Through the Mist: Excerpts from the Stories

Through the Mist, the book that showcases collaborative writing is a collection of five short stories.

Here are the excerpts from the book, one from each story.

A Middle Class Story

Pari is a young, independent girl whose parents are looking for a match for her. But things take a funny turn when she goes on a vacation with her family.

They drove back up from the valley and resumed their journey. It was dark by the time they reached the resort; a 30 km drive from the varnival. Their resort was at the peak. “Hill Top Resort,” it was called. An apt name indeed.

Rehan was driving now. The rest of them were almost asleep. Pari dreamt of her spa weekend. Shan imagined they’d go trekking.

And Rehan, well Rehan only hoped he could somehow stop staring at Pari like a hopeless dog. The group advanced merrily, unaware of the chaos they were about to fall into.

Shan had forgotten to make a reservation.

A Strange Life

Aarya has a strange dream every night-of voices and silhouettes. Where will it all lead to?

She had the vision of her dream
once again.

Dark clouds. Strange voices. Tapping of the rain. A silhouette in the dark.

The strange voice tuned to a mellifluous voice. The voice was coming from the direction
of her bedroom. It seemed to be saying… no, singing something.
Yes, she could hear it clearly now.

The silhouette in the dark became visible. An image of a woman singing the lullaby to get Aarya to fall asleep, flitted through her mind.

Languish in Love

Love and Heartbreak in this beautiful story.

Those were the days. The days of
happiness. It was the most delightful phase of my life. When each hour seemed like divinity. When love danced in the spaces between each second. When life was painted with all the scintillating shades of magic.

Rain splashed against the rusty window panes. The tapping of the rain on the roof weaved a pitter-patter symphony. Nature
lightened up with the showers. The vibrant flowers in my garden swayed and the silvery drops adorned the leaves. The garden became all the more iridescent. As the rain cast a spell on nature, my memories cast a spell a spell on me.

The Lone Man

John has lost his wife Sarah. It has been a year but his nightmares won’t stop.

I reach the edge of the cliff. I look below, and there’s water everywhere. It feels like the cliff is floating on top of the water. I get the strange sensation that I am being watched.

Suddenly, a hand shoots up from the waters below. I crouch down to take a closer look. It’s beckoning to me, as if to ask for help. Maybe it is the strange man I saw earlier. Maybe he fell down, and is asking me to help him.

No sooner do I get up to help whoever it is, the hand shoots up in the air and falls back into
the water. And right in front of my eyes, the clear water slowly turns a shade of red.

Another bloodcurdling scream. This time, my own.

Turn of the Tides

Nature is mighty but can it subdue human spirit?

I lumber forward; losing my balance; my hands clawing the mist, clutching at nothing. The cold air hurts my lungs; my breath comes in rasps. I touch the rocks, feel my way blindly through the dense fog that comes rolling out from the sea.

It is hard to be on the shore when the young ‘uns are all weaving nets and getting the boats ready for the journey yonder. I want to be the one going out to the sea, feeling the wind on me, my blood roaring in my veins like them waves all my long, sea faring life.

I cry out as I lose my footing and fall, a seagull squawking hoarsely, its voice merging with the wind. The bad leg sprawls; the red stains the sand, leaving a wet track on this dry day.

Buy the Book from Amazon.

Through the Mist: A Collection of Stories

Through the Mist is a collection of five stories and each story showcases collaborative writing. Every story is written jointly by 5 authors.

The stories are in various genres. Here is a sneak peek into the stories.

Languish in Love is a love story with a twist. It is narrated by a poet who is searching for his long lost love. It meanders through bitter sweet memories till he is on the verge of finding his love.

A Middle Class Story is just that; the story of a middle class family, with typical middle class aspirations especially when it comes to marriage and looking for a life partner. It could be a commentary on social values but it is a good laugh riot.

The Lone Man portrays fear and loneliness from the loss of a partner which soon descends to chilling horror when John finds the mysterious book in the library he works at.

A Strange Life has Aarya, struggling to climb the corporate ladder and who finds herself slipping into an alternate reality when she encounters a strange dwarf who guides her to psychics.

