“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.

I like to believe everyone I know in life has had an impact in shaping me as the individual I’m today. But if I have to zero down to folks apart from my family and close friends, my high school English teacher definitely played the biggest part. He was the one who got me to start reading books and open a whole new world for me. He always suggested the right books which helped me learn the language and hone the art of storytelling.
Half Baked Beans has played a pivotal role in my journey too, both my books are HBB publications. It would be completely unfair if I don’t give Chetan ( the founder of HBB) the credit he deserves. He always encouraged me to write; inspiring and motivating me in his own uniquely sarcastic and witty ways.
I don’t want to make this answer into another acknowledgments section, but I absolutely must include Nilutpal ( my co-author for 2035) in the list. He was the best co-author I could have asked for. It sometimes feels surreal to me on how we finished writing a whole book, without even having met once! Working through different timezones, he was the most accommodating and amazing author to work with.

Can you tell a bit about the books you have written and share a few lines from any of them?

I have written a lot of stories that I have never published. There are 2 that are published – one is a fictional short story of a family that lost everything in the 2004 Tsunami ( Book name – Time’s lost atlas; story name – Pangs of Pain). The other book is 2035 – a dystopian thriller based on how I and my co-author think the world will be in 2035. But of the 2 that were published, I like the line from 2035 – “Technology is the mind, the mind is the technology” 

I honestly think it is so true in today’s day and age. Everything we think and do is influenced by technology and it is absolutely important and necessary to strike the right balance. It took me a lot of time to come up with the line, I wanted to come up with something that was deep yet simple to state. It seems like a very simple basic statement but it has a world of meaning associated with it. 

What kind of research do you put into before writing a sci-fi book?

Nilutpal and I spent a lot of time coming up with the storyline and the plot of the book. We wanted to write about the future, taking the present into consideration. A future that didn’t seem impossible. We spent a lot of time reading articles, journals, and books that depicted how technology would advance based on the world today. We read a lot about how AI is advancing and how geopolitical issues are influencing the world. 

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

I do write a lot in my spare time, writing actually pacifies me. I am working on a modern-day love story – how millennials and GenZ look at love. I have always written stories across multiple genres and I am trying to lock down what my style is. In that spirit, I’m also working on a murder mystery ( it is difficult to choose a unique murder style that hasn’t already been written/ talked about though!!)

According to you which are the 5 books, everyone should read and also who are your top 3 Authors?

I have read stories all my life, nothing gives me more joy than forgetting my reality and just living in a parallel universe! It is not possible for me to rank my favorite authors and just list 3 but some of my favorite ones are JK Rowling, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton ( She and JKR were part of more than half my childhood), Gillian Flynn, PG Wodehouse.  

As far as reading books is concerned, I think everyone must read 2035- it is a brilliant book! That’s the only book that matters. 

Jokes aside – I don’t think there are books that everyone absolutely should read, books are like music. You decide your own taste. Having said that there are some books that left me really awestruck with the story, the perennial relevance, and the writing style itself – The Catcher in the Rye, To kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, 1984, and Sapiens ( I have recently picked up the book but I’m sure it is going to be on the impactful books) 

Could you share few tips for Young Authors?

I would say there’s just one thing that matters when trying to write – READ A LOT. Never stop reading. As you read your mind opens up more, the better your writing becomes. Never ever stop reading, read a lot of varied things to form an opinion on your own unique writing style.

How can a writer keep the mental block or writer’s block away from his/her creativity?

I believe the only way to overcome/avoid writer’s block is to keep working actively to keep it at bay. Doing nothing about it doesn’t help neither does it suddenly go away. Working on something diligently helps to make it better. I had blogged about it years ago, and it comes to mind. Below is a link to it —

https://shrutisj.blogspot.com/2017/06/random-musings-working-title.html

At Sharing Stories, we have an ongoing campaign ‘Empowering Our Kids’ where we are trying to encourage and inculcate reading habits from a young age. We are trying to pick up 20 to 30 must-read books for children and try and make them available at our library in Jaipur, also to take this initiative across the globe. Please suggest some books which you think every child should read before the age of 15 (mostly the character-defining age).

I remember some books I read at that age, it was always fiction –

1. Sapiens
2. Enid Blyton books ( Famous five / secret seven / Malory Towers / St. Clair series / Mystery series )
3. Agatha Christie books ( for folks interested in the mystery/murder genre ) 
4. Abridged versions of the classics ( Charles Dickens, Shakespeare ) 
5. Books by Khaled Hosseini
6. The Catcher in the Rye
7. The animal farm

Rapid Fire Round

1. Favorite Place, Person, Food, beverage….

Favorite place – The world is too pretty a place for me to just name one. But if I get emotional about it – no place better than home! 

Person – Currently my 5-year-old niece

Food – Dal Bati

Beverage – Chai 

2. Your other Talents…

Isn’t writing enough? 😉 

3. Your First Love…

First inanimate love – Harry Potter

4. Favorite Quote…..

Technology is the mind, the mind is the technology 😉

5. Favorite Character from a book…

I used to love George from the Famous five series as a kid. Being slightly tomboyish myself, I related a lot with her

What if Round 

1. What if you had to live with only three things all your life, what would the three things be?

Going beyond the conventional Roti / kapda / makaan – I’d say Internet, and a personal mode of transportation to take me anywhere and everywhere

2. What if you were given the power to change one thing from this world, what would you change?

Given how the world changed so drastically after COVID, the only thing I honestly wish we could save all those people we lost due to the pandemic.

3. What if you had all the money in this world, what would you do first?

Wow, this is a tough one. Emotional and the things I want to do for my parents aside, I would honestly pack my bags and visit all those places I keep adding to my list of “Places to visit in my lifetime!”