Several years back I was attracted by
this two full page ad in the NYT Book Review section highlighting two pages of
a new book's opening. It was The Man From Beijing, an
international mystery thriller. I had thought of opening the
Mahabharata like a mystery story. Those two provocative
and well chosen pages were a powerful hook, although it turned
out they weren't the book's very opening pages. I got the book and it
promised to be a powerhouse, as was the premise of the book, and the
flashbacks. But after mid way, the story began to unravel as the author
moved away from the basic premise.
Henning Mankell is one of Sweden's great writers, so it was
alarming to see such a potentially good story fall flat on it's face. The
author tried to take the story where it really didn't have to go. He lost
momentum in the process. If Mankill couldn’t get a handle on his story,
how was I going to do it with the vast Mahabharata. Later, I found the
reviewers and readers had a mixed response to his book. A lot of
people still seemed to like the book because it was from Mankill. Unfortunately,
I did not have a dedicated following like he did.
For me, however, the lesson was simple. That is, to
stick to the premise of your story. Premise means the purpose, the idea, the
essential message or meaning of the story. The basic truth of the story. The
premise should be a compass for the author. It may take a while working with
the story to begin to fully define and understand your premise. It's easy
to start a story. You might have one definite idea or a jumble of
ideas and scenes. But in the excitement, you can't let that jumble carry you
away, which it did with The Man From Beijing which got
into superfluous passages and scenes. Once you find it,
keep your eye on the premise. Don't lose sight of it. As a
writer, that's what you have to serve.
For more tips see www.Mahabharata-Project.com - On Writing
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