Karan Singh Surana has a Master’s degree in Technology from the same University as his current employment prior to which he pursued Bachelor’s in Technology from West Bengal University of Technology. He has been working as a Junior Research Fellow in a DRDO Project at Sharda University, Greater Noida for the past two years. He recently bagged the Best Oral Presentation Award in Solar Asia-2015. Let us know more about his writing.
What inspired you to start writing?
I had a certain dream to fulfill, so the will to write preceded the inspiration. Thus once I started writing, ideas kept pouring. As the story progressed, the situations and instances around served as the inspiration to continue writing the story until completion.
Further, the rejections from many publication houses inspired me to start my own blog where happiness follows with ‘publishing a post’ . Off late I have also started writing Hindi shayaris.
What did you like to read when you were a boy?
As a boy I read anything and everything that caught my attention, be it Chacha Chaudhary, Tintin, Obelix, Huckleberry Finn and what not. However my real attraction towards literature was sought upon by one great person – Premchand. I was always mesmerized while reading his stories and novels as everything he wrote not only had exceptional emotional sense but also every instance seemed to pop out live.
What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?
The only challenge I faced while writing ‘All the best, Baby’ was Time. Shuffling time between a full time job and continuing with the story became bit of a tedious task. Nevertheless I seldom carried my work back home, so I always had one or two hours for my story. Although, the bigger challenge than writing was to find a suitable publishing house, which took me almost ten months until I found Half Baked Beans.
How much research do you do before writing the book?
It’s hard to quantify the research I do in terms of writing a book, but of course research is an integral part of any good story. For example – When a specific location is required to be described for a particular instance or conversation then I do search about it or take help from friends and acquaintances residing in that particular region.
Also I do observe people around me and learn about their mannerisms while focusing on their reaction for a situation, thus giving me hint of the reaction of a character in any given situation. Rest all other research goes on in my brain, but all this happens while I am writing the story, not before.
What motivated you to write the book “All the best, Baby”?
The situations and instances around me were the motivation behind the birth of this book.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “All the best, Baby”?
‘All the best, Baby’ is a semi-fictional book inspired by real life events. Although my book falls under the Romance genre but it has lot more to offer. The story primarily entails a tale of Love, Friendship, Corruption, Caste differences in society, with ultimately bottling down to Faith in oneself and the Almighty.
Unlike most other books, ‘All the best, Baby’ has not one but two climaxes … or may be a third climax also if someone can identify.
Watching the video trailer might give you a better perspective.
How did you come up with the idea of writing fiction genre book?
Ever since the commencement of Master studies, I had started writing on the subject of – ‘Feelings of True Love’ and thought that may be, someday, in a distant future I will publish a book which will contain just the feelings. After few months of writing I could not go beyond page 7 and thus I realized the need of a story to be wrapped around those feelings.
I clearly remember one afternoon after completion of M.Tech, I was sitting at home with a pillow on my lap, when few instances kept circling my mind. I did a wise thing – took a pen and pad and started writing. That’s how the journey started of my debut semi-fictional book.
Who are your favourite authors?
Since I read books from any genre I get my hands on, so there isn’t any particular author who compels me to read all his/her books. Although as I already mentioned earlier, growing up I was big fan of Premchand. I also admire Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Anything for you ma’am by Tushar Raheja, both being my favourites irrespective of time.
How much time do you dedicate to writing on a daily basis?
Given that I have a full time research job along with other duties to perform it’s hard for me to write every single day. There aren’t any fixed hours which I dedicate, but once I have an inspired thought there is no stopping me from scribbling my contemplations on a paper.
What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?
A rephrased famous quote from Clint Black is perfectly apt for anyone who writes – Keep your heads down and work (keep writing). I have met quite a handful of aspiring writers who are worried about publishing even before they have a finished the manuscript … It sounds surreal to me. There is a publisher for every story; all you got to do is – write and write well; Rest will be taken care of with time.
You can buy his book now: