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Novel On Guru Gobind Singh Ji


GSSB

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Hi guys,

I am a relatively new writer and one of my aims for a book in the future is to tell the story of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

The idea would be to tell his story as accurately as possible from early years to the end, this would require lots of research and is probably a few years away from beginning as a project. I am Sikh and want the world to know about the amazing story of our Guru, my question to you guys here is that would you have issues with the story being told as a novel?

Some of the dialogue in the novel would have to be invented or expanded where required but the main of the story would be as accurate as possible and the research would be as thorough as possible.

Let me know your thoughts please.

WWW.GSBAINSBOOKS.COM

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The problem with novels that straddle the line between fact and fiction is that the average reader doesnt have the brain to differentiate and those who are smart will see an agenda. No matter how you say it, we are all prejudiced and opinionated and this will always come across. In the west we see this with Christian fiction which is 'based on a true story' but when you research the backstory, it is wildly different.

I've been writing some scripts and alternative history novels based on Sikh history. I have found that to avoid the issue of bias I just state facts if they can be backed up but have them in the background to my fictional story so that people who may watch or read could tell the difference (hopefully). If you want to write a novel, why not make up the story and heroes etc but include your research as backstory and background? That way the reader can differentiate the fictional story/characters you have made up with the research about Guru Gobind Singh Ji? It will be like having two novels in one and will avoid the usual criticism thrown at these kinds of novel. I dont doubt your heart is in the right place and that this project will be great but some people react differently to other people's notion of a good idea. We already have enough problems of people just making stuff up about our Gurus so you will need to tread carefully.

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The problem with novels that straddle the line between fact and fiction is that the average reader doesnt have the brain to differentiate and those who are smart will see an agenda. No matter how you say it, we are all prejudiced and opinionated and this will always come across. In the west we see this with Christian fiction which is 'based on a true story' but when you research the backstory, it is wildly different.

I've been writing some scripts and alternative history novels based on Sikh history. I have found that to avoid the issue of bias I just state facts if they can be backed up but have them in the background to my fictional story so that people who may watch or read could tell the difference (hopefully). If you want to write a novel, why not make up the story and heroes etc but include your research as backstory and background? That way the reader can differentiate the fictional story/characters you have made up with the research about Guru Gobind Singh Ji? It will be like having two novels in one and will avoid the usual criticism thrown at these kinds of novel. I dont doubt your heart is in the right place and that this project will be great but some people react differently to other people's notion of a good idea. We already have enough problems of people just making stuff up about our Gurus so you will need to tread carefully.

That's the issue you see, i believe the story of Guru Gobind Singh would enlighten many people to the faith and the struggled faced so long ago - yet there will be others that will do their best to try and bring the project down and bring negativity to the table. Treading carefully is the biggest issue of them all.

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Truth is that Sikh religious/historical stuff has a very small market. Very few people seem interested in it, and that's within our own community! Unlike other literature (like black literature for instance), generally our own literature doesn't seem to resonate outside the community (or within).

Even as someone who is an avid reader (sometimes!), I wouldn't naturally be attracted to a book like you mention because I feel I could read more serious, academic studies on Sikh history to get the information. But then thee may be a lot of people who would want the information in the form you describe.

Doing the project to improve and develop your knowledge of dasmesh pita as well as your writing skills is a good enough reason to try what you are suggesting anyway.

If you are going to do it my advice is to try and be creative and put a fresh spin on it, instead of wholly repeating traditional accounts so that the reading experience is illuminating and stimulating even for those who have a good grasp of Guru ji's life story. Easier said than done.

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The idea was to try and get the story of our Guru into the mainstream so that more people could learn about who Sikhs are and why we hold the Guru's in such high regard. At the moment its only an idea that i wanted to investigate, getting feedback off you guys on here is ideal so that i can see what the general feeling is.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi GSSB

Fantastic idea , I think it would be good to have a story written about Sri Guru gobind Singh Ji , especially one that is flowing , can capture the persons mindset so that he/she can envisage the scene being described . I think this would be inspirational , motivational and yet at the same time it will be the truth.

When I listen to some katha , take Bhai Sahib Pinderpals Chamkaur the Gauri katha , its fantastic how he captures the detail where one can envisage what he is saying , obviously there is an element of expanding the scene , making up certain dialogue according to their understanding in order to capture the audience, but the overall goal is to inspire,motivate the sangat without actually losing its authenticity. Now doing the same in a Novel , i think would be really good and I would read it. I think it would be great for kids , as my personal experience when reading bed time stories by Santokh Singh Jagdev , they are great as a starter , but I think need expanding as kids ask some many questions and having a Novel which would have a beginning a middle and an end would be fantastic.

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i am not for elaborate expansion. i read harish dhillons baba banda singh bahadur, and i hated it. i bought it thinking it was an historical writing. i dont think that sikhs are able to cope with dramatic expansion on sikh history myself. Having said that if you listen to some parcharaks like Sant Dhandrianwale, they use it a lot.

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