WriterStory Interviews of Writers
Priyank is an author, a story teller, start-up freak and a motivational speaker. He is a National level gold medal winner in creative writing. He is the winner of Aagman Literary organization’s Best Debut Author 2014 award in Fiction category for his debut novel “I am dead but my heart beats.”
His new book titled “God & His Girlfriend” recently saw its release in Mumbai. His books have been praised by Bollywood director Imtiaz Ali, TV Actors Upasna Singh, Ali Asgar and Dilip Joshi. “THE HINDU” calls stories by Priyank powerful enough to inspire changes.
He completed his Engineering from BIT Sindri, Dhanbad in 2015. He has delivered story telling sessions and motivational talks across more than 20 organizations in a short span of 1.5 year.
How do you feel getting interviewed again on WriterStory?
Really honored to be again interviewed by an emerging and talented team of Writer story, it’s always a pleasure to chat with such a team about new stories, the ideations, objective and the process involved in the making of a new book.
How to write a good manuscript and present it to the publisher?
Well, I believe there are no formulae or any strict set of rules or protocol that can teach us how to write a good manuscript. But yes, a manuscript good enough to be submitted to a publisher must have a strong storyline, this is the sole objective behind any book, so, a great plot is the most important. Secondly, focus on the skills we possess to present an emotion or narrate a particular scene, it shouldn’t be like an article, the narration is highly important to gain the trust of a publisher. Third is a swift control over grammar and fourth but very important part is that any editor of a publishing house is also a reader, so that special chord which connects a writer’s story with a reader’s heart must be having that same effect on the editor’s mind as well. If the publishing team likes your work as a reader, then you sail through. These basic qualities which we expect as a reader from a good book must be there in a manuscript also when we write it.
What is the greatest challenge in choosing the right publisher?
Honesty, transparency and the distribution network are three fundamental pillars when we look for a good publisher. If anyone of these isn’t there, then there’s no point in going ahead with such a publisher. And to get a clear view whether all these three parameters gets fulfilled or not, that’s the biggest challenge in today’s market when so many publishing houses are floating around.
How much research you did before writing the book?
Before completing my 2nd book, ‘God & His Girlfriend’, I had to do a good amount of research mainly about the governing laws in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Also, I did research about the recorded talks of the chief of terrorist agencies. Writing these parts were critical and so I had to spend a considerable amount of time in knowing the real scenario.
What motivated you to write the book “God and His Girl Friend”?
The growing talks over Islam being cursed after any terrorist attack pushed me to write this book. This was the crunch & hottest factor behind this book.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “God and His Girl Friend”?
Terrorism and religion have always been a hot debate ever since we have grown up and this forms the crux of “God & His Girlfriend”. The book highlights the real picture of terrorist camps, PoK and how Islam is being defamed by terrorists. The book also talks about child molestation being hidden by parents, which is absolutely wring. It highlights a very common but never discussed issue of unwilling s*x after marriage not being seen as a r*pe.
Also, the thought in my mind that can’t we be close to a perfect human being in our life, like someone who does everything very perfectly, be it handling the education, profession, relationships, family, friendships, service to the nation and society, all together at one time. I saw that if a person balances couple of things the others gets harmed, nobody is able to manage every aspect of life with perfection. And this second thought added to the above ones is “God & His Girlfriend”.
How did you come up with the idea of writing romantic fiction genre book?
The title sounds like a romance fiction but it isn’t completely a love tale in real. The book has shown a love story but major part deals with Islam, terrorism, post marriage sex, child molestation and on how to walk on the way of divine, of our very own lord Krishna.
So, the idea of this book is inspired from what I saw happening across the globe and then further extension happened because of Lord Krishna’s life, so love had to be there in my book because when we talk of lord Krishna we can’t ever ignore the most loved couple of Radha and Krishna. Henceforth, book falls into romance genre but focuses on many other real life issues.
Can you enlighten on any of your marketing/promotion strategies which worked for your previous books?
City tours, bookstore visits, talk shows in colleges, corporate and bookshops, these marketing activities worked tremendously for my first book ‘I Am Dead But My Heart Beats’ and continues to do so for my new release ‘God & His Girlfriend’ too.
How much minimum time should an author give on daily basis to writing?
It depends on your zeal to write; sometimes you don’t feel like writing on a given day, so it entirely depends on an author how much time per day he/she wants to give. Many authors don’t even write daily, they write thrice a week or on alternate days, everyone has their own way. But yeah, ideally if anyone wishes to write daily, at least a couple of hours or three is good enough under normal circumstances.
Any tips or words of motivation you want to share with aspiring writers?
Write what you want to tell the readers; don’t write what they love to read. It may take time to have a high reach but never lose your story, always write your own story and not the ones which are inspired from other’s stories. Follow your heart and live your love with passion.
You can buy his book now:
