It's been a short while since my latest limited audio-series "Silsila Ye Chaahat Ka" ended, so in this episode of Storytalking With Lakshya (#119) I give you a spoiler-filled breakdown of how that story and podcast came together! Also I might have teased my next podcast in this one. I'm writing this description a couple days after recording it so I…

Writing dialogue is my thing. Monologues are a lot of fun, and that's where all my recent podcast work has gone due to external factors, but writing two people talking is my first love. And the thing about writing two voices talking to each other is that I know they're both coming from my head, but they don't know that. To them, they're real people…

I have two creative voices - the English Lakshya, and the Hindi Lakshya. For the past year, the Hindi voice has been really active, leaving the English voice dormant and feeling neglected, which drove him straight into a writer’s block. He’s back now, and he has a story to tell. About how he got his voice back - and it has something to do with... a…

"How do you go from hopeless to hopeful?" 2020 has been unexpected. The unexpected, by nature, comes unannounced. Isn't that hope's shtick too? In the season 3 finale of 'Storytalking with Lakshya' (#116), I recap some of the planned vs unexpected things that happened this year, along with some behind-the-mic stories from writing and recording my l…

"Kisi ko poora samajhna hai, shayad yahi pyaar hai". This episode of Storytalking with Lakshya (#115) is the end of this mini-BTS-series about "Tumne Kisi Se Kabhi Pyaar KIya Hai?" - and in this one I tell you all about the process behind the last 3 episodes the show, and I also reflect back on what this journey has been like. Plus, some teasers ab…

"Pyaar bekaar hai." In this episode of Storytalking With Lakshya (#114), I continue to break down the plot and process behind select episodes of my ongoing audio-series "Tumne Kisi Se Kabhi Pyaar Kiya Hai?" (all episodes of season 1 now streaming on JioSaavn). This episode covers parts 13 to 18 of the show. I also use sports analogies and talk abou…

Hear-ye hear-ye, in this episode of Storytalking With Lakshya (#113), I continue to break down the plot and process behind select episodes of my ongoing audio-series "Tumne Kisi Se Kabhi Pyaar Kiya Hai?" (which is currently playing exclusively on JioSaavn). This episode covers parts 7 to 12 of the show. Do not listen to this if you haven't heard th…

Back after 8 weeks to give you episode #112 of Storytalking With Lakshya! This one is all about how my new show “Tumne Kisi Se Kabhi Pyaar Kiya Hai?” (now streaming exclusively on JioSaavn) came to be during this global lockdown. I also break down the writing process behind first six episodes of the show (parts 1 to 6). Spoiler Alert: listen to thi…

Creativity in the time of quarantine. We're living through uncertain times, and being creative during this time requires focus and patience. So in this episode of Storytalking With Lakshya (#111 btw) I talk you through my quarantine-schedule to stay creative while still being on the right side of sane. The episode title, btw, is from a line I wrote…

I'm in the first phase of working on my book - which basically involves a lot of "rulemaking" and "structure". So following some great advice I received from bestselling author Ashwin Sanghi - I'm using an excel sheet to create the groundwork for my book. And since the story is about a marriage told over six scenes over 20ish years, I'm basically c…

Play Me Life launch. One More Night With Meera hits 10,000 listens. Jaipur Literature Festival 2020 memories. Oh and by the way, I think I'm going to write a book. Listen in.

I'm starting off 2020 with a very eventful January, so this is a jam-packed episode (#108!) of Storytalking With Lakshya, where I first give you updates on all our shows (Jaipur Bytes, Poetry Darbaar, Play Me Life), AND then I have a chat with two super talented storytellers: Varud Gupta and Ayushi Rastogi, who have created a truly unique graphic n…

A year ago, at the end of 2018, Launchora had just one podcast - this one. We're ending 2019 with five podcasts produced - Storytalking With Lakshya, Jaipur Bytes, The Vision-Nari Podcast, Jazz India Circuit Podcast, Poetry Darbaar - with a total of 230 episodes released so far. AND, in January 2020, I'm finally going to launch our sixth podcast: m…

“You’re this, but you’re also that.” How you start a story requires a lot of attention, especially if you want your audience to stay till the end. Another #AskLakshya special, in this episode (#106!) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I talk about how to write the opening scene of a story that draws in your audience immediately. Using my current work-in…

You asked, I listened, and then I talked... this episode (#105!) of Storytalking With Lakshya is all about how I deal with writer's block. A listener asked me earlier this week about how I manage to find my way out of not being able to write. I had a lot to say about this (as you can tell by the episode length!). But really, this should be of use t…

Returning from a four-week hiatus, I've got a lot to share in this mega-episode #104 of Storytalking With Lakshya. First, there's some writing-and-producing talk regarding "Play Me Life" and "Play Me Zindagi" - where we are on the scripts and basically all my fears. Then we jump into the behind-the-scenes of our latest show "Jazz India Circuit Podc…

