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Author"s Interview with the author of book The Ferryman

 


1. What inspired you to write this book and explore the themes of self-discovery and personal growth?

I do not think the book explores the said themes.

On the part of inspiration – I was actively searching for ideas during the lockdown period and when I found the core idea – which was very exciting to me – I started right away.

2. Can you share a memorable moment or experience that influenced the creation of this story?

The idea itself came to me as a nightmare. A nightmare that woke me up in a bit of panic. It stayed with me even after I had calmed down. Trying to sleep again, I slowly mulled over it and I saw how good an idea it would be to do this as a book.

That same night I tried to look for a starting point for the idea I had and soon enough I remembered a personal experience of mine. Next morning I put these two together and started the book.

3. How do you approach creating relatable and authentic characters in your writing?

With ‘The Ferryman’, the main character ‘Adithya’ is an outcome of all the injustice that had happened to us and the resulting frustration that we carry within ourselves in our lives. I just put a name to those frustrations and provided a way for them to come out.



4. What was the most challenging aspect of writing this book, and how did you overcome it?

One challenge was the vocabulary. Not long after I began the book I saw that I was deficient when to came to vocabularies. I started referring to thesaurus and began to learn on writing the same sentence in different ways. Slowly I was able to move ahead comfortably.

5. How do you balance writing about serious topics with maintaining an engaging narrative?

One main focus for me was the have a good pace. I wanted my readers to be able to finish my book in a few sittings. Despite trying to explore the human psychology in a way, it is supposed to be thriller and a fast paced narrative is important for this.

Reading what I had written, I found that the same content, if split into short chapters, worked differently. So I did just that. I tried to convincingly break them up into short chapters. Most readers do comment on the good pace. But there are also some critique about the pace being slow at the beginning.

6. What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

A few sleepless nights? :)

 

7. Are there any particular authors or books that have influenced your writing style?

While there have been a lot of inspirations, I particularly want to quote Stephen King and Joe Hill. Their works, at the heart, are done in a very localized setting, capturing the day to day American lives and the people, and placing them into an extraordinary setting. I wanted to do something similar. I wanted the book to be about regular people and their lives here in India. And I wanted to put them in an extraordinary situation. And this situation - I did not want to borrow from our Mythology or folklore. I wanted it to be original. And I did just that.

8. What was your writing process like for this book? Did you have any unique rituals or habits?

The first draft was started and finished during the COVID lockdown. I had a lot of time during the lockdown and I managed to stay consistent on this. I didn’t schedule anything, but I wrote between 9PM and 12AM all weekdays, after my work was done. Sometimes I wrote all 3 hours, sometimes I wrote only for 20 mins, sometime I just read what I had written – there was never a strict schedule.

During revisions, especially the final one, 3 years after the lockdown, I went to Cafe Pondybucks, a small but great cafe in Pondicherry and did the entire run there.

9. How did you find your own voice as a writer, and what advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Like Stephen King says in his book ‘On Writing’, you need to ensure you have all the tools before you begin – the idea, the tone, the vocabulary, the time – everything. I just did that.

With one book old, the only advice I can give for others to be consistent on the writing. To be consistent is challenging and if one can be that I’m sure they will make progress.

10. What are you currently working on, and what can readers look forward to from you next?

I do not have a strict plan. I do have a day job – I run a small software company. I write when I have sometime and I have currently made some progress into a short novel. It is fantasy. And I’m also trying plot a techno-thriller idea that I have.

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