Subhechcha Ganguly 
Avinash Meshram is a Mathematics Faculty by skill and an Author by passion. His world revolves around his job, his writing, and his family, especially his little Angel. He loves to talk to new people and get inspired by their stories. Let us know more about this interview.
Q1) Since when did you start having interest in writing ? Tell us something about your writing journey.
Ans : I started writing when I was 13 years old. I started with writing poems, but by 15, my interest grew in writing stories. I wrote my first Novel when I was 15. I didn’t complete it, but my classmates read that half story and loved it. After that I wrote many short stories and showed them to my friends. They loved my writing and many of them asked me to write love letters for them. I did that happily.
Even though I cooked up many stories, I never thought I would become an Author. Because I always felt that my writing is too simple to be an Author. I had read more than 30 Novels by the time I reached College, in Marathi, Hindi, and English. One thing I had noticed in all of them was the articulation of language. I didn’t have that skill. So the thought of becoming an Author never surfaced in my mind.
Then one day, a friend of mine, Hitesh Borkar, gave me a Novel. It was, Five Point Someone, by Chetan Bhagat. After reading that Novel, I realised that a good story can also be written in a simple language, and still be loved by many. Language is just a medium to tell a story, and at the end, the storytelling is what matters the most. That was the first time, I had thought about publishing my Stories.
But life happened and I got busy making a career for myself and the thought of becoming an Author stuck in the back of my mind.
In 2019, my brother’s friend, Sneha Satyanathan, published a book. I found out, and out of curiosity, asked my brother to introduce me to her. From her, a learnt about different aspects of publishing a book. And hence, my first Novel, I Don’t Need Reasons. I Need you! Came into existence, in 2020.
Since then, I never took writing lightly. I have a busy schedule because of my full time job and family. But I try my best to steal some time everyday, to write something; even if it is only a page. It has been three years since I have started writing Novels, and I have already published 4 Novels. And currently, I’m working on a book series, ‘Love U unconditionally!’ 2 parts of this series are already in Editing phase and I’m currently working on the draft of the 3rd part. First part of this series, ENEMY AT FIRST SIGHT, will be released on 15th June 2023.
Q2) How did the idea of “The Day I lost Faith!” come to your mind. Tell us more about the plot of the book. Also share the link of the book.
Ans : After publishing 3 Novels, I also dabbled into writing scripts for movies. A director, Vishwajeet Jagdish, approached me, one day. He said he has a producer, and the producer has a storyline in mind on which he wants to invest. He needs someone to convert his idea into a script. Then he told me the plot on which the script was to be written. Within a week, I wrote the first draft of the screenplay and sent it to him.
But unfortunately, the producer died in Covid, and the screenplay became useless.
In 2021, I was researching for my upcoming series. It was going to take a lot of time. I didn’t want to give break to my publishing streak and decided to publish one more stand alone Novel to fill the gap. So I called Vishwajeet and asked him if I can convert the script, he asked me to write, into a Novel. He agreed and hence, ‘The Day I Lost Faith!’ came into existence.The Day I Lost Faith!, Is a romantic suspense Novel. If you like dark romance and crave for suspense, then this book is for you. The link of the book is https://www.amazon.in/dp/8195084516/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_apa_gl_i_NZ53Q8KCYK62TCJT5QST?linkCode=ml1&tag=avinashmesh02-21
Q3) Tell us something about your hobbies . Have you mastered the art of managing your hobbies and your passion by now or you are still finding ways to do it ?
Ans : I love watching movies and TV series. I like to play chess. Chatting on social media (with friends and new people) to look for new stories . And most importantly, I love to write.
I guess I’m pretty good at Time Management. I manage to find time to do everything I want. It’s difficult sometimes though.
Q4) From preparing the draft of the book , to selecting the cover page to publishing it , it is a process that requires total scrutiny and involvement . Tell us about your experience and were there any hardships that you faced in the process ?
Ans : Yes, off course. Just writing a few words on a piece of paper doesn’t make it a story. We do need a lot of efforts, than just scribbling on paper to get a story out. It is a difficult and troublesome task. But nothing good comes easy, right?
For me, I first think about the elevator pitch (one liner) on which I want to write a story.
Then I convert it into a synopsis and discuss it with my friends in the creative field. After discussion and criticism, I make a decision about whether I shall proceed or not.
If I decide to proceed, I start researching. My research includes, number of characters, personalities of important characters, the events that would lead the story forward, how the story will start and end, and what will be the twist in the story.
Once I have a blueprint in my mind, I start writing first draft of my Novel.
After the first draft, I do the first editing.
After the first editing, the Novel is sent to 5 beta readers. If at least 3 of them say it’s good, then I proceed for the second editing of the Novel, based on their suggestions. And if at least 3 of them say that it’s not that good. Then I stop working on the Novel. Right now, I have 6 novels that I have written but didn’t publish because I didn’t get the expected feedback.
After second editing, I send it to the beta readers once again to check out the changes and give feedback
After that, the third editing of the Novel is done.
After the third editing, I go for cover page. I keep thinking about the cover page and title of the book from the first day when I write elevator pitch. I want my cover page and the title of the book to tell the story, what is written inside. I take them very seriously. So I keep thinking about them while I write the Novel, and by the time I reach the publishing stage, the idea of the cover and title is clear in my mind.
It has happened almost every time, when I started the Novel with another title and ended it with some other title. My first Novel started as, “You had me at Hello!” but ended up as “I Don’t Need Reasons. I Need You!” my second Novel started under the title, “Love Quadrangle” but ended up being, “HER PERFECT MAN!” my fourth Novel, when it was supposed to be a movie, it was titled, “The Day I Lost Virginity” but when I converted it into a Novel, I changed it to, “The Day I Lost Faith!” the current series I am working on, started under the title, “Devil in Disguise” but now I have changed it to “Love U unconditionally!”
The same is the story of the cover of every Novel. All the Novels had been tried with at least 4 different covers before reaching a final decision.
Q5) There is a large section of the youth who thinks of writing their solo book but lack the courage to do so . What is your advice to them ?
Ans : Well, I was one of that large section, for a long time. Smiley.
From my experience, I would say, you get only one life, and only one chance to live it. So, if something makes you happy and it is legal. Then you should not compromise with your happiness. I would like to add one more thing, if you want to write as a hobby, it doesn’t matter what you write.
You can write shit and still feel great about it. But if you want to write as a professional, then take the craft seriously. Write as an Author, but edit as a reader. Don’t write what you don’t want to see others write. Ask the people you trust, to scrutinize your writing, and don’t get hurt if you don’t hear the expected feedback. It is better to be criticised by your friends, before you publish your book, than you be criticised by everyone for writing a bad book.
Also, remember, you can’t please everyone. So learn to ignore the few bad reviews. Smiley.