The language a character speaks isn't just representing their thoughts - it's telling us who they are. So what happens, when you take a story and re-write it in a new language? How does that change the character? How does that change the story? How does that change the message behind the story? Those are just some of the questions I attempt to expl…

Picture this: you’re 17 years old, and today is the last day of school, EVER. Tomorrow, you’re no longer going to be a “school student”. You’re on your way to proper adulthood. And the person you’ve been dating for the last two years decides to use this moment of your life - the last day of your childhood - to break up with you. How are you going t…

This is a really special episode (#101), so it deserves a different kind of description. So whether you’re a regular listener, or this is your first episode of Storytalking With Lakshya, I want to tell you something about me (Lakshya) that you may not know. When I was 17, I moved from my home in Gurgaon, India to San Diego, California to study at t…

I started recording this episode (#100!) of Storytalking With Lakshya at 23.30pm on September 19, 2019, which meant I had 30 minutes left on my birthday. So of course I spent it with you, talking about stories. The stories that I have made up and lived these past 30 years as a person, these past 10 years as a writer, these past 5 years as a not-ama…

Harry Potter was 11 years old in the first book. Harry Potter was played by an 11 year old in the movie. But, Harry Potter was not written by an 11 year old. Adults have been pretending to be kids, teenagers, young adults in fiction forever. Obvious observation? Sure. Everything is obvious once you know it. But what about the things we learn, find …

Characters don't stop existing after the audience leaves the story (exceptions: murder and other forms of death, obviously) - so how do you know when and where in the story they should stop being typed? That's on the agenda of this week's episode (#98) of Storytalking With Lakshya. The story in context here is called "Dad, We Need to Talk." - which…

Do you ever find yourself thinking something that you know you shouldn't? Something you would never, ever share publicly? Well, if you're like me - you don't just think that stuff, you write it. In this episode (#97) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I tell you about how I went from editing "Dad, We Need to Talk" (what I had written so far) to "type-ba…

Metaphorically speaking, skeletons aren't unique - It's the meat on them that makes them so. In this episode (#96!) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I use this meat-and-skeleton metaphor to break down how I took the skeleton of the "Dad, We Need to Talk." story (which was the topic in episode #94) and worked through adding in the meat, i.e., the dialo…

What an adventure it is, when you know you can go anywhere, do anything - but you also have to make up all the "wheres" and the "things". In this episode (#95!) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I take you for a deep dive into a brand new audio-play story called "Dad, We Need To Talk." that I just started writing last night. The title refers to the tex…

Who even talks on the phone anymore? People stuck in traffic was the answer I got, so I wrote a whole story where just that happens. One man. 3 women. 12 calls. His past, present, and future - all is at stake (not really though) in this 45 minute ride through Delhi traffic. In this episode (#94!) of Storytalking with Lakshya, I tell you about the u…

You start at the beginning… and then eventually… you make it to the end. And then you realize - sh*t… this ending needs a better beginning. In this episode (#93!) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I tell you about the whirlwind journey that it has been to finally finish writing "The Temptation" (for the upcoming audio-play series "Play Me Life"). But t…

"The more I write... the more this story doesn't want to end." - That sentence pretty much sums up this week's episode (#92!) of Storytalking With Lakshya. But, since I already have your attention, I'll give you some more info / context. This past weekend was a creative roller coaster (in the dark too, like Disneyland's Space Mountain) - I wrote a …

I was stuck. Like, embarrassing-myself-because-I-cannot-write-more-because-its-not-going-to-be-good stuck. And then the solution literally came to me right before I was about to enter the night-dream-land. In this episode (#91!) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I speed-tell you about the last 24 hours where I did a lot of creative things but also got …

I started telling a story five years ago. Today, marks the end of my part in writing it, as it begins to writes itself from now on. In this very special episode (#90!) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I talk to you about Launchora, which started as a dream 5 years ago with just me, and is now home to over 200,000 storytellers and has entertained 9 mil…

Is the temptation to cheat, the desire of the act and experience, as bad as going through with it? That question is on the agenda in this episode (#89!) of Storytalking With Lakshya. It started with a repeat viewing of a fave movie, and turned into the plot of an upcoming "Play Me Life" audio-play episode. I talk through the latest update on that, …

You have a starting point. You have an ending point. You know what milestones are along the way. You’ve made this journey happen once. Now, you have to do it all over again, but along a completely new route, while still hitting all the same milestones and keeping the “essence” of the journey same. That’s what this episode (#88!) of Storytalking Wit…

Dialogues are like clothes. You like the ones that make you feel fancy and look "good". But you really prefer the ones that make you feel comfortable - that make you feel like "you". This episode (#87) of Storytalking With Lakshya starts with me feeling insecure about my “radio” voice. It ends on a cliffhanger where I whisper something into your ea…