Turn of the Tides is the story of the mightiest element of nature, the sea and of the men who are at the mercy of her power.

Read more about the Collaboration.

I am promoting Through the Mist as part of #BlogchatterProjects. Read the introduction to the Project.

Buy the Book from Amazon.

Through the Mist: Collaborative Writing at its Best | Blogchatter Projects

It has been a year since my first Collaborative book, Through the Mist was published. The book is a collection of five stories, in different genres and each story is written jointly by all the authors.

It has been an exciting journey so far, right from the visualisation of the concept to making the writing seamless and the actual publishing of the book.

I have been fortunate to have the backing of an excellent team who made this unique project a reality.

As is the case in independent publishing, our first readers have been family and friends. We got a very positive response and that was what made us want to promote the book to a wider audience.

Read the book reviews of Through the Mist here and here.

How is Through the Mist Different?

The book has five authors. In contrast to an anthology, the book has stories which are jointly written by all the authors. It means that each story has five seamless parts and each story has five authors. Remarkably, the stories are a wonderful experience. The tone and the voice of the narrative is consistent despite the fact that each story has been written by five authors who have drawn from their varied perspectives and experiences. The genre of the stories is mixed. They range from humour to horror to laugh riots.

Promoting the Book

The uniqueness of the book is Collaborative Writing. It is possible to have a high quality work emerge from diverse voices.

And yet, promoting the book beyond family, friends and acquaintances requires a special set of skills. I realised that to get an audience interested in a book, it helps to have a community or an eager readership. It also helps to have a social media presence. A personal blog contributes immensely in brand building.

And this is where Blogchatter Projects comes into the picture.

What is Blogchatter Projects?

Firstly, let me introduce Blogchatter to you. Blogchatter is a community of bloggers and social media enthusiasts looking to sync their blogging and promoting their writing through social media.

Blogchatter Projects is a way to champion the cause you are passionate about. For me, it has been a dream to see my book talked about, read extensively and discussed. It is not enough that a book be written. The next logical step is that the world knows about your book.

I am taking this opportunity of Blogchatter Projects to talk about Through the Mist and offer people a chance to read it. For the next one month, I am going to tease my potential readers and tempt them to pick the book.

Come Along On This Journey

I invite all my readers to come along on this fascinating journey of book promotion.

Look for more on the book on the blog.

Follow #CollaborativeWriting #ThroughTheMist and #BlogchatterProjects on Twitter for excerpts, reader feedback, links to reviews and much more.

You can find the Kindle edition of Through the Mist on Amazon.

Buy the Paperback from the Publisher’s Website.

How my Collaborative Team helped me become a Published Author

First Anniversary

This September marks one year of the publishing of my first book, Through the Mist. It’s been an unparalleled experience of working with a diverse team. The book is not just a collection of short stories; it involved working with four other authors to finish the stories. It wasn’t only writing but also switching points of view; thinking not just of the reader but also the writer who was going to complete my story.

Through the Mist, a collection of five stories, written by five authors was a unique idea to start with. The starting point of each story was a picture. Each author started a different story, a different genre, with a set of characters that she liked. Then that story was handed over to the next author for her to take the story forward. The process repeated itself till each story had been written by all five authors.

So, we got five stories born out of the rich imagination and diverse experiences of the authors. Even though we all looked at the same picture, we had very different takes. The protagonists and the settings were wildly different from each other.

Languish in Love is a love story with a twist. It is narrated by a poet who is searching for his long lost love. It meanders through bitter sweet memories till he is on the verge of finding his love.

A Middle Class Story is just that; the story of a middle class family, with typical middle class aspirations especially when it comes to marriage and looking for a life partner. It could be a commentary on social values but it is a good laugh riot.

The Lone Man portrays fear and loneliness from the loss of a partner which soon descends to chilling horror when John finds the mysterious book in the library he works at.

A Strange Life has Aarya, struggling to climb the corporate ladder and who finds herself slipping into an alternate reality when she encounters a strange dwarf who guides her to psychics.

Turn of the Tides is the story of the mightiest element of nature, the sea and of the men who are at the mercy of her power.

