Novels should be judged rigorously. Either a book works or it doesn’t. The fact that something is true in the real world should not lend authority to it in fiction.
AKHIL SHARMANovels should be judged rigorously. Either a book works or it doesn’t. The fact that something is true in the real world should not lend authority to it in fiction.
AKHIL SHARMAIt is hard to write about physically difficult things without causing the reader to disengage.
AKHIL SHARMAThe monsoon is such a dominant part of Indian life that it is hard to overstate its importance.
AKHIL SHARMAIntern will resonate not only with doctors, but with anyone who has struggled with the grand question ‘What should I do with my life?’ In a voice of profound honesty and intelligence,
AKHIL SHARMAI tend to think that we are all pretty much alike. We all feel despair. We all have problems with relationships.
AKHIL SHARMAI can guide them to books that will serve as role models. Largely, though, one learns to write almost like developing muscle memory, and this requires years of effort.
AKHIL SHARMAThe babies have old souls and the old souls have to shrink to become little babies.
AKHIL SHARMATo me exposition always contains tenderness.
AKHIL SHARMAIt’s easy when you grow up in fear to act out of fear. I don’t want to embrace that fear; I prefer to be kind.
AKHIL SHARMAWe all become afraid. We all look at others and think these other people are more fortunate than us.
AKHIL SHARMAI can’t have composite characters. I can’t attribute dialogue to someone based simply on my memory and not based on notes taken at the time that the words were spoken.
AKHIL SHARMAWhile a dramatized scene is a way of proving and guaranteeing an emotional experience for the reader, exposition assumes that the reader is sophisticated and can see the universal.
AKHIL SHARMAPeople often need to describe things quickly and so they use a shorthand. The problem is that after they use a label, they begin to think only in terms of the label instead of the totality of the experience a novel provides.
AKHIL SHARMAI need to tell the things that are important but which don’t make sense in terms of the narrative, things that would destroy symmetry or narrative pace. This is my personal belief about what it means to write nonfiction.
AKHIL SHARMAThe little babies are missing their families from their past lives.
AKHIL SHARMAMy parents are deeply pious Hindus.
AKHIL SHARMA