• Can you tell us something about yourself?
I loved storytelling from a very young age. In school, I and a handful of friends would brainstorm plots and stories that we could turn into short films or novels, and it gave me an almost addictive rush. In tenth grade, I wrote one part of a three-part mafia novel, of which I printed out a single copy, at a random internet cafe, while all the staff there were giving me looks.
• How is your book different than others?
I guess this is a question the very plot of each story can answer. I don’t think there are very many books that feature fungal macaroni growing sentient and preaching truths of the universe. I would strongly like to believe that I do not rely on a writing style that is borrowed in any capacity. All the stories that you will read are original in the truest sense of the word.
• Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
Hearing a scientific theory that baffles me, and thinking that I could definitely come up with an intricate plot centered around it. Random eureka moments in the loo. One random sentence told by a friend or acquaintance sets into motion a convoluted chain of thought.
• What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?
That the only way to cure writer’s block is to power through it and to put something on paper.
• What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?
Sometimes I happen to have random bouts of energy that power me through midnights to sunrise and have me producing multiple pages at once. Other times I stare at a blank canvas waiting for that perfect sentence to click.
• What do you think makes a good story?
Originality. Not necessarily in the plot itself. But that one thing that makes a story truly yours and nobody else’s. A good writer could even narrate the story of the hare and the tortoise and make it engrossing.
• What is your writing process like?
Listing out central plot points. Noting down every phrase and one-liner which would be idiosyncratic to the story I write. Then deciding on the narrative style which would make the story be narrated in the simplest, most lucid way possible. Then hacking in some characters and situations to make this narrative style effortless. Finally, connecting all the dots. *
* – This is an ideal scenario, mostly my writing process would be categorized as an elegant massacre.
• What advice do you have for writers?
Don’t stop. Don’t allow anything to let you stop.
• How did this story occur to you?
These are stories that I’ve written over the span of more than a couple of years and every single story has its own origin.
• What is the book all about?
There is little thematic coherence between the stories in this book. But I think the strongest taste that gets left in your mouth is a penchant for the absurd and how everything around us is truly a weird dance. The book is all about making you see the world differently. A little less ‘me’ and a little more ‘why?’.