The five stories were overseen by the in house editor who made sure that the stories were coherent, that the expressions did not vary widely and there was a smooth flow in the narration.

It has been a labour of love, right from the putting together of the team to publishing the final product.

Collaboration: A Supportive Process

Writing can be a very lonely process. For me, the story arc gets intimidating. I spend too much time in creating the setting. My characters need a lot of space to develop. I flounder at ending stories; I just can’t seem to get to the finish line.

In this entire process of writing Through the Mist, I was supported by my team. The photo acted as a prompt. Even though it showed a mountain, my mind imagined a sea beyond that mist. This helped me create a two-protagonist story with alternating point of view, both in the first person narrative.

For the other stories, it became easier to take over the baton. The setting was there, the characters had been introduced, I only had to write the next part. This was helpful because I can get quite indecisive about which direction the story should take.

Ending another story was challenging because I had to unravel a mystery and explain the loose ends. But the hard work done by all the authors before me helped.

The editor took care of the flow of the story. I really did not have to worry about how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

Gratitude

Immense Gratitude and Thanks to every person in my team. Jithin, who conceptualised the idea and gave all the five authors their first published book. Aadhira, who worked tirelessly over the months, co-ordinating, editing and smoothing out obstacles.
My four excellent co-authors, Abirami, Aadithya, Nimitha and Rupali who helped me in giving direction to stories and tying up the ends neatly.

Holding the paperback in my hands was well worth the effort of the preceding months.

If you would like to read this unique book, you can buy the paperback from the Publisher.

Kindle edition lovers, buy the book from Amazon.

You can read the book free on Kindle Unlimited.

This post is part of #MyFriendAlexa. I am taking my Alexa rank to the next level with Blogchatter.

And This is Where I Summarise

The things we do for the love of reading and writing! Here are some of the things that I put up on my blog this year.

Book Reviews

I have written a lot of book reviews this year. But the most fun I had was in the months of September and October, when I raced against time to read the Booker shortlist, before the winner got announced. I managed to read five out of six, Paul Auster’s 4 3 2 1 being too long for me, even in the best of times. Reading these excellent books back to back provided me with some great insights regarding the storylines and the plots. I was excited to read these vastly different voices, from the richly imagined Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (the 2017 winner) to the ethereal History of the Wolves by Emily Fridlund (an excellent debut). There was another debut work, Elmet by Fiona Mozley, which had excellent world building. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid has received effusive praise and I would let others do the talking here. Autumn by Ali Smith made me long to write something on those lines; light, contemporary, witty and yet poignant. It sounded from the heart; it talked of things close to us, the ones that touch us deeply in life.

I also marveled at how these adept writers broke the rules and how books are wonderous even when they are flawed.

Listicles

This year, I made public my love for writing lists. Ideally, everything I know or think of can be written in the form of lists. It isn’t just the satisfaction of ticking off things; it is the fun of enumerating things without having to structure my thoughts much. So, I kicked off 2017 with a weekly feature on lists. Those listicles ruled the blog till October when I realised that I was repeating myself and would do so unless I found different things to write about. Most of the listicles were about the writing process and really, nearly all of them are my favourites. Still, I would recommend this one on keeping the writing inspiration strong. And this one on the Muse. Also this on creativity. I wrote one on goodbyes. And why I write.

NaNoWriMo 2017

I completed the NaNoWriMo this year too and saw the difference it makes when one writes a lot, even though initially a lot of it may be crappy. I learnt a lot more about the writing process and what my strengths (obstinacy) and weaknesses (outlining) are.

If we were having coffee…

I wanted to write many coffee posts and have a heart to heart talk with my readers but this year, I was also stuck in the bubble of not wanting to talk much about myself or what was up in my personal life. I wanted to cut out the I, Me, Myself completely but our blogs are essentially a reflection of our selves. I need not have played the hide and seek. Hopefully, in the coming months, I would be able to talk more of my experiences.

Through the Mist

The best thing in the journey of reading and writing came in the form of a collaborative book that got published this year. I got together with four other writers and penned short stories for a collection titled, Through the Mist. Writing with others turned out to be a new and fun experience and having my own published book in my hands is a priceless feeling. Being part of a very supportive team of writers, the editor and the publisher has been an enriching writing experience.

