- Dr.Pragya Suman
Weekly Blog Post—
Diary Excerpts--
I see a bunch of sun rays emerging from black, transforming into red, orange and yellow between 4 AM to 6 AM. I am an early riser, which helps me organise my time between my hobby and profession, writing and medicine. Mostly, I write in the early morning.
I have divided my fiction/work into thirty chapters; a few chapters would dissolve, and each chapter would be 2500-5000 words. Plots are woven around the characters, and they have been coming and vanishing among pages. I don’t know how far it goes. Ultimately, it matters how much they have succeeded in generating creative energy. After the third draft, I will send my manuscript to Beta-readers and, ultimately, the most challenging work pitch for an agent.
I like Tegan Atkins’ four rules regarding fiction drafting.—
The first draft is like throwing paint at a wall. It is impossible to know what shapes it will turn into.
Second Draft—It is magical, where the story begins. This is a more time-consuming part. I started the second draft in April 2022.
Third Draft—the shortest stage of the four draft process, grammar and spelling issues are checked.
Fourth Draft—hand it to Beta readers/family members.
My second and third drafts go on simultaneously sometimes.
Anton Chekhov and Oyster—I first learned about Oyster recipes after reading Anton Chekhov's books in my early years. The food varieties help weave the fiction plot, making reading it sumptuous. The medieval poets of India have used them in their poems, and through them, we can learn about the culture and taste buds of that era; it’s really interesting. I googled oyster recipes recently, which was one of my fascinations after reading Chekhov's books. However, engulfing a mollusc is a bizarre bite for me. My nonveg is limited to eggs, fish, and chickens. I hardly eat red meat, only on very few occasions.
Novel Excerpts from My Work in Process.—A conversation between the protagonist and his cook about cream tea, aka Malai tea.
'Extreme things bring eccentricness.' I gaped at the creamy layer beaded with sugar crystals in a tiny glass.
Malai tea, A white greasy scum on the brown brook!
Cook cackled a peal of clumsy laughter that came after a cocktail of apprehension to excitement.
'Yes, I thought you would prefer Malai tea or not; please taste it as an experiment. I have topped cream in such volume that it would take four sips to reach the actual tea.
‘Really, nous, love it.’