Writing Isn’t Something That You Choose, on the Contrary Writing Chooses You

If you want to be a writer, “you should read and a lot and write a lot”. There are no shortcuts, None. I cannot stress enough how important it is to read and whether you agree or not writing is a very lonely trait.

1. Tell us more about your background and journey.

I don’t have a good enough personal journey to be showcasing. it isn’t ‘ A rags to riches ‘ type of story but I do take a little pride in my daily struggles of existence.

I come from a middle-class family from Chandrapur (Maharashtra ). I studied in the bests of schools our region has to offer, played sports, won a couple of scholarships, bunked classes did everything a 16 Y/o free-spirited guy would do.

To put all of it in perspective, My parents did everything in their power to anchor me with the education and qualities they never had. Still, talking of ‘background’ doesn’t always imply ‘Financial settings’, I envy the use of such strong words with so little a compartment.

Quite early in my childhood, I turned to books and online lectures for the wisdom and knowledge I knew my middle-class background couldn’t conceive. I needed something more than just veil eduction, I wanted wisdom. Now in My early 20’s I’m still searching for it!

Again talking about ‘Journey’; it too is a vivid word contrasted by the narrowness of our thoughts. My journey as an author so far has been nothing less than a wet dream.

I have my debut book featured in various online portals and magazines while two more books are in line, one for a traditional publisher while one for a Story viewing platform.

But I truly believe my passage from being an irrational scribbler to a rational writer has just started. As Robert Frost puts it “ … I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep…”

2. When did you decide you wanted to be an Author?

To be telling the truth, I have often said likewise in my other TV and newspaper interviews “ Writing isn’t something that you choose, on the contrary writing chooses you.”

For some strange reason and for as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a Footballer.

My writing journey presumably started while I was struggling with my Engineering. I’m a vivid reader but I never once thought of being an Author. It is something that just happens like I stated, writing chooses you.

So, yes I wished I could have a couple of books to my name back in college, in 2018!

3. Is it a financially stable career?

I want to be totally honest here, Writing is a Vehement job! You don’t do it for the money, you do it for the weird voices in your head.

Sad as it may sound, writing isn’t a handsome job, it’s a strugglers trait. I often recommend perceiving writing as a passion. Exceptions can be made with work ethic and talent; you can also consider it a full-time job. But unless and until you get to that level of selling stocks after stocks, it’s financially disproportionate.

Although, the real money lies in Screenwriting and Films! Books to screen deals are financially attractive but are hard to drop by. So, unless you have an audacious talent and get to that level of prestige, writing isn’t financially supportive.

4. Who is your favorite writer/author and why?

That’s a toughie! I have so many! There are so many writers I look up to and read on a daily basis.

As the meter still persists, I’ll take a different turn here, I won’t mention J.K.Rowling or George.R.R.Martin, instead I would mention the mundane ones.

I admire the Polish doyen Olga Tokarzcuk very much. Although she won the prestigious Nobel for literature she isn’t very popular in India. I have always admired her way of portraying characters and the relationship she has on a personal level with her creations.

Her lead characters aren’t always, heroic or good looking or adventurous, as a matter of fact, they are quite dull. This particularly adds realistic scenes to her stories.

Apart from her, I would love reading research-oriented books on theoretical physics. I’m awed by Robert Langza and his Theories on Biocentrism. The list would go on and on, but yes, my taste in literature is a bit off stream!

5. Where does your inspiration lie?

I cannot stress how important inspiration is for an Artist, Art, as a matter of fact, is inspiration personified.

Every book has a different back story or as I like to say ‘ a reason to exist ‘. Now, my first book ‘ The Scrutiny ‘ is inspired by my persuasive mind to find the absolute proof of God’s existence in Science.

While my second book ‘ Will you Kill for me ‘ is a story woven around a Little girl, Trushali who suffers from a rare brain disease. For I have such great & brave inspiration I have tripled expectations from my next book!

6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring writers/Authors?

In all humility, I still do not consider myself as someone whose advice should be taken professionally. So I would just like to repeat the word of the many great and prolific writers I admire.

I still remember Dorothy Parker’s unequivocal comment when asked for advice on writing

“ If you have any young friends, who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you could do them is the present them with the copies of “ The Element of Style”. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy “.

Still rings true to this very day!

7. Which is your favorite book and why?

Seriously, that is such a rude question to ask any Bibliophile! I have loads !!

For the sake of answering, I would name the very first book “The Joy of Numbers “ by late Shri.Shakuntala Devi. It probably is because of Shri Devi I took an early interest in Maths and sciences.

I love Sidney Sheldon’s collection too! My fav would be “ A doomsday conspiracy “ because it was the first book I read of the Great master.

To sum things up, I would also like to add the book I last studied “ The Intelligent Investor “ by Benjamin Graham. This specific book on stock markets needs no introduction. As the greatest investors of our time, Warren Buffet audaciously referred to this book as ‘ The Bible of Investments ‘.

8. You recently published your first book, Tell us about it.

I bet every writer could relate, how precious a first book is to an Author.

The Scrutiny is actually a glimpse of my wasted Childhood (pun intended). It is more of a research book, stating facts and figures to base and prove my suggestions.

I repeatedly tried probing and proving God in the vastness of our religions and the bizarreness of Quantum physics while using Newton, Einstein, Darwin, and Hawkings as my alchemists.

I would like to highlight the prospect of ‘ Panspermia ‘ which I wrote late in the book. I have borrowed research and theories of other prominent men to probe and analyze the possibility of our Gods being Aliens.

So much so that, I even came up with a formula to match Darwin’s evolutions period to match my calculations for Panspermia.

I know this sound bonkers, but you should give it a read. Likewise, I’m distributing it for free via my Instagram, What else do you have or lose ?!!

My book is pretty popular among celebrities such as the South Sensation Vijay Deverkonda, Ram Pothenenni, and Actress Nidhi Agrawal, Mrinalini Thakur! The list goes on and on! Later last year my book was also sold in Hollywood! You could check all of it out on my Instagram profile! And avail your free copies too!

9. Your next projects we could look up to?

Currently, I’m simultaneously working on two books, “ Will you kill for me ?! “ and “ The Last Drakaina “. The former as I mentioned before is inspired by a little soldier Trushali, I plan on donating my earnings for her treatment. So, this book is a huge responsibility to converge. It’s still under the second draft and as this project will be taken by an agent so it would release grandly sometime next year.

While the Later is for a Story writing platform ‘ Swordy Story ‘. It would later also be available on Wattpad and other prominent websites. This book is a dream project of sorts! It has Dragons, Fairies, Vampires, Mermaids, Unicorns, and Witches in it.

You are cordially invited to jolt in, as Alex and his friends with the help of Uniforms and magic save their realm from Destruction. I’m trying my best to include illustrations in it, hoping for the best.

Instagram ID - @as_is_shh