Professionals from different streams often fall in love with writing and advertising professional Rajan L Narayan is no exception.His debut book The Lonely Cloud, he says, is all about, "Romance and emotions..and these are universal human traits that will always appeal to readers.”
The book is a love story set in a small town in India, exploring the conflicting emotions and subsequent actions that arise from falling in love. Rajan believes that his stories are the outcomes of his experiences that led him to meet different kinds of people, study their lives and their emotions. “My stories are nothing but human lives strung together,” he says. The author has a deep connection with Bengaluru and says, "I have spent a lot of time here during my college days. I have seen it change from a pensioners' paradise to a youth hub.”
Being an engineer and an MBA graduate, Rajan had no designs on fiction writing but he had a natural flair for words since the age of 16. With 20 years of experience in advertising, he finds it easier to understand the market and consumer dynamics and also believes that excellence is a must in every pursuit. The inspiration comes from, "the people of India. Indians are wonderfully expressive and the best stories are often told by strangers one meets during train journeys."
His other reference points are Charles Dickens, R K Narayan, Aravind Adiga, Nicholas Sparks, Somerset Maugham, William Dalrymple and counting.
He concedes that publishers mostly prefer known writers and says, "An author needs to be an ‘authorpreneur’ and make the effort to reach out to his audience.”
After publishing his book, he went live on social media and reached out to people, telling them to pre-buy an autographed copy from him. “Every friend would review the book or send pictures which I would host on my author page.This built my fan base, helping it to cross 2200 likes in just a month. I did reading sessions at homes of friends who invited their friends,” he adds.
Rajan believes that human beings are just nervous bundles of emotion and concludes, "The story is about the poetry of love, the resilience, strength, innocence and maturity of love. And it is about choices."
