraging and disheartening bur it's true. I mean non Indian writers also write contemporary romances like Nicholas Sparks and Cecilia Ahern (They're kinda my favourites) but I fail to understand why when it's writers from our country, the quality of writing is so poor. It's kind of a puzzling, hopeless situation.
      Also, thank you for paying my blog a visit!

      Delete
  4. bang on .. all the points you say are so true...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pretty true. And here, I am struggling to get my spiritual fiction published because everyone is busy publishing the love stories of engineers :) - http://nisthaonweb.com/blog/2013/08/i-wrote-a-book/
    Good post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bang on.. I so hate grammatical errors and I say this at the cost of being called a grammar snob. But I really hate to see grammatical errors.. even found a few in the so called best selling authors. Again, I am just a nobody to judge a person who has managed to publish a book, but I guess, nothing can beat something written in impeccable grammar.. Just my thought..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Loved it. Now, I'm looking forward to your take on Cricket, Bollywood, Mamta di's "PORIBORTON," Jaya Bachan's crocodile tears regarding radio Jockey's satarising the goings on in parliament... Heck I'm looking forward to reading ANYTHING that you put up!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You are true. But the reason is different. Its all just blasé now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What you said was true. Just because one can to write a blog that does not mean he or she can whoop up the whole deal. A good book born out of skill, knowledge, patience and lots of hard work. Putting them all together is not that easy. I think people are more aware now. You can see the marketing sell result of noted "Half Girlfriend". No I don't hate chetan bhagat and I liked two of his books a lot. But can't tolerate the same thing anymore. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I definitely comply with some points that you just have mentioned on this post. I appreciate that you just have shared some reliable recommendations on this review.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is the precise weblog for anybody UN agency must search out out concerning this subject. You notice such a lot its nearly arduous to argue with you. You completely place a spanking new spin on a topic that is been written concerning for years. Nice stuff, merely nice!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Blogging is that the new poetry. I notice it terrific and wonderful in some ways.

    ReplyDelete

What do you think about this post?