Writer's Review on BBC Two's brand-new family sitcom 'Mum'

BBC Two's brand-new family sitcom 'Mum' is a promising, performance packed series with the first episode showcasing fine elements of good screenplay techniques. In the strict sense, a tight screenplay can extend itself into a well-written full-fledged novel and vice-versa. Looking at writing screenplays as a precursor to writing a novel can help in getting the mechanics of writing in place way before it is fleshed out with descriptions.

The screenplay of 'Mum' does an excellent job at hooking the viewers to the complexities and idiosyncrasies of the characters by giving just a slight peep into their lives, enough to arouse curiosity. The protagonist, the mum, is trying to live through the funeral of her husband surrounded by her family. Her son, possibly slightly autistic, invites his overenthusiastic girlfriend for the funeral; her brother comes with his partner who is shown as a nasty prick, and the older bickering parents of her husband are also there to attend the funeral.

At one point, hints on son's possible disability, tension in brother's relationship with his partner, and mum's own feelings of loneliness are revealed to make the viewers look forward to the next episode.

This first episode could well become the first three chapters of a novel, slowly building momentum by trickling down drops of information about the characters through the medium of dialogue with no description beyond what the dialogue itself implies. The characters seem to know a lot more of what is going on in the story but the same is not conveyed to the reader or the viewer in this case. However, since the viewer or the reader feels a part of the family already, because of good characterisation, the audience would look forward to the second episode or the reader would continue to read the book. Teasing with trickles of information is a sure way to grab the attention of your viewer/reader. BBC's 'Mum' has done a good job at it and I am waiting for the next episode.

Hindu / Indian Gods - Cheat sheet for Writers and Readers

With the ever increasing number of Indian writers writing in English language and their plots embracing the true nature of the stories of the civilisation, a cheat sheet introducing the non-Indians to the Indian gods and their significance in the culture may help to understand an Indian story better. Here is a list of Indian gods and what they stand for.

Lord Krishna, worshipped as the Supreme God by the majority, spoke the Bhagavad Gita to His friend and devotee Arjuna in the great battle of Kurukshetra in Mahabharata. He appeared to  kill the miscreants and protect His devotees. He is the lord of maintenance and manifests Himself in ten different prominent incarnations namely Matsya ( fish incarnation), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (Boar), Vamana (dwarf), Narasimha (half man, half lion), Parasurama, Rama, Balarama, Buddha, and Kalki. He is also referred to as Lord Vishnu in His another expanded form. His eternal abode is called Vaikunta and His worshippers are called Vaishnavas.

Lord Shiva is the lord of destruction. He lives in Kailash and performs his thandava dance, the final dance of destruction at the end of creation. He is worshipped as Nataraja, the dancing form and the Shiva Linga, a peculiar deity form. His worshipers are called Shavaites.

Lord Brahma is the Lord of creation. He has four heads and is in charge of creating the material universe. He resides in Brahma Loka, the highest planet in material creation.

Lakshmi is the consort of Lord Vishnu. She is the goddess of wealth and there is no Indian who does not worship her.

Shakti is the consort of Lord Shiva. She has a great following in every part of the country and when writers want show female power, they invariably refer to Shakti. Her worshippers are called Shaktas. She is referred to by more than thousand names, few being Durga, Parvati, Iswari and Vaishnnavo Devi.

Saraswati is the goddess of learning. She is shown as playing the Veena (a stringed instrument) and is the consort of Lord Brahma. Children are made to worship her to be able to perform well in their studies.

Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and he has a head of an elephant and the body of god. His temples are seen on every street across the country for he is prayed to get rid of obstacles in one's life. His other names are Vinayaka, Ganapathi, and Gajamukha.

Kartikeya is the brother of  Ganesha. He is mostly worshipped in south India. He is known as the army general of the gods.

Yamaraj - god of death

Kuvera - treasurer of the Gods

Indra - god of thunderstorms

Chandra - moon God

Surya - sun god

Kamadeva - Cupid

The above is a basic list of Hindu gods that are often referred to by authors.

Writer's Book Review on Akhil Sharma's 'Family Life'

The objective of Writer's Book Review is to analyse a book from a writer's perspective to identify good writing techniques and possibly learn a few tricks of the trade.

'Family Life' by Akhil Sharma is quite an unconventional book when it comes to the traditional rules of plot development. The visible absence of a plot asks for expertise to make it a page-turner, which it is, undoubtedly. 'Family Life,' a story of an Indian immigrant family in America dealing with an unfortunate accident that leaves one of their two sons brain-damaged and invalid for life. The narrator, the younger son Ajay lives through trials he family undergoes and the author expertly captures the unassuming, yet poignant narrative of a child who would have happily settled for a normal life.

Usage of fewer dialogues helps in getting the reader pause and soak in the complexity of the situation the narrator finds himself in. The mother's dialogues are often complex sentences with more than two subordinate clauses, typically showing her as someone trying to think in her mother tongue and translating it to English. Later on in the book, you get to see the father do that too. It's interesting to observe the length of the dialogues between the second-generation immigrant (son) and the first-generation immigrants (parents).

The seemingly simple vocabulary, craftily used is another feather in the cap in 'Family Life'. It helps in increasing the pace of the novel since the plot has less scope to do it.

It was first published in the United States in 2014 by W.W.Norton & Co, Inc. Faber and Faber Limited published its UK edition in the same year. A good read for the weekend but be prepared to be soaked up into its complexities for the rest of the weeks to come. 'Family Life' by Akhil Sharma is a technically sound book.

Body Language that shows Loneliness

Observation is the key to writing descriptions and interpreting the signals given by the body. When a character feels lonely there is usually a pattern in his/her body signals. Of course, every character is unique, however, the pointers below can be of help to trigger writers' imagination.

Lonely people are generally disinterested in their appearance
Voice may end in monotone
May keep their schedules tight
Often sigh heavily
Feel happy about receiving mail
Rush to check phone alerts
Hug oneself
Make small talk with electrician, plumber, bus driver, etc
They think they are introverts
May call family and friends often
Daydream
Sometimes feel unworthy.

Characters can manifest any of these signs depending on what, as a writer, you wants to achieve at that point in the story.

Finally, search the web for  'loneliness' in images to help identify how lonely the character feels.

The Art of Styling Sentences

A good story written in a poor manner diminishes the expected effect. It is imperative to get the narrative right. I found "The Art of Styling Sentences" by Ann Longknife and K. D. Sullivan quite useful. The authors say, the book aims "to improve fundamentals of good sentence structure" and "to improve your style". It has 20 sentence patterns which, kind of covers most of the patterns used by authors today.

30 ways to describe 'pain'

It doesn't have to always be just 'very painful'. Here are other ways to describe 'pain'.

flickering

pricking

mild

intense

scalding

exhausting

terrifying

killing

miserable

piercing

tearing

nauseating

electrical

pounding

knot-like

tender

horrible

radiating

waves

quivering

boring

aching

dull

tingling 

taut

sickening

punishing

wretched

intense

tight