Sunday Trees

This year has also been about the trees. I cannot help noticing them wherever I go. I am incredibly fortunate to be in cities that are teeming with so many of them. And as a blogger friend pointed out, we appreciate and take care of trees and that’s a fantastic thing on our part.

I was also very fascinated with flowers. For some time, I happened to be in a place where the houses are fronted with magnificent gardens, a plethora of flowers in every yard. I was hooked as I saw their colours and forms with new eyes. And then we moved places and there are no flowers in the boxed apartments. I have taken to clicking leaves of the potted plants. But that’s a story for another time.

Thanks and good wishes to each one of you in the blogging community. I wouldn’t be here, if not for you.

Publishing Jimpify’s second book: Through the Mist

Through the Mist

We at Jimpify Publishing, are very happy and proud to announce the publishing of our second book, ‘Through the Mist’.

On 1st of September 2017, we are publishing our first collaborative fiction and our second book, Through the Mist. It has been a wonderful and exciting journey working with all the talented writers, right from the writing of the book till its publication.

About the Collaboration

‘Through the Mist’ is a collaborative book and an innovative venture to break a common belief and to validate an old saying.

It is a common belief that a story can be spun from only one pen. But ‘Through the Mist’ is a bouquet of stories from a bunch of authors.
The book validates that ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ because a single photograph is the only common link to all the stories of this book.
Yes, a picture is worth a book!

‘Through the Mist’ is a collaborative fiction book that has brought together five writers from diverse backgrounds. The starting point of the stories is a picture, that has been interpreted by each of the writers differently so that the stories touch many genres and have varied characters.

What is the book About?

A reader commonly believes that an author always has control over her story. That holds true if a story has only one author. Here in this book, each of the five stories has five authors and each story is set to a different theme.

Every author has proved that they can start a story, lay twists and turns, strengthen the plot, tie up the loose ends as well as wrap up a story.

‘Through the Mist’ is a collaboration of pens, voices and experiences that brings forth seamless stories. With an exquisite cadence and rhythm, the different characters and the settings come alive.

‘A Middle Class story’ brings us Pari, the independent, headstrong girl whose parents want her to marry and settle down. Love has other views and comes unexpectedly through Rehan. In this comedy of errors, blunders pile on and the protagonists head a laugh riot.

In ‘A strange Life’, Aarya, bored with her profession and disappointed with her personal life, finds an unexpected adventure that is a little too much for her to comprehend. Can she manifest the life she has wanted to have, by reclaiming her power?

Aakash cannot forget Anavya, the love of his life. His longing turns him into a poet and he hopes and waits for her, years later. ‘Languish in Love’ is a delicate story that explores love, longing, pain.

‘The Lone Man’ is hard hitting. All John wants is to forget his wife Sarah’s death and get on with his life. But his nightmares and visions would not let go of him.

‘ Turn of the Tides‘ is set at sea and the men who have lived with the sea and loved her are the ones who fear her now. Can they conquer their dread and have the sea lose her power over them?

These stories are a surprising collection of different genres. The language is intense but the stories are crafted with incredible elegance. There are subtle twists and delightful conclusions.

The team behind this collaborative creation is :

Jithin, who provided the inspiration for the book. He blogs at www.trablogger.com

Abirami, the teenager who’s obsessed with writing and blogs at www.theobsessivewriter.com

Adhithya, the youngest teenager of the team who blogs at www.wordstuggedatheartstrings.WordPress.com

Nimitha, the writer who finds time to write between her busy work schedule. She blogs at www.nimzrevealed.WordPress.com

Rupali, the teenager studying maths and writing poems at www.literatureismyporn.WordPress.com

Sona, an avid reader and our resource person to lend any help. She blogs at www.sonaonline.WordPress.com

Aadhira, our in house editor who pushed everyone to write this book, blogs at www.aadhira.me

The authors became readers of their own stories and certified each of them to be a good read.

Here is your chance to grab the paperback of ‘Through the Mist’.

Follow this link to buy ‘Through the Mist’.

For those who love Kindle reading, the book is available on Amazon Kindle as well.