1798th BLOG POST -->>
I recently read the book named "Shadow of the Past" written by Mayank Manohar. I was very happy reading the book as it belongs to the Romance genre but it's writing is very matured unlike other cliche novels these days. This made me think about interviewing the author and for all you, please go through the small Question and Answer session that both of us did for this interview to happen:-
Hi Mayank, please let us know something about
your background.
Hi Abhilash. I am from Patna, Bihar.
I was born in Bangalore and brought up in Patna. I finished my schooling from
Patna Central School before moving to Hyderabad, where I completed my high
school from Narayana Junior College. I am an engineer-turned-journalist and I
have worked with The Times of India as a senior correspondent. This is a bit
about my background. I am a dreamer and a keen observer. I spend most of my
time travelling, reading and observing people when I am not working.
How did you get into writing and
since when you have been writing?
Like every other kid, the first
ambition of my life was to join the Army. But as you grow up, you realize your
potential. I was in 12th grade when the idea of becoming a writer struck me for
the first time. It took me five years to finally decide what I wanted to do and
take up writing as my profession.
I started writing in 2010 when I had
dropped one year after my 12th grade to prepare for engineering entrance exams.
I started as a blogger but didn't tell anyone in my circle about it. I was not
confident about my writing and I was afraid of being judged by everyone. Only
after a few random people started appreciating my blog, it gave me the
confidence to showcase my writings to friends and family.
What motivated you to write your
first book- Shadow of the Past?
I was going through a similar phase
while growing up and I know how messed up it is to deal with your past.
Especially, when your past has a habit of surprising you every now and then. I
know how important it is to accept certain things and move ahead with life.
Even if people don't tell you, everyone is raging a battle within their head.
Some choose to ignore it, some fight it and some get consumed by it. This was
my attempt to connect with people, who are going through similar situations and
tell them that it is okay if you have messed up as long as you know that you
want to get better and move ahead with life. Life is too short to regret about
things we have no control over.
Is it somewhere inspired from your
life?
It is a work of fiction but every
story is inspired by some or the other life events. It is wrong to say it is
entirely based on my experiences but it has some aspects of my life too.
Were you confident about the story
you had chosen for your first book?
To be honest, I was suggested by a
few people to write a story with a happy ending. But I wanted to write
something which is dreamy yet close to reality.
Shadow of the Past is technically my
second book and officially my first. I wrote my first book "Life's
Unpredictable" in 2012 but it never got published. It received 19
rejections and now when I look back, I feel I was not ready to become a writer
back then.
I didn't write for the next one and
a half years as the rejections shattered me from within. It felt maybe people
who told me I was wasting my time chasing the impossible were right. Nobody
believed me initially when I told them I wanted to become a writer. But when I
was in the final year of engineering and during the placement drive, I realized
that I am not meant to be an engineer. It took me 20 back-to-back rejections to
finally muster up the courage to tell my parents that I want to pursue
journalism and not end up as an engineer.
I started this book (Shadow of the
Past) in 2015 and completed it in 2017. It took me two years to plot and
complete this book and there is a major difference in the first and final
draft. And now when I look back, I know why everything happened. It happened
for a reason.
Did you feel any doubt while writing
a Love story that people won’t accept it or it would woo only a certain
age-group?
While writing this book the only
thing that kept me going was the idea behind it. If you look around, many
people are struggling with their past. Some are even afraid to talk about it or
they choose to ignore it. I wanted people to find solace in this book and maybe
find some strength to deal with their past if they are going through a similar
phase. I was nervous initially but after I finished writing, I knew I have
managed to do a decent job.
How did the idea of including
letters in the book come to you? How difficult was to write each one of them differently
than others?
I am a fan of old school romance. I
wish I lived in an era, where love letters were still a thing. The idea of
writing letters to your loved ones is something that always fascinated me and
that's why I wanted to include those letters. These days the idea of romance
has changed and I thought it will bring back some old memories.
It was difficult to write each one
of them as I had to put myself in their shoes and react emotionally. Writing a
book is similar to method acting. You have to feel the emotions your characters
are going through and only then you will be able to do justice with them. I
used to watch movies and read books, which would trigger those emotions within
in order to write.
The book has an open-ending. Are we
going to see its sequel in the near future? If yes, by when? And will it be the
last book in the series?
I always wanted to write a book,
which leaves the reader wondering and allow them to think. I wanted them to
take something back and reflect at the same time. Yes, I am working on the next
one and hopefully, we will see "A Glimpse of Future" soon. Yes, it is
a two-part series.
How has been your association with
Fingerprint publications?
It has been wonderful. I cannot
thank them enough for the effort the entire team of Fingerprint has put in and
helped me to understand the entire process of getting published. I was told by
many people many things based on their experiences but it has been a pleasure
to be associated with Fingerprint Publishing.
What would you like to say to your
readers about your further plans.
First of all, I want to thank each one of them for
reading Shadow of the Past and posting their unbiased reviews. It feels great
to see when people say they could connect with the book or it was their story.
That's what matters to me more. A writer is incomplete without its readers. I
am working on a sequel to Shadow of the Past and all I want to tell them is
this is just a beginning of something new and hopefully, they are going to see
me often.
Thanks.
WRITING BUDDHA
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