Sharing Stories Interview with Author Anupriya Chowdhary
In Conversation with Author Anupriya Chowdhary
“Sometimes, we do not get a chance to thank each one who has helped us in our Journey.” Let the readers get a chance to know about all the important people who have played a part in this ‘Author Journey of Yours’.
You have started by making me do my favorite thing. Expressing gratitude!
First and foremost are my three friends and soul-sisters Prachee, Paayal and Namita(who also happens to be my sister from my Massi) who have been patient enough throughout our lives (like literally) listening to my continuous ranting about all the problems (real or imaginary) of my life. You know what they say about friends being your reality checks. That’s my husband for me. He is the kind of person who will analyse even my threat to jump down the roof. He will ask me how I felt about surviving the fall and becoming a quadriplegic for life. Scary right! But that’s what he does for me. Put things in perspective. On other instances when I am too scared of taking the plunge, he would say,
“Come on! Be a sport and don’t bring in your fear of failure in the way of me having a good laugh at your expense.”
Then there are my two sets of parents, the Gupta’s who gave me wings to fly and the Chowdhary’s who are the wind beneath my wings.
Ever since I started blogging and writing, the online community and the friends I have gained here have been a support and encouragement throughout.
Blogchatter and ArtoonsInn particularly have played a significant role in boosting my confidence. And there are these amazing people – Shivani Salil, Maitabi Banerjee, Anupama Dalmia, Debdatta Sahay, Divisha Mittal, Vartika… god I could ever list all of them. But everyone of them has not only been an encouragement, but also my sounding boards when self doubt engulfed me. I am thankful to each one of them.
Tell us a bit about the books you have written.Who is the favorite character from your book and why?
All my books are relationship dramas. I have tried to explore some unusual and difficult relationships and ensuing equations in all my stories. The idea is always to poke at one or more of the emotional bones that otherwise lay latent within and make one shift in the seat.
My first book ‘Because I Promised’ –is about a young girl Varnika, who has a difficult childhood and as a young adult finds herself working for a very peculiar cause i.e welfare of eunuchs. She also is constantly running away from her best friend Sushant, who is also the one she loves. Varnika is deeply impacted by the life choices her parents made and continues to dwell on her insecurities. How she fights her own inhibitions and comes out a winner in both her professional & personal life is a journey this book takes you on.
‘Unusual Equations’ – is the story of three people Mads, Viraj and Aman stuck in a vicious circle of incidents motivated by their love, passion, desire, insecurity with each other. It’s a love triangle with a married couple and a best friend struggling to find their footing in this three way equation. Whether they are able to fight their innermost fears without hurting each other and themselves in the process, or do they succumb to the relationship protocols as defined by the society is the core of this story.
My latest ebook ‘A Lifetime To Move On’ is the story of Sarika and Kuamr. As lovers they could not walk their relationship through the aisle. But they are forced to come face to face after 30 long years. Do they have it in them to set aside their differences for their families’ happiness, is what lies at the core of this relationship saga.
You ask me about my favorite character? When has a parent been able to distinguish amongst their various kids and point at out at one of them as their favorite. No, that would be a sin J
Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?
Yes, I am working on another novella in a very peculiar genre. I wouldn’t want to spill the beans, but I have to say that this is my most challenging writing pursuit till date. That’s because I have set out to explore a world, I know nothing about from personal experience. It’s all research and perception. It is going to be a real test of my sensitivity and maturity not only as a writer but also as a person.
What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?
I am lucky to have found a very compassionate tribe online. Though I do not interact with many of them as much as I would like to, but Damyanti Biswas, Maitabi Banerjee, Richa Mukherjee, MV Kasi and Aarti V Raman are some authors I love to follow and try to learn as much as possible from their journey.
If you are observant enough, you will realize that every person irrespective of their profession is waging a personal battle. It could be a battle to remain at the top of their game or to just float. But there is no replacement for authenticity, conviction and hard work. I really like to follow through these girls’ journey and know that everyone will eventually emerge a winner (or is already one).
How long on average does it take you to write a book? What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Reading came very late in my life. But I have been a couch potato and a bollywood movie buff ever since I can remember. Even when my father would dismiss certain movies or scenes as unrealistic, I realized that they were all inspired. The writer of those characters or scenes surely observed something, someone, somewhere and came up with this for the screen. And that’s how I grew up to be. A huge reservoir of observations, scenarios and possibilities lives within me. Sometimes, all of these just get together and create a pattern in the madness. Those patterns have lived within me for the longest of times. Until five years ago, when I decided to let go of my inhibitions and write these down in the form of stories.
So yes, the first drafts of my stories are generally quick. That’s because a lot of the story is already there in my head before I actually set out to type it out. The time consuming part is the editing. Most times I know what I want my story to look like, but sometimes when I do receive a varying beta reader feedback, doubts creep in. And then there is this painstaking phase of re-editing, re-writing, repeat.
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?
Now that’s one question I might never be able to answer, because I really can’t look down upon any book. Once I have picked up a book, I make sure I finish it. It is a self imposed compulsion. I ought to have a few life lessons from every work of any author. That’s how I have functioned since I started reading. So picking up favorites is not my thing at all. I know that every book is someone’s labor of love and commitment.
