The very idea of writing a book in 15 days sounds absurd and incredible. What are you telling? A book in 15 days! Nobody is going to read that. Well, a couple of years back, I would have reacted exactly in the same manner. A year back. But not now. In this article which is going to be a series for some days now, I’ll share only the writing aspects of the book. Publishing or marketing are different ballgames altogether and I will discuss those aspects later on. Being an author is a different thing and selling it has a completely different perspective. You can not mix the two.

Before you start writing a book, it is essential to have dreams about yourself as an established author. Just close your eyes and imagine yourself signing your books for the avid customers standing in a queue in a plush bookstore of a posh mall. You need to have dreams of being an author. It’s not that you just get up one fine morning and start writing a book. It does not work like that. You need to have a complete dream of where you want to see yourself one or two years or maybe five years down the line. And more importantly, you need to have a purpose behind the dream. What are you going to achieve through becoming an author? Well, being a published author is an achievement in itself. But will that be enough? In an era of self-publishing, you can publish a book even it’s full of junk and has no merit, by simply spending your hard-earned money. Unless it has some interesting content, it’s going to be just a collection of pages stitched together. Just search the book section of Amazon or Flipkart and you will be awestruck to discover that there are millions of books which have either failed to reach the readers or completely rejected by them because of the dearth of some meaty contents. Do you want to see your creation in that section of the ‘Rejected’ category? Or you want to implant your ideas in your creation and be the change you want to see in the world? You want to tell the world something, the world is craving to hear? You want to tell a story hitherto untold? You want to help others by sharing your experiences so that they do not struggle like the way you did? Just close your eyes, switch off the lights and ask your soul why do you want to become an author in the first place? And when you have got the right answer and you have your heart in the right place, it’s the time you seriously pursue your dream. Life is going to be an altogether different experience in the coming days.

Now as you are all set to follow your dream of becoming an author, its time to find out what you are going to write about. In my opinion, this is the toughest part of the entire process. Finding out the genre you are going to write about will decide how you are going to perform as an author. Did Coppola direct a romantic movie? Did Ray direct an out and out action drama? Did Spielberg direct a chic-flic? You have to first identify your forte and unless you select the right track, chances are high that you are going to mess it up all in your first attempt. And in a capricious market that exists today, where many deserving ones do not get the recognition even after toiling years to develop a good project, think about your fate if your start is disastrous.

To be continued…