Little Red Riding Hood was stalked, Cinderella was abused, the Beauty had to live with a hideous Beast, Snow White was poisoned, Hansel and Gretel were meat for a cannibal… and then we wonder why our kids grow up with problems.
~ Ashwin Sanghi
My greatest qualification for writing fiction was my ability, as a child, to lie with a straight face.
My life is ruled by four W’s: my writing, my work, my wife, and my whisky. Not necessarily in that order.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step unless you missed it.
Writing a mystery is like drawing a picture and then cutting it into little pieces that you offer to your readers one piece at a time, thus allowing them the chance to put the jigsaw puzzle together by the end of the book.
Combine two words, Myth and History. What do you get? Mystery.
The average buyer in bookshop spends 8 seconds on the front cover and 15 seconds on the back cover before deciding whether to purchase the book or not. On average, he does not get past page 18. See? The odds are stacked against us writers!
Thrills are much more about anticipation than action. An unfired bullet is more dangerous than one that has already met its target.
In India we never distinguished between history and myth. Our Puranas as well as Itihasas contain fantastical tales. They are lies that convey deeper truths.
Mythology is a set of primitive lies that people rarely believe. This is rather different from history, which is a set of lies that people believe.
I was told that Ganesha sat between Lakshmi and Saraswati. My quest to attain the blessings of both goddesses explains my physique.
Never judge a book by its cover, a movie by its book, or a video game by its movie.
I don’t want to be remembered as a writer. I would rather be remembered as a storyteller.
Mythology is like a game of Chinese Whispers. What goes in at one end of the human circle is rarely what emerges at the other end.
Everything is going to be right at the end. If it's not right, then it is not the end.
Physicists explain creation by telling us that the universe began with the Big Bang, an intense energy singularity that continued expanding. But pray, please do explain who created the singularity?
Surprise is when a prime minister is assassinated during his speech. Suspense is when an assassin lurks while the prime minister speaks. Balancing surprise and suspense is the job of the thriller writer.
Take the first A out of Abraham and put it at the end. You get Brahama. There’s the ancient connection right there.
It is the manner of death that reveals the importance of a man. Ordinary people are murdered while extraordinary people are assassinated.
The Egyptians saw the sun and called him Ra, the Sun God. He rode across the sky in his chariot until it was time to sleep. Copernicus and Galileo proved otherwise and poor Ra lost his divinity.
Write when drunk. Edit when sober. Market it with the persistence of a drug peddler.
Mythology does not interest me. Nor does history. But the possible overlap between history and mythology excites me immensely.
In Kolkata is a temple where the deity worshipped is Amitabh Bachchan. The daily aarti is performed to the chanting of the Amitabh Chaleesa. And people still ask, “Could our mythological heroes be based on actual people who once lived?
While I can’t walk on water, I can certainly wobble on whisky.
There is indeed one person who can help solve “writer’s block”. His name is Mr Johnnie Walker.
A community that engages readers and culturally enabled people to connect, support and harness intellectual and cultural capabilities.
The fundamental difference between books and movies is that the length of a book does not depend upon the capacity of the human bladder.
The publishing scene in India is evolving rapidly, and the key challenge is to keep reinventing oneself so that one does not become formulaic. Sometimes it is safer to deal with the consequences of failure than the fruits of success. Remaining on one's toes is critical, and often one finds that success makes one complacent.
The relationship between critic and writer is similar to the one between the pigeon and the statue.
I have always been a bit of an introvert. In fact, my dad used to force me to meet people so that my interpersonal skills improve. As an individual, I was happiest when left alone.
