WriterStory Interviews of Writers
Suddhabrata is a columnist at “Rise for India”. He is a author of 3 books and two e-books. He is working on his sixth book which will be released in 2016 by Half Baked Beans. Let us know more about his writing.
What inspired you to start writing?
From the time I had sense, there was only one thing I wanted to do and that was to read. Even as a child, I would read voraciously. The passion which started from reading the Diamond Comics my father brought for me has grown. The love of reading gradually morphed into the desire to craft something of my own, which could be read and hence, writing became a hobby and then subsequently an OBSESSION. SO, as you can see, there was no specific inspiration back then, even till two years back, but yes, now, it’s the society and its flaws, which are my inspiration. I take my pen or my laptop to write for a change, for a dream.
What did you like to read when you were a boy?
It was the usual. At first, it was just comics; I liked Chacha Choudhury and all, after that came Raj Comics and then Superman, Batman and the rest. I still remember those small trips on my father’s scooter to the local bookshop to buy them; I used to cry everyday for new comics. Then came Enid Blyton. I think it was my brother, Saurav, who lent me my first Enid Blyton Book. I used to like Hardy Boys a lot, Animorphs, Nancy Drew, the list goes on. But, the character which occupied the major chunk of my childhood was Sherlock Holmes.
It may seem strange but as a child or even as a teen, I never read Harry Potter, primarily because the books were too pricey and at that time, it was a challenge to spend 1500 bucks on a single book and the paperbacks never made to my hometown. I only read them once I was 20 or something, which is when I got into engineering.
What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?
The greatest challenge is the continuity. The need to bind up events in a single thread. If it’s a broad social topic related book, it becomes even more tormenting. Of course, finding publishers is the next big challenge after finally writing the book.
How much research do you do before writing the book?
Till APCL, it was basically all in my head, I had to think and only think. But now, it’s totally different. I already told you, these days I have my inspiration in the flawed society that we live in, so now, once I think about a particular topic, I dig into everything I can, from Google to articles to books. As for example, my next book, with Half Baked Beans, slated for a 2016 release, deals with something that crushes down millions of small town Indian teens along with the typical mentality of Indians there, for that book, I personally conversed with many people, regarding what problems they faced, what their expectations were. I had to give two to three hours daily to revisit my own past. So yeah, from the time I wrote APCL, I have changed, a lot. These days, I even maintain a separate diary or copy for any new idea which crops up in my head.
What motivated you to write the book “A Poision Called Love”?
The desire to write a love story basically. You know, I had never written a love story and I wanted to see if I could write one.
Can you tell us more about your latest book “A Poision Called Love”?
Its not ” Poision”…its “Poison”. Because of some technical error, the spelling mistake crept up in the listing.
Well, primarily, it’s a love triangle. The book has three principal characters, Rahul, Priyanka and Vipul. Rahul loves Priyanka but Priyanka loves Vipul, which is the basic storyline of the book. The book travels through their past to the present time when Rahul poisons Priyanka but he , after poisoning gets her admitted into a hospital and commits suicide himself. Interestingly, Rahul did not leave a suicide note, but rather, he left some “suicide tapes”. The investigating officer Vikram finds the traces of his own life in the incidents narrated in the tapes by Rahul. The story then, deals with the revelation of how Vikram is connected to Rahul and Priyanka.
How did you come up with the idea of writing fiction genre book?
Fiction is the strongest means of expressing your interpretation of the world. It has no boundaries and you can create a world of your world. In other words, you are the all-in-all of the world you create in your books. These things lured me into writing fiction although these days, I am working on a non-fiction project as well.
Who are your favourite authors?
AAH…that’s a tough one.. in fiction it would be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh and Mario Puzo, and many others , I have till now, never disliked a book. And in non-fiction, there are also many starting from Karl Marx to Vijay Prashad to Alex Von Tunzellman and Eric Hobswann. I am a history buff. But yeah, if you are talking about someone, I want to be like as a writer, it would be Arundhati Roy, without any doubt.
How much time do you dedicate to writing on a daily basis?
Quite irregular I am, there are weeks and weeks in which I don’t even write a single line apart from my weekly article in riseforindia.com. While, on the other hand there are days, when I write , write and write.
What words of wisdom would you like to give to aspiring writers?
Just write and write…whatever you think, whatever insignificant or petty it might seem to you, never dump the idea. I would advise you to just remember Blurt E-Books’(my own independent e-publishing venture) tagline, “Blurt IT out”, whatever you have, just blurt it out. Besides, if you are worrying about whether people will like it or not, worry not, because if you like what you write, then surely there will be someone else too, who will like what you have written. These are not my words but rather the great Stan Lee’s, believe him if you don’t believe me. Cheers! Keep writing with a smile!
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