Yet, there are these two books I will never be able to forget and keep going back to. These are We The Living by Ayn Rand and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Though I like to read all genres except horror, I love Drama fiction in all shapes and sizes. As a young adult I fed on a very heavy and unhealthy doze of works by Jeffrey Archer, Daniel Steel, Eric Segal. And lately I have enjoyed Indian Authors such as Anuja Chauhan, Ravi Subramanian etc.
Amongst the Indian indie authors I dope on romances by Aarti V Raman, Preethi Venugopala, M.V.Kasi, Shilpa Suraj and Ruchi Singh.
About anyone impacting my journey as an author – I am quite disillusioned about one thing. That when an Ayn Rand set out to write ‘The Fountainhead’, Or Elizabeth Gilbert wrote her memoire ‘Eat Pray Love’, they really weren’t telling themselves, “Hey, I got to write a best seller.” Or, “I must write something that will sell.”
Infact, they were surely desolate from what other’s would think about their work, and wrote what their convictions told them to write. The art and craft of writing played their role, yes. But it was mostly hardwork and patience that got them through. I have promised myself that I will focus on these three keywords as a writer – conviction, hardwork and patience. I am sure someday I will be able to check all three of these with some work of mine.
Tell us a bit about your family, likes and dislikes as a person.
I belong to a regular North Indian middle class family. My father was the single earning member of the family. My parents have waged a lifelong battle to bring up two strong headed girls who are fiercely independent. Paradoxically, I got married into a family where I didn’t need to be all too independent. It called for a lot of adjustments in my temperament. No! Not in any negative sense, but yes for somebody who lived her life with the blinds on her eyes, listening and following only her parents, I had to now live in a full house with a huge extended family. And that worked in my favor for sure. I think, it was after my marriage that I came to understand the nuances of relationships with much more sensitivity and learnt to figure out the gamut of shades that are human equations. I am still a work in progress that way. In last one decade I have grown up by leaps and bounds as a person.
What I like? I like honesty, sincerity and purity of intent. Not everyone is born with the same talents, abilities or skills, but if one is honest and sincere enough, they will find their way to their dreams. I really do keep away from pretentiousness. Despite all the maturing that has happened in my life, I haven’t yet developed the tactic to deal with that.
On a more materialistic level, I love stationary in all shapes, sizes and colors. I am a hoarder of journals and color pens. I really care nothing about brands though, but when it comes to my diaries and daily planners, I want to explore what anyone has to offer to me.
Could you share a few tips for Young Authors?If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?
When we were young, I know of hardly anyone who wanted to write. Yes, there were some who loved to write, but still it was only a hidden passion or a hobby per se.
But these days, kids are really smart and have a bird’s eye view of what they want to do. So for those who want to write, the right thing to do is to read. Read everything and anything that they can lay their hands on. I always believe, what doesn’t interest you or is not what you generally like to read about, is general knowledge. And you never know when this general knowledge might come in handy.
I would like to quote Twinkle Khanna here. She claims to be a compulsive reader and reads even the back of her toothpaste tube while brushing. That’s the kind of appetite you need to develop for reading, if you really do want become a good writer.
Another famous advice for writers is that for every 100 words you write, you ought to have read atleast a 1000 words. Only then will you be able to bring in some pattern to the madness that are your thoughts.
And the next thing is to WRITE. Do not wait for the perfect idea or the perfect vocabulary to strike you. Just write with all your heart and let the thoughts and emotions flow. As they say any art form must be practiced to express yourself and not impress others. If you are able to express yourself sincerely, you will eventually find the niche where you will be noticed and appreciated.
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?
When I started blogging in 2016, I wasn’t looking at bringing about any change in the world. I only meant to bring some sense of calm to my mind that was all over the place because I was struggling as a young mother and preparing to welcome my second child into the world. As I churned one blog post after another, it helped me spiritually by making me connect to my deepest thoughts and fears not only as a mother, but as a woman who played a multitude of roles. Initially, I was damn scared. But gradually, writing about my fears, my frustrations and my desires helped me deal with my anxiety. The result was that I got addicted to writing. Almost a years after I started blogging, I penned the first draft of ‘Because I Promised’. So yes I really appreciate this initiative by Sharing Stories. I hope that this practice will help the writers get in touch with their inner most emotions and may be eventually come up with beautiful stories that have the potential to change the world.
What if Round
What if you had to live with only three things all your life, what would the three things be?
My Kindle, lemonade and a pair of comfortable tshirt and pyjama, that’s it!
What if you were given the power to change one thing from this world, what would you change?
The darkness and insecurities in people’s heart and mind.
What if you had all the money in this world, what would you do first?
Distribute it to people in a manner to eradicate all the class difference. There is so much stigma around class difference that causes so many dreams to die unknown deaths.
Rapid Fire Round
Favourite Place – my hometown Chandigarh;
Person – My sister Supriya and my cousin Namita
Food – Rice with salted butter and pepper,
Beverage – nimbu paani
Your other Talents – speaker, career coach, numerologist
Your First Love – I would like to freeze Sonu Nigam here, but I know it’s actually all of 80s and 90s music
Favourite Quote – Desire, Deserve, Derive
Favourite Character from a book – Kira Argounova of We The Living by Ayn Rand
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