Please follow and like us:

Writing is a job, or a vocation or maybe an addiction that requires you to do a lot of things besides writing. Then there are those of us who seem to find a lot of other things to do (hold on while I straighten that picture on the wall) before we can get around to writing.

In this installment of Written Words, thriller author Claude Bouchard from Montreal and Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar from Qatar offer their very different perspectives on the art and craft of being a writer.

Which element of fiction is most important to you as a writer?

Claude Bouchard: If I’m limited to a single choice, the plot is most important as you can’t really have a story without, uh, a story. However, characterization and setting(s) are required elements as well in order to give the story life and dimension. Details are also important in terms of accuracy although I don’t tend toward minutiae. To varying degrees, action is dependent on the genre and, in my case, is also a relevant aspect in my writing. Sex, not as much since I write crime thrillers.

Mohana Rajakumar: I tend to write character driven stories and learned the hard way that what happens in the story is as important as to whom it is happening. I’ve started outlining before writing to help me stay on track.

Because all my books have a cultural element, getting the little details right, such as words, clothing, food, etc. is also really important.

What part of writing do you spend the most time on: research, writing, editing, making coffee or cleaning your work space?

Claude Bouchard: In my case, research, writing and editing are all ongoing activities throughout my writing process so they get equal billing. Coffee is a couple of cups in the morning, the machine having been set on timer the night before. As for cleaning my work space, I may have missed the memo regarding that one.

Mohana Rajakumar: Editing! I can write a manuscript in 30 days but I need seven months to revise it (or more!).

Which of these do you enjoy most?

Claude Bouchard: The pure writing part of my process is what I enjoy the most, especially when I’m on a roll.

Mohana Rajakumar: I love writing a good scene. Nothing can beat the feeling of having created a world others want to enter.

What do you wish you had to do less?

Claude Bouchard: Although I generally like doing research, it would be nice if I sometimes knew everything and could simply spew it out.

Mohana Rajakumar: I wish I could write flawless prose that never needed a proof reader.

What part of writing or publishing do you think you could help other writers with?

Claude Bouchard: Having written and published fourteen works to date, I’ve had a number of writers ask for help or advice in a variety of areas and, to my knowledge, assisted them to their satisfaction.

Mohana Rajakumar: I could help other writers with story structure.

Which of your books or other works are you personally happiest with? Why?

Claude Bouchard: I love all my books and don’t you be telling them anything different. However, I am rather pleased with Nasty in Nice, the novella I wrote for the JET Kindle World. Melding Russell Blake’s characters with mine was a blast, the plot is solid, the action rocks and I put it all together in record time.

Mohana Rajakumar: I do love the new crime series that I started with The Migrant Report because it was a completely new genre for me.

Thank you, Claude and Mohana!

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is a South Asian American who has lived in Qatar since 2005. Moving to the Arabian desert was fortuitous in many ways since this is where she met her husband, had two sons, and became a writer.  She has since published eight e-books, including a momoir for first-time mothers, Mommy But Still Me; a guide for aspiring writers, So You Want to Sell a Million Copies; a short story collection, Coloured and Other Stories; and a novel about women’s friendships, Saving Peace.

Her coming of age novel, An Unlikely Goddess, won the SheWrites New Novelist competition in 2011.

Her recent books have focused on various aspects of life in Qatar. From Dunes to Dior, named as a Best Indie book in 2013, is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf. Love Comes Later was the winner of the Best Indie Book Award for Romance in 2013 and is a literary romance set in Qatar and London. The Dohmestics is an inside look into compound life, the day-to-day dynamics between housemaids and their employers. Her latest book is The Migrant Report.

After she joined the e-book revolution, Mohana dreams in plotlines. Learn more about her work on her website at www.mohadoha.com or follow her latest on Twitter: @moha_doha.

Claude Bouchard wrote his first novel, Vigilante, in 1995, and two more by 1997, but did not publish them until 2009. Since then, he has also written a stand-alone novel, Asylum, and eight more thrillers in the Vigilante series including his latest release, Sins in the Sun. Two of his novels were included in the pair of blockbuster Killer Thriller anthologies, the second of which made the USA Today Bestsellers list in March 2014. Claude has also penned Something’s Cooking, a faux-erotica parody and cookbook under the pseudonyms Réal E. Hotte and Dasha Sugah. His most recent work, released July 28, 2015, is Nasty in Nice, his contribution to Russell Blake’s JET Kindle World.

Eight of his eleven books in the Vigilante Series have been #1 bestsellers in the Vigilante Justice category on Amazon while the remaining three came close in the #2 and #3 slots. Nasty in Nice made #3 on the Kindle World Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Bestseller List and sat comfortably at #1 for several days as a Hot New Release. Almost 600,000 copies of his books have been distributed to date.

Claude lives in Montreal, Canada with his spouse, Joanne, under the watchful eye of Krystalle and Midnight, two black females of the feline persuasion.

Claude’s other interests include reading, playing guitar, painting, cooking, traveling and planning to exercise.

His website, claudebouchardbooks.com, has often been described as comparable to DisneyLand without the rides.