Sharing Stories Interview with Author Laxmi Natraj

2020-09-212020-09-24 Sharing Stories 0 Comments Interviews

In Conversation with Author Laxmi Natraj

Q1. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

I used to participate in elocution and drama. Each time I gave a strong message or enacted a powerful character, I saw a lot of positive response. That was my first brush with the power of words. I realized powerful language can start a change

Q2. Tell us a little bit about your books. Who is the favourite character from your book and why?

All the books I have written are thrillers. For young adult, I titled them, Adventures and for Adults, they are called as crime thrillers. I had published 7 books for young adults and 6 for adults. My favorite protagonist probably is that of my lattes book, ” The Deathly Echoes” character Bhoomi. I feel her character is almost a reflection of me, Curious, adventurous and daring.

Q3. Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?

I look for new topics for every book. I am half way through my new crime thriller where someone is attacking people at random and makes their whole body go into paralysis. The police is left befuddled as to what could be the common link between the victims and why the criminal is leaving them half dead.

Q4. Writing for children literature or novels for adults, which one do you enjoy more?

I write both with the same passion; it just depends on the theme that I am working on. I have been a teacher all my life. When I write for kids, I take care not to use violence or murder anywhere and actively expose them to science concepts, inventions and basically inspire curiosity and observation.

Q5. Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

I write for my satisfaction. In fact, there is a story in my head that needs to be written. So I just follow my thoughts. People have different tastes and at different times they may want to read something specific, and they choose the book that satisfies their wants. I only focus on telling my story as intriguingly as I can.

Q6. Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?

I had read a lot of books. While fantasy is a wonderful genre , but books that are largely realistic fiction, showing human dilemma in trying circumstances, stories of courage and determination appeal to me more.

Q7. According to you which are the 5 books, everyone should read and also who are your top 3 Authors and what impact they had in your journey as a writer

I think everyone should read books from different genres and even different languages. It helps open up different perspectives. I lo ved so many books and is difficulty to choose as I reads in English, Tamil and Hindi. These are just some random books I loved-

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Overload by Arthur Healey
Gotham by Munshi premchand

The three top Authors are

Arthur Healey – brilliant plots with meticulous industry specific research each time
Robin Cook – Loved the medicine and science fiction combinations.
Sujatha -allonym of the Tamil author S. Rangarajan, author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, he wrote thriller novels with Robotics and plastic bombs 30 years ago. I feel each of these books keep the readers engrossed till the end

Q8. Tell us a bit about your family, likes and dislikes as a person.

My husband was specialist of Engineer and Professor. He had great appreciation for my work. My two daughters, both postgraduates are married and settled in Mumbai. The grandkids keep me on my toes, bringing in the tastes of the new generation. I love all children wherever I happen to see them. No special things as likes. I dislike people using bad language which has become a fashion now.

Q9. Could you share a few tips for Young Authors? If you could tell your younger writing-self anything, what would it be?

Writing is a skill and like any other skill it can always be learnt with consistent practice. One has to develop a strong voice. I think one must read a lot of book, preferably in different languages to understand the flow and the narration style and the art of plots developing etc. Start writing short stories first and try to make it interesting. Write, write and re write several times before you make a final script.

Q9. At Sharing Stories, we have an ongoing campaign ‘World Harmony through

Writing’ where we encourage writers to pen down their deepest internal thoughts, daily for at least fifteen minutes. Their new ideas and profound thinking shall help to bring out some positive changes in the world we live. We would love to hear you thoughts about this initiative. Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?

Yes, it is a great idea! Writing is a kind of spiritual practice because you are totally involved body and soul into that thought. One learns to appreciate the bliss of solitude or even channelize stress in a productive way. If everyone decides to write positive thoughts it will have a very good cumulative result in the inner thought process of the world.