Some people go to a place of worship. Some do yoga or meditate. When I need to recharge, or "center myself", I go to the movies. In this episode (#86) of Storytalking With Lakshya. I talk about how watching movies has always saved me, helped me think, but also been my crutch. The Writer's Limbo is a real place... and I hope to get out of it soon...…

In this episode (#85) of Storytalking With Lakshya, you will hear me talk about the stories I grew up with, some I’d never heard of until I started seeing them, how that has shaped my writing over the years, and how wanting to give you (my audience) that experience of a never-heard-of story helped me finish a script for the upcoming ‘Play Me Life’ …

Oh, you’re going to like this one. Maybe. Probably. Hopefully. Please like it? I know you will. Because in this episode (#84), for the first time ever on #StorytalkingWithLakshya, you’ll be hearing a live performance / table-read / reading / rehearsal of an audio play I've written called "One More Night With Isabel" (working title) for our upcoming…

A new learning + writing schedule leads to new and surprising revelations. In this episode (#83) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I share a recent experience of revisiting old characters I had created, and re-writing them to be new people. When you re-write characters to be the same but different, what affects does that have on the story? Join me on t…

I've struggled with lying my whole life. Basically, I can't lie. When I was a kid, I thought "making stuff up" = lying, and therefore I'm never going to be a writer. Obviously, over the last decade things changed. In this episode (#82) of Storytalking With Lakshya, I break down the writing process from the perspective of a storyteller who can't lie…

Artist, teacher, mother. Sukriti, aka the Doctor of Happiness, uses art to express herself, and also heal. In turn, her art has helped others who feel and connect with what she has to say. In episode #81 of Storytalking with Lakshya, listen to Lakshya’s conversation with Sukriti Vadhera Kohli, as she shares her journey, from childhood drawings to a…

Over the last weekend, I got to be a part of a lot of ideas, discussions, and stories as a speaker and mentor at Startup Weekend Amsterdam 2019. In this episode (#80) of Storytalking with Lakshya, I break down what I learned over the weekend, and why I chose to learn what I have learned over the last 5 years of running Launchora. And it all starts …

Live from Amsterdam, I present to you episode #79 of Storytalking With Lakshya, where I talk about the difference between writing and typing, how much I’ve done of both during this trip, why traveling is like experiencing “alternative narratives”, and how I write and put together a speech or talk (something I will be doing this Friday, March 29 in …

I spent this past week in the deepest depths of the storytelling multi-verse. Along with me for this ride are a bunch of movies, some screenplays, and a couple of my past selves. This episode (#77) is quite literally "Storytalking with Lakshyas".

Theatre, improvisation, reliving stories from your life from someone else's perspective, new words for old stories, writing a new story for old friends - there's quite a lot to unpack in episode 77 of Storytalking With Lakshya.

“Kaash ke tere naal beh ke / Ro lainda tere dukh lai ke / Bol tere khwaabaan di / Dor kiththon tutti eh." Gurpreet wants people to talk about sadness and pain, the same way they talk about happiness and love, and he shares that message through the songs he writes. In this episode (#76 of Storytalking with Lakshya) I spoke to Gurpreet Saini - lyrici…

"Maybe love is a virus. And we're the carriers." I'm back (because I wanted to be) with a new episode of our (that's you and I / hum tum) ongoing Dual Stories series where I talk to you about how I'm putting together a story. Some big decisions are made in this episode (#75 of Storytalking!) - including the structure of the dual stories, the *final…

“Theatre is about energy. It’s about the audience being curious and generous to the actors… that’s how the magical moments happen.” In episode #74 of Storytalking with Lakshya, I sat down with Quasar Thakore Padamsee, aka 'Q' - renowned theatre director and producer, co-founder of QTP (a theatre and arts production company), and curator of TATA Lit…

“Good journalism is about bringing down people in power who have done wrong things. But ironically, good journalism makes you very powerful.” My guest this week, Ravi Shankar Etteth (who said the above quote) is a seasoned journalist and author. I sat down with Ravi at his house in Delhi, to talk about his latest novel ‘Killing Time In Delhi’. We t…

Is vulnerability a strength or a weakness? Is love a problem or a solution? Is immortality a gift or a curse? Those are just some of the things I talk about in this episode (#72) as I take my ‘Dual Stories’ concept to the next level and work on my characters, their backstories, and why their journeys are worth following. I also share some of the fi…

“This book is an homage to our country’s rich culinary heritage and diversity.” - Shashi Tharoor said that about 'Bhagwaan Ke Pakwaan: Food Of The Gods’. In episode #71 of Storytalking, Lakshya sat down with the authors of the book, Varud Gupta and Devang Singh. The authors talk about their individual journeys that led to this milestone in their li…

Motion capture technology has given us movies such as Wonder Woman and Beauty and the Beast, television shows such as Game Of Thrones, and realistic video games such as Assassins Creed and FIFA. In episode #70 of Storytalking, Lakshya sat down with Parth Shah, director of Centroid Motion Capture (who are responsible for the tech used on all the tit…