Dear readers & bloggers,
I won’t say that I always wanted to be an author. To be honest, I was dragged into this whole write-a-novel thing. Well, it’s a long story and I don’t intend to pen down another book explaining how I became an author and Blah! Blah! Blah! So, I shall keep it short and try to explain the entire journey in a few simple words.
I was a crazy blogger (but I hardly blog nowadays) and I’m an avid reader too. I love reading fantasy fictions and paranormals, and I also daydream a lot. Entrapped is just a product of those daydreams. I imagined a girl haunted by a dream and every-time she dreams, someone calls for her help, “We are trapped. Please, free us…” The idea intrigued me and I decided to spin a story around the same. I named the girl Myra Bose and penned down the prologue of Entrapped in no time. Few of my friends, who read it, encouraged me to continue. It took five months to finish the initial draft. After my exams, when I was waiting for the results, I got enough time to polish the initial draft. I prioritized Entrapped over other things and to be frank, at that moment, I didn’t have getting it published on my mind.
Halfway through my script, I came across this fantastic group, Book Readers Lounge (BRL) on Facebook. It was a turning point for my book. I met many Indian authors on this online community and few of them even guided me on how to make a book proposal, how to approach publishers and so on. Until then, I knew nothing about publishers and publishing process but thanks to those who aided me, I got my book published. I owe those guys a lot.
Steadily, my network grew and I got acquainted with many great writers. However, I really doubted whether my manuscript would interest any publisher in India as it was a fantasy fiction; romance seemed to be publishers’ favorite genre. Nevertheless, I wanted to take a chance. Soon after my manuscript was completed, I sent the book proposal to as many publishers as I could. Many rejected saying that they don’t publish this genre and very few asked for the complete manuscript. This continued for awhile but finally, after three months of struggle, Cedar Books agreed to publish it.
Even the title of the book has an interesting story behind it. When I submitted my book’s proposal to publishers, I had named it as “In quest of dreams” but I wasn’t too happy with the title. I couldn’t come up with anything better either. I played with many options before deciding on “Entrapped”.
On the ending note, I’m glad that I got an opportunity to share my experience with you-readers and bloggers. Thanks to Nethra for inviting me to do a guest post on her blog!
Sneha Kedar
Author of the book "Entrapped"
I won’t say that I always wanted to be an author. To be honest, I was dragged into this whole write-a-novel thing. Well, it’s a long story and I don’t intend to pen down another book explaining how I became an author and Blah! Blah! Blah! So, I shall keep it short and try to explain the entire journey in a few simple words.
I was a crazy blogger (but I hardly blog nowadays) and I’m an avid reader too. I love reading fantasy fictions and paranormals, and I also daydream a lot. Entrapped is just a product of those daydreams. I imagined a girl haunted by a dream and every-time she dreams, someone calls for her help, “We are trapped. Please, free us…” The idea intrigued me and I decided to spin a story around the same. I named the girl Myra Bose and penned down the prologue of Entrapped in no time. Few of my friends, who read it, encouraged me to continue. It took five months to finish the initial draft. After my exams, when I was waiting for the results, I got enough time to polish the initial draft. I prioritized Entrapped over other things and to be frank, at that moment, I didn’t have getting it published on my mind.
Halfway through my script, I came across this fantastic group, Book Readers Lounge (BRL) on Facebook. It was a turning point for my book. I met many Indian authors on this online community and few of them even guided me on how to make a book proposal, how to approach publishers and so on. Until then, I knew nothing about publishers and publishing process but thanks to those who aided me, I got my book published. I owe those guys a lot.
Steadily, my network grew and I got acquainted with many great writers. However, I really doubted whether my manuscript would interest any publisher in India as it was a fantasy fiction; romance seemed to be publishers’ favorite genre. Nevertheless, I wanted to take a chance. Soon after my manuscript was completed, I sent the book proposal to as many publishers as I could. Many rejected saying that they don’t publish this genre and very few asked for the complete manuscript. This continued for awhile but finally, after three months of struggle, Cedar Books agreed to publish it.
On the ending note, I’m glad that I got an opportunity to share my experience with you-readers and bloggers. Thanks to Nethra for inviting me to do a guest post on her blog!
Sneha Kedar
Author of the book "Entrapped"
All the best for your debut novel Sneha.
ReplyDeleteHey, I just wanted to ask... how much time did it take to write.. u said 5 months for the first draft... is that like a dedicated fulltime 5 months or 'in between work' 5 months ?
ReplyDeleteI devoted my complete 5 months for the first draft. NO work nothing... :)
ReplyDelete@Prateek : Thanks for your wishes :)
ReplyDeleteSneha, all the very best for your debut novel!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it! :)
all the best Sneha.. looking forward to it :)
ReplyDeleteWish you all the Best for your first Novel.
ReplyDelete@shilpa, SuKupedia, S.V thanks :)
ReplyDeleteIts great to see your friend Nethra promote you on her blog Sneha :)
ReplyDeleteI know its an unusual genre in India, but I have a feeling I will completely enjoy your book.
p.s. Are the movie rights on sale still? :)
@Siddhartha : Thanks :) Nethra is very supportive because fantasy is her fav. genre.
ReplyDeleteHaven't thought about turning this book into movie yet. Still have to make enough contacts :P
Okay now! This seems to interesting. It is amusing to see Indian bloggers take up interest in writing. So Sneha/Nethra, Where do I get this book? I stay in Bangalore and I heavily rely on JustBooks for my book reading activity. So any info about the what and where of the book?
ReplyDelete@veekay
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, don't tag me as a blogger. I want to be known as a writer more than a blogger. A friend suggested that I should blog to improve my writing skills so I started blogging. So writing was my interest not blogging so it shouldn't surprise you if I write a book too.
The book is available on Flipkart & it is affordable too.
Whoaaaa... awesome, I am bad writer.. they only thing I am good at it writing dialogues... lolzz... and even then I tried writing Fiction like several times... but like always I got "entrapped" in a host of ideas so engrossed that I couldn't figure out which elements to keep and which to throw out.. I know I am pathetic.. lolzzz... but you girl... you rock... already ordered the copy... will write more once i get through the book... Ohh by the way any sequels coming????
ReplyDeleteOne Question Sneha - Did you face the same dilemma of what elements to keep and what elements to throw out? Did you also face the issue wherein the characters suddenly started looking like people you know?? My book lies in papers... seriously I am an old school types, I still prefer to write on paper than type on laptop and FANTASY FICTION is the only genre I can ever read or think about writing :(
ReplyDelete