Arun Shankar

From my lit fic MS, The Violet Heel. Claire views an old photograph...
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Craft bridges the distance between how you see it in your head and how it turns out on paper.
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Ruby is desperate to leave her home; she craves escape, a new life.
Excerpt from my MS: The Violet Heel
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Claire reflects on the letters her father wrote to her—letters full of banal recollections and fragmented statements, that had very little substance.
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Claire resolves to escape the tortures of the ‘Farmhouse’ by sending out a coded S.O.S to her half-sister, Ruby.

Excerpt from my Lit Fic manuscript, The Violet Heel. #WIPSnips #writesky #writingcommunity

Claire's deception has been discovered by her brother, Gerald. He is furious and confronts her at her apartment.
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That's awesome! Calls for a celebration indeed. Very happy for you, and it's a big big deal. My women's fiction MS is lounging in agent inboxes... fingers crossed!

Ruby embarrasses her boyfriend Lucas in front of his church. The consequences for Ruby will be terrible. The sense of abandonment will trigger a past she's been running away from. #WIPSnips #writesky #writingcommunity

Thank you! Your message brought a smile to my face. Writing is such a lonely endeavour... but in some aspects it doesn't have to be. It is quite liberating to say: this is so hard; I don't know what to do next! :)

Going over the first draft. I know I will get a very well-written, good story, I'm wondering what will pique an agent's interest. Am getting into my head as usual; it's an old problem. Apparently good and nice is not enough. Agents want unforgettable! I'm so stuck. Sigh #writesky #writingcommunity

Ruby had hoped her boyfriend in another country would be her ticket out of her old life and into a different, better future. All she wants is freedom, at any cost.

Perhaps one day I will share it with them :)

Thanks... I'm glad you liked it, and stopped by. Really, every little bit of support and encouragement matters so much!

Thank you, Hope. This is very encouraging. And god knows, we writers need a lot of that.

Thank you!
Yes it does, and to be honest I have often wondered if it was too much. But that's how I wanted to write it, and so I did. Have to stay true. :)

Claire reminisces about her father's faith, especially how it transformed after her mother passed away.
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Cynical
Sarcastic
The image is of this bitter man, sitting with a drink, angry at the world.

Claire reminisces about the time when she and Xavier decided to get married. The ordinariness of it, the matter-of-fact way it happened. #WIPSnips #writesky #writingcommunity

Claire recounts what she's heard about the affair between her father and Agnes, when they were in their twenties.
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Thank you! I so enjoyed writing this.

As the fire rages, Claire uses the distraction to escape the 'Farmhouse'.
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Taking advantage of the fire, Claire escapes from the 'Farmhouse' #WIPSnips #writesky #writingcommunity

It's a strange thing... the way a name appears on the screen (or paper), with the lines, curves... it subtly influences my approach to them. I write differently when the name is Harry and when it is say, Paul.

I usually fix character names before the first draft. But this time, the OG name didn't 'feel right'. So I had to change the name of the protagonist. Now everything feels different; he is a different person, and he wants to do and say things differently! Happened to you?
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Some days I cannot read another line from a book on writing, I cannot watch another video about plotting, structure, or writing great sentences; and although I have learnt so much from others, some days I simply cannot bear another person's voice in my head. Some days... #writesky #writingcommunity

I said, because this is the one that stuck in my head and refused to leave... I want to explore those moral greys. I don't want to write a safe story. Why bother, why the effort and pain to write safe stories? I like it. It's a nice writing philosophy: No safe stories #writesky #writingcommunity

Was talking to a friend about what I'm currently writing: a deep, emotional story, exploring many moral greys. And, yet, I'm not making it weepy, sad, heavy, but rather, hopeful. He said, that's going to be tough, how will you manage it? Of all the stories, why this?
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I remember the first novella MS I wrote, was titled Easy.doc because the first line had the word 'easy' in it. Writing that story was anything but easy! :)

Working on draft 2 of the manuscript. The file is called "real working" even though I know the title. I can't put the title as the doc name until the very very end, when I know it's all revised, checked, and done. And ready to go to the first readers. What about you? #writesky #writingcommunity

Now the editing starts. There is no burst of joy. There is relief. There is urgency. And some desperation to not let this moment and momentum slip by. I don't ever want to be in that place where I hadn't produced anything for years. God... I'm so so happy. #writingcommunity #writesky #iamwriting