Interview With Author Rupali Saini
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a poet, activist, author and wanderer rambling in the world of my imagination. I’m also a random choreographer and often tap my feet with a story in my mind. When not penning the subtleties of human heart, I’m an assistant professor and a passionate teacher. I believe in promoting learning through questioning. So far my two books have been published, the first is on spirituality, a non-fiction, and the second is this newly published SHOTS: Tell It Slant, a collection of 25 short shorts.
Before it my work has been featured in various journals and anthologies.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book by me, as I have mentioned, is SHOTS: Tell It Slant, the stories you not only read but also feel. These stories are inspired from my quest to address the issues which we have almost normalized, though the practices are subtle forms of exploitation, disparity and prejudices, but in the humdrum of our hectic lives we tend to let them happen as nothing has happened. At some places, I also wanted to show the daily happenings to their core reality, which is off course disturbing and unsettling.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yeah! there is, but I would like to call it a condition than a habit. It’s when I’m plotting a story, I want a pin-drop silence.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I write at my calling, when no other option is left than manifesting it in the form of a writing piece, I just do it under the influence of its necessity to bring it out on the paper/screen.
It’s true, I’m not a typical reader but I agree that a good reader is a good writer. So, before any such venture when a story in my mind nudges me to come out, I prepare myself with the readings of the relevant theme or genre.
In particular, I can’t name any. I’m really sorry for it. I always have this conflict of naming someone or a few. Actually, I get influenced with every that writing which attracts me intellectually and also goes straight to heart.
What are you working on now?
The writing and publishing process of SHOTS: Tell It Slant was so exhaustive and tiresome for last many months, that for a while, I’m planning to take a break.
But, it’s not the endgame. Yes, there is something cooking up in my mind but not so sure about it yet. Don’t worry, the break will not be so long, hopefully 🙂
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As of now, these four are in my top list- WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. In future, if I earn some readers, I hope Goodreads too will join this list.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
There are many lessons, I have learnt throughout my SHOTS journey, as there were 25 stories in total. and I would love to discuss those in detail.
For now, in brief, I can enlist the three most important.
1. Always keep something with you on which you can scribble or jot down, ideas pop up anywhere and ridiculously anytime, so don’t delay in giving them words. Yes, ideas come out of the blue and also vanish nowhere in the blink of an eye. So, be vigilant. You just plan what you want to write and then see the miracles of your mind. It works, you just pay heed to its calling.
2. When you are writing your first draft, don’t bother about its quality. You are vomiting, right! So, just let it out and hop on the next chapter, don’t start editing off the bat. Maintain a suitable gap, it helps you in detaching yourself from your beloved first draft. And if some factual data in your write-up bother you, then just leave the space or highlight the things where you would come back when finish your first draft. Don’t divert your mind toward the factual or nitpicking part, it kills the creativity. Just focus on your story and its spirit.
3. After maintaining an adequate gap, when you return to your first draft, you may find it terrible or a shit but believe me its not. Congratulations, you have a story now, you just need to improve it in its expression, grammar and punctuation. Editing can be a rewriting but again you have a story now, just toil over it.
I hope it helps.
Thanks!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write, Write and Write, You will improve.
Sorry, I don’t know who said this or Is it something my mind is concocting?
But, it’s really a good advice 🙂
What are you reading now?
I hope, after our brief discussion above, you might have assumed the answer. Not anything, in particular 🙂
Beware! a good reader is a good writer. I’m voracious, when I decide reading something.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As a writer, as I have hinted, something is drumming up my mind. Will spill soon, if everything goes right in its favor.
Cheers!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Haha…
I would love to take ‘Bhagavad Gita’ with me, its a wonderful spiritual text. What do you think, would I take it for myself? I have read it Dear!, this I would take along with me for helping someone with its magical teachings, if I happened to find anyone on that island.
Have a Great Writing!
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