Home / Interviews / Sudham Ravinutala Interview – Eighteen The End of Innocence Book

Sudham Ravinutala Interview – Eighteen The End of Innocence Book

Sudham Ravinutala completed Bachelor of Engineering with specialisation in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur in 1997. He also completed Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration with specialisation in Marketing from K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai in 2001. He is currently Partner in Bright Ideas & Ventures. Let us know more about his writing:

Sudham Ravinutala Interview

What inspired you to start writing?

My parents tell me that I started spinning yarns at an early age. I would wreck things and then narrate tales in my defence without batting an eyelid. Only later would they realise that they had been conned. I would often use people, places and objects that comprised my surroundings and I guess, that, made the stories I told believable. While in middle school, I entered one such yarn in a story writing contest and I haven’t looked back since.

What did you like to read when you were a boy?

Growing up there always were shelves full of books in a neat array. Books collected over a lifetime ranging from fairy tales to comics and from classics to novels. My father is a Library Science professional and himself an avid reader. The habit got passed on to us. My early memories are reading the fairy tales. As I grew older I moved on to the Enid Blyton books Five Find-outers, Famous Five & Secret Sevens. While in school reading and collecting The Hardy Boys series became a passion. By the time I finished school I was devouring Sidney Sheldon and Jeffrey Archer. Even attempting Ayn Rand profound as it was for my age.

What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?

The greatest challenge in my opinion is to back yourself to write one and getting down to it. I wrote the first few chapters of my book way back in 2010 and somehow lost steam. However, the plot continued to play on my mind and kept evolving till one fine morning in 2013, I decided it was time!

How much research do you do before writing the book?

Eighteen The End of Innocence is set in the 1990s. A lot of my research for the book was about ascertaining the facts around incidents and places that form a part of the plot backdrop were accurate and congruent.

Sudham Ravinutala Interview

What motivated you to write the book “Eighteen The End of Innocence”?

I started blogging in 2005. In the beginning I wrote mostly poems and musings. Over time, I moved to writing and sharing anecdotes. Some from my life, some that I had heard from others. I allowed myself little flights of fancy in my narration. I found that my readers, who were mostly friends and family, enjoyed reading these posts. Moreover, they started identifying with them. It is then that I realised that all of us go through life with similar ingredients to work with. We all love a little bit of nostalgia, value time spent with friends, get infatuated, find love and then lose it. The recipe of course is unique to each one of us. The stories that I would tell worked with people because the ingredients I used were familiar. Eighteen The End of Innocence was born out of these very ingredients.

Can you tell us more about your latest book “Eighteen The End of Innocence”?

Eighteen The End of Innocence is the first of a series that I plan. The idea is to romance the various phases of life. There are certain milestones as far as age is concerned 13: when you enter the teens, 18: you are considered an adult, 25: you are supposed to be ‘settled’, 40: mid-life, 60: twilight. Clichéd as it may be, each of these milestones present a unique set of dilemmas which are integral, perhaps even universal.

It’s a story that highlights the challenges of being young, revels in the mistakes one makes instead of being preachy. Eighteen The End of Innocence is a journey from turning an adult to maturing into one.

How did you come up with the idea of writing fiction genre book?

All of us lead interesting lives. I believe inspiration lies in the lives we and the people around us live. I am a keen observer of people and their surroundings. Even strangers who I see or meet in passing arouse my interest. I often find myself giving them a name and a backstory to how and why they were wherever I saw them. My way of capturing my observations is words. Sometimes they take the form of a poem and at times prose.

With my book I have attempted to bring these disparate characters, places, events and incidents together and weave them into a tale that celebrates being young greys included.

Who are your favourite authors?

That’s a tough one to answer. I have read multiple works of many authors. Ayn Rand meets David Davidar meets Franz Kafka meets Chetan Bhagat on my bookshelf. I have read a Kane and Abel as many times that I have read Fountainhead. John Grisham and Robin Cook would probably be the most recurring authors in my collection.

An interesting story, narrated well are sufficient conditions to make it to my favourites list.

How much time do you dedicate for writing on a daily basis?

I am a spurts guy. I do not physically get down to writing (typing) on a daily basis. However, I do dedicate 40-45 minutes each day to thinking about or developing the plot. Once I have conviction about the thought I get down to putting it in actual words, taking time till I feel satisfied that I have done justice to it.

What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?

I claim no expertise in this field. Definitely a long way before words I utter count as words of wisdom. What I can do is share my experience. My big learning is that writing is about believing in yourself. Believing that you have a tale worth telling. Believing that you will be able to overcome any and all challenges (and there shall be several) that get thrown at you in order to tell your tale. It is this belief that drives you and motivates you to chase and eventually live your dream. I am chasing it today and I believe that one day soon I shall be living it!

You can buy his book now:

    

About Nikhil Narkhede

He likes to read inspirational books. He is a Professional Blogger, Entrepreneur and a power networker. By education he is a Computer Engineer and by profession he is an Online Marketer.

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