Category: South Asian Women Writers
Duty and Desire – A Tale of Modern India
What can I tell you about my debut novel, Duty and Desire, the first in my Winds of Fire series, that would intrigue you? It was a 9 year journey to finish Duty and Desire. I began writing the original draft in 2002, shortly after we moved from Singapore to New Jersey, USA. My kids [...]
Nurturing a Writers’ Group
Writers are fragile. When rejection slips pile up one yearns for reassurance. A decade back I would feel delighted if someone from my family or a close friend volunteered to read my work. But, often after reading they would feel obliged to make some positive remarks or critical comments. These casual reactions are just that: [...]
Fitting in a Genre
Shortly after completing the original draft of Duty and Desire, I learned that all novels had to fit in a genre. Multicultural was the in-word at the time and it appeared to “fit” my work. But when I asked myself if my characters were multicultural, the answer was no. They were characters whose opinions, values, beliefs, [...]
Why Multi-Genre Writing Rocks!
During the week of June 14-17, I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to attend the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference. It is a program that offers the opportunity for people to meet fellow writers and learn from some of the best in the field, and I was ecstatic. But a dear friend, who is privy [...]
Italian Author Elena Doni: Writing Fakhra Younas’ Life Story
Backstory. The memoir, “Il volto cancellato” by Fakhra Younas with Elena Doni, is the story of a Pakistani woman who started life in Karachi’s red light district, became famous as a dancer and movie star, and then was unspeakably disfigured by an acid attack. Fakhra married her “prince”, the son of the former governor of Pakistan’s [...]
Harnessing The Muse – How To Stay Inspired
Art is anything and everything that stirs the emotions. To create art requires an understanding of emotion; a clear sense of how lived experience impacts and expresses our inner world. We writers, like every other type of artist, gain inspiration from the world around us and from our own experiences. A lot of people believe [...]
Discipline of Writing. Writing as a Discipline.
First, there is the discipline of writing. Writers have long touted the value of the discipline of writing. While the strategies and goals to accomplish this task vary, the primary advice is relatively consistent – write everyday. Some say its best to write for a fixed length of time, while others insist on a daily [...]
When the Story Hurts too Much: Fakhra Younas’ Life and Memoir
When a woman tells her story, writes her memoir, she is writing her own history. She becomes visible to history; part of the human narrative. Telling her truth, her experience and wisdom, she leaves her legacy. When the life lived hurts too much… it’s hard to write, and hard to tell. And when the story told [...]
Memoir: Agony and Relief
Narrating stories is as old as history itself. In writing about my childhood growing up in India, it’s mostly pain that I highlight: writing allows us to search the depths of our being – to excavate, sort, pile, discard, and heal. Writing a personal narrative comes with mixed emotions, an eclectic blend of agony and relief [...]
Pakistani Women Writers
Pakistan has one of the largest populations on earth, so it is fitting that we should see what Pakistani women writers are reaching out into the world. On Wikipedia, at the time of this post, 15 women writers from Pakistan were listed. Shaila Abdullah is one of these writers. See her beautiful site listing the [...]
