Starting my first novel…

I wrote as a kid. I wrote for my school magazine.

I wrote when I was at the brink of joint entrance examinations, for admission in college. That was back in 2011. At that time, the internet connection in my home was new and the package we bought was a peculiar one: from 9 p.m. at night to 9 a.m. in the morning. So, I pretty much fought with my younger brother for my time slice of  Google. www.writing.com was my online home at that time. I wrote poems, sometimes stories and entered contests. Reviewing was an important part of life at WDC (that’s  short for writing dot com) as well. I also took a few courses on creative writing there, learning bits of Freytag pyramid, plot, and grammar.

Then college happened. I went to live in a different city (Kolkata). Adjusting to my new life sapped a lot of energy. So, I wrote less, and lesser. I was too worried about whether I would finish college successfully, and do well.

There were a few moments in between though when I thought I would publish my first novel by the time college finished. But serious writing did not happen.

As I made transition to my final year of college, the worm in my head worked overtime, itching to have me write. I even started, I daresay, a novel: about a girl from a traditional high-society Bengali family, who is married to the guy she loved for four years. I had even traced out the plot-line. I had written the first two chapters. But then I realized, I did not really know the girl yet. I could not see my character in front of my eyes, in flesh. So, eventually the novel lost its way in the dreary desert sand of Life.

These days I have been searching a lot about creative writing videos, among other things. There is indeed an itch that would not go away. I searched about Pulitzer prize winning novels and downloaded the free ones I could get at Amazon Kindle. I read how the writing process was the easiest part, and finding the editor and the publisher was toughest. I read about the initial struggle of J.K. Rowling. The Bath Novel award was another thing that appeared in my webpages few days ago. I read about how the 2014 winner struggled with her novel Precocious before she won the Bath award. I found her journey really interesting. I nursed with this idea then: what if I use Bath Award 2016 as a motivation to pen out my first novel? The award did not matter, as of now, getting people to read my writing is fair enough of an inspiration.

Last night I made a discovery: Kindle self-publishing at https://kdp.amazon.com/

It was like a genie out of the lamp for me! So, I had finally found a publisher for my yet-unwritten novel: Myself! Hurray!

The idea is to finish the novel by the end of this year. This morning I wrote the first chapter, and I am happy with how it has turned out. I am not much of a planned writer. So, I write as I go. Let’s see what the journey takes me to!

Whew! I am so excited!