HYDERABAD: With self publishing that makes publishing easy, social media that can be used as a tool for marketing, and with increasing number of books being published, penning one seems like an easy task. But it comes with its own set of challenges say young authors from the city.
Replacing camera with a pen
When filmmaker Abhiraj Nair was moving around in southern India shooting for his film, he happened to meet children who were either working at a dhaba or a brothel. “It was painful to see them in that situation. I spoke to them for sometime and I felt like I should inform people about the dark side of the world. That’s when I decided to write the book titled, ‘Silent Slaves’ which will be a collection of short stories. I am still in process of finishing the book,” he shares.
Being a filmmaker, why did he decide to write about them instead of capturing them in frames?
The newbie author who utilises his travel-time for writing says, “I read books quite often and I wanted explore the author in me. Though it is a bit difficult to hold a pen in place of my camera, I am just putting down my thoughts on paper. My friend is helping me with the presentation and refining bit.”
21-year-old Abhiraj’s book will have six short stories from all over the country.
Love for crime thrillers
An avid reader, Ravi Teja Tadimalla got acquainted with writing a novel when he was in Class VI.
“I woke up one day and went to my dad with the idea of writing a novel. He encouraged me. It was informal. I just wrote in my school note book. I never got it published. But when I reached Class IX, I took it seriously,” informs Ravi Teja. It was his first stint to writing a novel for readers. Though the first book was left incomplete and the draft was misplaced, he started writing again in Class X and published his book when he was in Class XII.
The book titled ‘The Nightmare’, a crime-thriller, took him about one year to complete but his lookout for a publisher who would like to bring the book to the stands took him another year.
“After I finished writing, I approached a few publishers and most of them rejected my work. I rewrote the book a couple of times to make it more interesting for the publishers. At last, it was Frog Publications that published the it in 2011,” the 22-year-old informs.
The author is now working on his second book ‘Change’ which is a political fiction. He says, “I choose the genre because I always liked reading books from that genre.”
He has also learnt some valuable lessons in the process. He shares, “Being exposed to books set in America, I decided to write one on the same lines. Another one was rewriting a novel just to please a publisher. I realised much later that I could have done without it. Then, I relied on the publisher for the promotion of the book. I assumed they would take care of it. I realised that my participation in the promotion is equally important.”
His tip to aspiring authors is “reading and writing everyday and the will power to succeed.”
Guide for dancers
Moving from fiction, Srishti Budhori penned a book that works as a guide for aspiring Bharatnatyam dancers. It was her passion for dance drove her write ‘Nritya Maargdarshika’.
The 20-year-old multitalented MBBS student, says the aim behind the book is to make preparation for Visharad Poorna exam easy for the students. “The idea came to my mind in 2012 when I was preparing for the exam. I had to refer to a number of books to cover all the topics in the syllabus. My Class XII exam and medical exams which were scheduled during the same time made it more difficult,” she informs. That is what made her feel that having all the topics in one book would have made the task easier.
Without a background in writing, she successfully completed writing the book and launched it in April 2015.
“As I enjoyed the entire process of writing the book, it was hardly a challenge for me,” she says.
Starting a little too early
While Abhiraj, Ravi and Srishti are in their twenties, 13-year-old Shezor Mujthedi Syed penned one fantasy novel when he was only 12.
Having watched a lot of fantasy movies and read fantasy books, he decided to make a debut in the same genre.
Titled ‘The Seven Beasts,’ the book is inspired by cartoons he watched as a child.
“I liked the superhero Beast Boy and the word ‘Beast’ fantasised me. That’s where the theme and the title of the novel came from,” says the super boy whose book was launched at Comic Con Hyderabad in 2014. Before the novel, Shezor has been writing comics. “Having been exposed to reading and writing helped me to complete my novel in just three months,” he informs.
Shezor who is currently working on his second novel which is a detective book says, “Writing a novel is much more challenging than writing comics as the novel has more detail, the character has to be likable and plot of the novel should be decent.”
His only tip for aspiring authors is, “Edit the content at least three to four times before approaching a publisher.”