From Blank Page to Book Deal

Revealing My Book Writing Secrets

The dusty record player sputtered, the moldy record of my life spinning at a breakneck pace. It was a jarring reminder of the relentless march of time. Suddenly, a long-forgotten dream of being an author, buried beneath the layers of numerous other aspirations, flared back to life. The urgency to write, to capture before the record stopped altogether and my story was forgotten, became a powerful motivator.

The Inspiration Catalyst:

The year was 2021, and I had just lapped up

Suleika Jaouad

’s memoir, ‘Between Two Kingdoms’. Through her reflections, the author seemed to speak directly to me, even though our respective situations in life differ. Jaouad writes about her battle with an acute form of leukemia while I had sustained a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in an accident, causing lifelong disabilities. Through her beautiful, lyrical prose, Suleika invites readers to deeply explore her bleak diagnosis and its implications for her future, and in so doing, reignited the flame of hope within me. To keep the spark of inspiration alive, I took myself to a different coffee shop every week, knowing that it’s in cozy, bustling environments, where I soak up others’ energy and observe their body language that I can truly kickstart my writing. 

Step 1: Need for a Bull’s Eye:

I immediately made up my mind that I, too, could and would, convert my lived experiences, currently residing in my head, to the page–not someday, but within the year. After all, the COVID-19 virus, in its on-again, off-again mode, disrupted any \ chance of social activity. Beginning my memoir, I thought, could be the perfect cure for forced isolation. 

Step 2: Sharing is Caring (for myself!):

During my adolescence, before I grew into myself, I often succumbed to peer pressure–craving things that others desired. Though I have long since shed that skin, I must admit that I continue to be swayed by those I respect. I suppose I must embrace this reptilian component of myself!

After establishing a goal, which I had a visceral desire to see through, I knew in my gut what I had to do. In my usual fashion, I immediately rang two of my closest friends to share my new goal with them. And then I proceeded to message several others! Sharing my goal with friends transformed a vague dream into a commitment I felt nearly obligated to not waver from. While this anecdote demonstrates the fortification of commitment–in my case possibly stemming from a desire to reflect my best self to my peers–studies have shown that telling others further strengthens our commitment to ourselves. As expected, the study confirms that our goals are strengthened when we share them with those whose beliefs we respect.

Step 3: Debutants Need for Expert Guidance:

While I am confident in my writing abilities, after the first 15 pages, I began feeling overwhelmed with the task ahead of me. I even questioned my state of mind in setting this goal for myself. Being an over-sharer, I expressed my feelings to my brother on the phone. Rather than merely voicing sweet nothings, he offered me a thoughtful birthday gift–writing mentorship from the country’s leading storytelling platform,

Bound

! As luck would have it, the first writing coach Bound paired me with,

Mohit Parikh

, turned out to be the magic bullet for memoir actualization. 

The writing coach not only served as my accountability buddy, ensuring I remained consistent but also offered me valuable writing tips. He helped me craft an outline for my book, too. At one point, he suggested changing the tense I used in the flashbacks to differentiate it from the rest of the text, signaling a shift to the reader. Several lightbulbs went off in my head at that moment! Although this change of tense did not stick in subsequent revisions, openness to change is another crucial attribute for a successful writer. 

I finished the first draft of my memoir fifteen months after typing the first word, with my writing coach guiding me through fourteen of those months. After leaving my day job, I devoted the last five months of the fourteen to crafting my memoir full-time. During this period, I made a deliberate effort to guard my writing time with the same zeal as one does their working hours. Writing became my full-time job. Five months of full-time writing later, I finally crossed the biggest hurdle–laying the foundation of the book. Then it was time to refine, beautify, and infuse the narrative with relevant figures of speech. 

Step 5: Passing the Baton:

In the early months of my writing journey, amid the bouts of procrastination and distraction that all writers experience, although I wasn’t at that stage as yet, I found myself scouring the web for reputed freelance editors. This was the first time I came across the term ‘developmental editor’–a role distinct from the copy editor I was familiar with. After 1.5 years with my writing coach, it was time to transition to the next stage. 

Before reaching out to the developmental editor, I appealed to several dear friends to serve as beta readers to help me refine my manuscript to its best possible version. My beta reader friends suggested numerous additional changes and also provided feedback on how several passages might be perceived by the general reader–arguably the most valuable input a writer can receive. 

As I started working with my developmental editor, she suggested I redo the start of my book to better hook readers. Although I was more than happy with the book’s beginning, I grudgingly stepped aside to take a break. Taking a step back allowed me to see her point. The editor also pointed out that a metaphor I had used in the first chapter didn’t work the way I’d intended it to. 

After editing the manuscript three times over, proofreading being the final pass, I was poised to advance to the next stage of the author’s journey: querying a literary agent. I was fortunate to have an editor with years of experience in the publishing industry, advising me on the country’s leading agents and the best practices for agent submissions. 

Step 6: Crafting a Winning Query Letter:

Writers pitch their manuscripts to agents with one-page query letters. I struggle with precis writing–how could I possibly compress a 90,000-word manuscript to a single, 500-word page? The answer was simple: the same way I condensed my professional achievements into a compelling one-page cover letter.

Writer’s blocks are real, leading many writers to swear by the necessity of walks to clear their heads. During one of my brief afternoon strolls, I plodded slowly up and down my driveway, with cane in hand, and reflected on the central idea of my narrative. I returned to my desk with renewed vigor. After a few additional days of significant editing, my brother, and his partner, lent me their second and third seta of much-needed eyes. Their feedback was valuable, if not critical. They pointed out that the craft of the letter should reflect the quality of writing in my book, which, at the moment, it did not.

After several hours, if not days, of work, I submitted personalized query letters to six of the country’s leading literary agents and was fortunate enough to secure representation from a reputed literary agent–my agent of choice, Kanishka Gupta of the Writer’s Side.

Step 7: Working with the Agent to Polish My Manuscript for Publisher Appeal

The oft-repeated advice to enjoy the creative process of writing the first draft initially seemed like mere rhetoric–a motivational tool. However, as I geared up for three more rounds of edits to get my manuscript publisher-ready, I began to truly understand the sentiment behind that advice. Yet, I felt a deep satisfaction in refining and adding a layer of depth to my words. After three solid months of collaborating with my agent and his editor, my manuscript was officially ready to transform into a book.

Two years after I penned the first word, with a head high but shadowed by persistent self-doubt, I patiently watched as my star agent’s magic slowly unfolded before my eyes. My manuscript went to auction and I picked Juggernaut Books as my memoir’s home in the Indian subcontinent. After a break from the writing life, now back at work, I cannot wait for Step 8 to begin, once Juggernaut’s editor finishes working on the books that precede mine. 

Despite my agent’s magic, I felt a deep pang of loss in the absence of my creation that lasts to this day. Though a new book may glimmer on the horizon–someday in the future–the thought of writing a book again is frightful. In retrospect, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever worked on. But, yes, perhaps in the future. After all, I’ve got miles to go before I sleep! 

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