Sachin Dev completed Engineering from BITS Pilani and then went through Massive Brain Adulteration at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He is currently managing Marketing Data Science function for a publicly held fortune 100 US Insurance company. Let us know more about his writing.
What inspired you to start writing?
My love for books somewhere along the way transformed into writing I guess. So I have always been fond of reading – And somewhere along the way, that love translated to writing. Sometime in my early pre-teen years, I thought I should write my own version of a story that is perhaps more exciting than the Secret Seven, Famous Five series. And I haven’t looked back since.
What did you like to read when you were a boy?
As a lot of book lovers would have told you I too grew up on Enid Blyton’s books and also the abridged version of various classics. (I remember being awestruck after reading the doomed but sweeping love saga of Heathcliff and Catherine in Wuthering Heights that still remains a favourite of mine). Went through a phase of Hardy Boys and Hitchcock’s Three Investigators series, then wolfed down all the contemporary thrillers from authors like James Hadley Chase to Robert Ludlum by the time I was fourteen. But after my second year of college, when I discovered Lord of the Rings, I’ve only been reading Fantasy.
What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?
It’s the discipline needed to actually finish a book. You may have a lot of ideas and even have started writing down the first few lines/chapters to books you envisioned but it needs superhuman willpower to see these through to the end. Guts and glory, these things don’t come easy.
How much research do you do before writing the book?
While am more of a pantser than a planner, I do a fair bit of research especially when it comes to my world building. Mythologies and folklore from around the world, especially our own mythic sagas that are countless. Internet, books and talking to real people who are storehouses for such stories, these are my main sources of ideas. Of course, a lot of what I build out is also heavily influenced by the kind of books I read as well. The fantastical and the awe inspiring worlds, can we spin them into desi forms, am always on the lookout for such.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “Faith of the Nine”?
Faith of the Nine is the first book in my trilogy, Wheels of Janani – and my first published book.
So If you liked Game of Thrones on TV and need your immediate fix of the grim dark and brutal fantasy variety – You should try this one out!
How did you come up with the idea of writing mythological fiction genre book?
I was always pretty adamant that my first book that gets published is going to be a work of fantasy – Indian today is waking up to the fact that our country is a storehouse of such wonderful stories that each can spin off a thousand tales to stand by itself. ( ahem. What do you expect from a country that has three hundred thirty three million Gods and counting, huh) Myths and folklore galore. After the Siva trilogy by Amish Tripathi broke the gates, I think it’s been a genre of note, with people ready to read such works. But ultimately, I think a good story triumphs over anything else. If it’s mythological or not, doesnt matter. I have created a secondary fantasy world that merely borrows from the mythological reservoir that is India.
Who are your favourite authors?
Unfair question – too many to list down. This book has been heavily influenced by some of my current favorite fantasy writers doing a brilliant job out there. Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch, Stephen King, Krishna Udayasankar, Tolkien and George RR Martin only fuelled the fire sky high.
How much time do you dedicate to writing on a daily basis?
I would like to say at least an hour but more so, I have goals of a word count. To hit a thousand words a day at least. It’s tough these days but I keep trying.
What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?
If you keep waiting for a good time to start writing, then that day will never arrive!
All those nebulous ideas you start jotting down in your little red diary thinking one fine day you will write a book, unless you start on them today, like right now – it’s never going to happen. So believe in yourself and pump yourself up and get going. The journey might be long and arduous but the reward of getting it published in itself is worth it. Also don’t write for an audience, write for yourself. Don’t write to impress, write to express yourself. Take part in a NaNoWriMo. Push yourself and get that story out. All of us have one or more inside us!
You can buy his book now: