WriterStory Interviews of Writers
Priyank is an Entrepreneur, Motivational speaker & an Author. Born in Amethi and brought up in Ghatsila from Jharkhand. Priyank recently completed his Engineering from is from BIT Sindri, Dhanbad. His initial days of schooling were from S.N.S Vidya Mandir, Ghatsila and then he went to Vidya Bharati Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Jamshedpur for his senior secondary education.
He will be joining TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) as an Assistant System Engineer from July 2015. He is also the Co-Founder of a start-up, Embellish India (A Writing Consultancy, Marketing & PR based start-up), which is in his early days of finding a feet in the market. He is also planning to launch a Renewable power project consultancy & EPC firm in coming years.
He was named as the “Best Debut Author” for 2014 by Aagman Literary Organization, a literary and publishing based organization functioning in the entire North, East, west and Central India. He has also been felicitated by BJP in his home state for his commendable book in January 2015. He has also been awarded with a certificate of honour from Rashtriya Hindu Sewa Dal – Bihar, BJU Unit for his debut novel leaving an impact on the society. He is also a GOLD MEDALIST in Creative Writing.
His debut novel “I AM DEAD BUT MY HEART BEATS”, released in March 2014 at the online stores and in May 2014 at the offline stores with more than 10,000 copies sold by November 2014. So let us know more about Priyank and his book.
What inspired you to start writing?
There’s a real life incident which inspired me and pushed me into writing. That one unfortunate incident of my life when my girl-friend took her last breath kept me within its grip and so when I started looking for a way to cave out of those deadly moments I recalled her dream. On 14th February 2011, she told me that she wants a gift from me and I couldn’t deny her.
But after I lost her and 5 months down the line, I realized that my love story couldn’t see a sad ending. So, the best way to fulfill her dream and give a positive end to those unfortunate past was by writing a book. This fulfilled both of those aspects and gave me a way to bring myself out of that trauma. Those incidents and her wish actually inspired to turn into a writer.
What did you like to read when you were a boy?
When I was in school, I had no inclination towards reading fiction. Those days I was more into technology based books and sc-fi.
What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?
The greatest challenge is to connect with the readers. If you are able to make readers feel that the words which you have written reflects what they can imagine before their eyes, as if a movie is going on, then I feel you are pretty successful as an author. The challenge is all about getting them completely engrossed in your work as if it’s happening before them. Striking the chord to connect with the readers is the biggest task.
How much research do you do before writing the book?
It has just been one book for me, but as I have always said that I prefer writing on incidents inspired from reality, so research work is involved in my work, but I don’t go for intense research. I prefer observing things more and penning those observations on paper. So mixture of real time observations and little research to make your story more lively is what I do.
What motivated you to write the book “I am Dead But My Heart Beats”?
My own love story combined with some deadly incidents of my life was actually the motivation. But my beloved’s wish to see me writing on the problems true lovers face from the families and society if they are from different caste or religion was a more strong force which took me into writing. The willingness to give my story a happy ending by fulfilling her wish was the major driving force for me.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “I am Dead But My Heart Beats”?
“I AM DEAD BUT MY HEART BEATS” is the voice of Indian youth against the existing ideologies in Indian society against Inter-community love and communal differences. Our orthodox society believes that love with someone out of your community is wrong, a violation of the cultural values. This novel is an attempt to make people understand that true love is not a sin; it should not be constrained in the name of caste or religion.
It’s not just a simple romantic love story with the typical chocolaty stuff. Every year, more than 1000 youngsters in India either commit suicide or they are killed just because of the fact they fell in love outside their community. This novel is an appeal to our society to stop believing in these old thoughts and insane beliefs and tries to logically, spiritually make people understand that love should be allowed to live free. Hope that this issue which exists in more than 90% of Indian families will get a voice through my novel.
How did you come up with the idea of writing relationship fiction genre book?
Since, this book is inspired from my own life’s love story and the theme I chose to write was based on inter-community love and Indian families, so more than an idea you can say that the background which pushed me into writing was love, relationships and romance, so the book was ought to be of this genre with not much to ponder upon.
Who are your favourite authors?
I prefer reading romance fiction and commercial fiction, so my favourite authors are Erich Segal, Nicholas Sparks and Chetan Bhagat.
How much time do you dedicate for writing on a daily basis?
I prefer writing usually after 11pm. And it’s not mandatory to write daily, so I put in almost two hours of writing whenever I sit down to write.
What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?
Write for yourself, and don’t think on what others will say, Follow your heart and don’t step behind from rigorous efforts to promote your work which is now a must with the increase in competition for debut Indian writers against the established names in writing.
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