WriterStory Interviews of Writers
Mehek Bassi is currently pursuing her final year of Computer Science Engineering. Let us know more about her writing and novel.
What inspired you to start writing?
Reading. I am a voracious reader since childhood, and I used to read everything and anything that I could get my hands on, and then at the age of 12 I started writing poems and short-notes – which weren’t as good (obviously), but I improved with time, and practice and published my full-fledged novel ‘Chained‘ in 2013, when I was 19 years old!
What did you like to read when you were a girl?
I developed reading as a habit, by reading fiction. I read stories by Enid Blyton by issuing books from school library and eventually I started reading novels including Princess Diaries and Harry Potter. By the way, I still am a girl! *winks*
What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?
According to me, connecting the chapters is the biggest challenge! You have an outline of the plot of your story in your mind, you start dividing it into chapters, and you make a rough blueprint of how the book will go from point A to Z, but the alphabets that come in between, pose the greatest challenge! You need to keep the book in flow and continuity for your reader to immediately turn to the next chapter, after he finishes reading one, and that is something challenging to do!
How much research do you do before writing the book?
A Lot! The more research you do, the better the book will turn out to be! Sometimes, very little and minute things can put a reader off. I learnt this thing the hard way! I wrote many short-stories on my blog, before I published my book, and in those short-stories I never paid any attention to the details. Readers started criticizing it and pointing out the mistakes, but that was something that helped me while writing my book. I never ignored the ‘details’ and always precisely researched about every area or instance, I was including in my book.
What motivated you to write the book “Chained: Can you escape fate?”?
Many things contributed in motivating me to write this book, and the strongest one came from my readers who loved the stories on my blog so much! I would very frequently get comments and mails, from people asking and requesting me to publish a book, so I thought ‘why-not’? And then I set on to a frightening yet beautiful journey of publishing a book.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “Chained: Can you escape fate?”?
Chained is not one, but three stories running on parallel lines. The three strongest things that drive us today are – money, power and fame, and three stories that intertwine in the book Chained, are based upon these three things, and subsequently the results that they bring along! It’s a modern-day drama with romance and thrill.
How did you come up with the idea of writing romantic fiction thriller genre book?
I always wanted to read something that had romance, thrill and drama – an all-in-one package, but there were very limited books in that region, so I thought to experiment with a book of my own. Hence, Chained!
Who are your favorite authors?
I would be lying if I write down a few known names here. Actually I don’t have any particular favorites, I read what I want to read at the moment, and if I like it, it becomes my favorite for that short-time!
How much time do you dedicate to writing on a daily basis?
It depends. I’m not a full-time writer, as I still am pursuing computer engineering, final year, so managing college and writing, simultaneously is tough. Although I do occasionally write a thing or two on my blog to keep in touch with my readers, but I’ve not been able to still be 100% regular with writing! I guess that will happen only after I will graduate.
What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?
I notice that a lot of writers these days are writing books and giving their short-stories into anthologies every three months! It’s a good thing, that you are being so fast and so regular, but my advice to them would be – focusing on quantity is never a good thing! Focus more on quality, focus on the improvement since your last book, and be your own critic. Before someone else can tell you that you are being monotonous and repetitive, you should know that yourself! Ultimately – be yourself, don’t copy other already-popular writers.
You can buy her book now:
