Skip to main content

Author Highlight: Gautam Discusses his New Book ‘Rafflesia: The Banished Princes’ and Stories from his Life

We are back with another author interview. Today, with us, we have Gautam– the author of ‘Rafflesia: The Banished Princes’. In this interview, Gautam talks about his writing aspirations, and the route to getting his book published. Stay on...while we chat with him.

What motivates you to write?

I love to write. It is a deeply satisfying experience for me personally. Different people are addicted to different things at different points in their lives. Some love to travel. Some love sports, not that you must have one at a time. I like many things too, but as of now, writing seems to be the one that precedes all other interests.

How did you handle the response of this book?

Well, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the book. It was more of an experiment. I knew from the beginning that it was something off beat. However, readers have been very kind to shower praises, despite the length of the book. The reactions have been extreme – from Oh my God to Yuck. I took everything in my stride. It was a learning experience. I remember one reader wanted to talk to me, but instead of that she cried almost throughout our conversation.

What are some of your favourite novels and authors?

I have no favorites as such. I have grown up reading a lot of books in different languages and my choices have changed over time. When you are a teenager, you read certain kind of books. When you are a young adult, something else interests you. It changes. Also, I am not hooked to any genre.

Do you think writing a book from the comfort of bedroom is possible?

I think the setting should be conducive, wherever you are. You should feel comfortable. That could be in your house or at some library. I like silence when I write. For me it is late nights most of the times though sometimes I write during the day.

Where do you write from? Do you go to some specific place, like beachside or into the hills?

No specific place. Mostly when I am at home.

What inspired you to write this book? Any tales to tell…

This is a difficult question. I wanted to start with something off the hook. Writing needs a lot of patience and time. Managing with a job, family and a social life is very difficult. Given a choice, I’d prefer only writing. There is no particular inspiration but when I wrote Rafflesia, I imagined it like a movie. The scenes kept unfolding and I kept writing.

What was your biggest learning experience throughout the publishing process?

There are many. Writing is a very emotional thing, but one needs to get detached from it at a certain point of time. And think more like a reader. It is difficult and takes time. With my second, I am surely able to think a little better. Then you need to plan. Finishing a book is one thing and in India, it is not too difficult to find a publisher. But marketing is important. Unfortunately, authors don’t have the time for it. I believe good marketing can also propel a mediocre book to success.

Looking back, what did you do right that helped you break in as a writer?

Well, I don’t think of myself as a writer. It’s a big word and scares me. Let’s say I am just a novice who tries to write for his own satisfaction. I did struggle. I struggled a lot, faced a lot of rejections and had terribly bad experiences while trying to get publish. But that was all a part of the learning process.

Any best piece of writing advice from your side that we haven’t discussed?

Nothing as such. As I said earlier, marketing is important. It is difficult to promote oneself, I find it very difficult. I’d prefer to remain secluded in my own world and remain there while people read my books, but that is not possible in today’s time. Having a social connect is important.

Something personal about you people may be surprised to know?

People ask me if the book is based out of personal experiences. I think most people ask this question to first time authors. I always find myself at a loss of words when asked this question. I chose settings I am familiar with as it helped me to write, but the story is largely fictional.

Any future books that you would like to discuss now?

Well, I am attempting a pure romance this time. With Rafflesia, many said ‘oh! He is a literary type’, I don’t believe in any types. I admire authors who create an identity for themselves and master a genre. I don’t think I’ll be ever to do that. I need to tell different stories, explore different themes. Some are mainstream, some, not so mainstream.

Connect with Gautam:

Website/Blog: www.gautamc.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversation fo

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r