Kissing the Demon by Amrita Kumar is a first of its kind of book I have read till date. It is a book written to help any budding and aspiring writers to write their books. To help understand nitty gritty and basic nuances involved in writing a book.
Writing a book is in no way an easy task. That’s why there are workshops conducted to help finish books. Some even provide online service to write the book. There are many websites which solely works to make the life of writers a little better by providing them with all sorts of help. Amrita’s book is one among the crowd but it really stands out for her honest efforts.
Kissing The Demon is a self help guide book to help remove the stumble blocks in the path of giving your creative imaginations wings to fly. Yes it is a self help book but with no unnecessary build-up. In fact she was precise and to the point with some solid and applicable advises throughout the book.
It is a well thought book and meticulously laid out. To my best knowledge she hasn’t left out a single aspect related to book writing. Be it writing the first sentence of the book to writer’s block to publishing the book to juggling writing book with your daily life she has covered it all. Though, she has missed out on various new technologies these days writer uses to ease writing pressure. Like voice recognition software and many writer friendly apps etc.
But keeping that last point aside one will find valuable information on the technicalities related to writing like narration, characterization, dialogue, description and plot. A little knowledge and idea about all these helps an author to set down his story in a way that he or she feels satisfy writing it and readers enjoy reading it.
What’s the best thing about this book is that all the advice, do’s and don’t, analysis, insights, observation of the author comes with some real examples extracted from highly acclaimed bestsellers which clearly shows Amrita being a keen reader and sharp observer. By the way Amrita Kumar is herself an editor and publisher and a writing mentor. So Kissing The Demon was penned by experienced hands.
But a journey of the book is incomplete if it doesn’t see the light of the day. So Amrita has also included one full section on publishers and different aspect of the publishing world in India which a buddy writer should keep in mind.
Like a true expert of her field, Amrita gives some handy tips about physical well being as well, which is so important when your work demands to sit for prolonged period of time. It is the part of her ten commandments, one of the section of the book, for the writerly life emphasizing on things which need to done or follow in order to develop good writing habits.
On the personal level the book has been a great learning experience for me. I have learned a lot by reading it. I think reading books and reviewing them will not be the same anymore. The book has every potential to draw that writer out of you, to inspire and tickle you to write something. At least I seriously felt the urge to write something while reading the book.
The Verdict:
Kissing The Demon is a fantastic self help exhaustive guide book for any novice writer, to help understand science of writing and to become aware of nooks and corners of the writing process.
Best part it is a no-frill book, straight to the point.
‘I received a copy from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’
