Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a content creature that just hit 32. Indian background, city person at heart. I love creating stuff such as art and Youtube videos, along with writing and other creative projects. Making things really help me express ideas and convey what I think. Visual art is especially my preferred medium.
I really have interests in sci-fi and certain fantasy elements, namely those more akin to a storybook tale. I have a lot of real world interests in aviation, marine biology and astronomy. I love road trips and getting out of the house (though that doesn’t necessarily mean outdoors). I grill decent dry-rub chicken wings and have an affinity to Asian food and entertainment.
I’ve only published two titles currently, but have a few more on the burner to release in the near future. I also do a bit of blogging, namely in the form of a serial.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “The Michiko Bates Chronicles #1 – The Beginning”. I drew a lot of inspiration from a lot of anime-styled Japanese fanart, along with stories in that same style such as Gosick and a few other obscure novelizations of “girl detectives”. I wanted to create a character in vein of those inspirations, doing otherworldy travel and getting to explore these worlds. That was the driving force behind that book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. I actually have a few! Mine go against the grain of hiding away with everything being shut out to focus writing. I do value my space and nobody bothering me, but these two things usually help me get writing done the fastest:
1. Road trip! Yes, believe it or not getting out on the road helps me formulate and make progress with plotting my writing. It’s therapeutic to lock into 70mph on the cruise control, zooming down the Interstate with the pavement singing in your ears. I think this mostly comes from me traveling a lot while I was younger, but my mind wanders a whole lot. New stimuli of a different city and state helps ramp up creative ideas even more.
2. Hitting Starbucks or big coffee shop. This is probably stereotypical, but its for a similar reason above. I love noise. Crowds and chatter all the better. Heck, I’m more at home at a table in the food court at a mall than a quiet hideaway in a tiny town. Aside from getting to people watch, I feel like I belong in the crowd and that life is happening, unlike if I sat home alone. I think this is mostly from growing up in an extremely rural home in my younger years, and I get creative energy from being around where life happens.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
C.S. Lewis has been a big inspiration for me, along with Mary Stanton’s “Unicorns of Balinor.” Various Star Trek paperbacks also have shaped me to write science fiction, along with non-fiction books like Hyperspace, A Universe in a Nutshell and Charles Berlitz mystery books (Atlantis, Bermuda Triangle, etc).
What are you working on now?
I’m current working on Endless Sky (operating name the Janus Fairytale Project), a very visual story utilizing a lot of illustrated artwork. This is aimed towards a younger audience and is more like a storybook, rather than a novel. It’s a fantasy-themed story that has people living on islands in an “endless sky”, where a woman and her adopted son set off to go find what happened to her missing husband. There’s no set date to when this will get done, but I am hoping I have the first book done in 2019.
In line with that, I write the Heather blog serial, which is a shoot off from Endless Sky and takes place after that book. This is more of a young adult story and has a lot of horror and mystery overtones, focusing on a young woman who has the ability to sense paranormal entities. It’s a monthly, episodic series with a few select pieces being formed into actual audio dramas. This is currently ongoing between short breaks, and can be found on my blog.
Lastly I have a visual novel game I’m currently programming, the Dawnstar Chronicles. This project does require a lot of storywriting and branching choices for the player to take, and will amount to almost a 50,000+ word project. The good thing is I already I have all the art and music assets done, along with being Greenlit with the Steam platform, so its just to finish the writing. I hope to finish it later in 2018.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I would say the best results I’ve had for sales was talking in-person to someone I knew off deviantART, who ran a popular site. They ran an ad in their banner rotation which got some traffic. Paid ads seemed to be the way to go for me, along with pushing the book to Kindle Unlimited. I’ll admit I’ve not done a lot of book marketing, so I don’t have much to suggest in other avenues.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, quite a few actually.
1. Use your time wisely. Go in steps and follow a strict regimen. When I was working a 9-5 job I found that I was much more productive than when I freelance. Follow schedules, time yourself and keep thinking about your story. Don’t rush yourself in that I need to write a novel in a month, but most certainly don’t touch it with a stick every six months.
2. Finish your book. That should be your end goal. We all have to start somewhere, but you won’t get to publish your book till you actually have a completed product in your hand to submit to people. This includes getting your book cover, some social media bases and an elevator pitch for your book. You’ve overcome your biggest hurdle once you hit this point.
3. Work with an outline! I see a lot of people who frown on this and like to “type by the seat of their pants”, but when you don’t have a lot of time and have poor time management, outlines are a lifesaver. They work as a roadmap to help form your story into completion. Especially if you can do a semi-detailed outline, you’ve essentially written 1/3rd of the book. It’s not too hard to finish it up from that point. I’ve also found that it helps overcome most writer’s block that I’ve hit.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep writing. Whether its my blogs, little Reddit writing prompts or such, the more you write the more experience you get.
Also type first – edit later is another good one. Get what you need out on paper first. Then go back and edit. The only think I fix in the first pass is blatant spelling errors.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading a few self-help books at the moment. Job Escape Plan by Jyotsna Ramachandran is one of them. I’m also revisiting No One Cares What You Had for Lunch by Margaret Mason, a really good book for those who don’t know diddly squat what to put on one’s blog. I also have Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet within reach, as I’m currently writing a book review on it.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to do another visual novel game. I really am impressed and inspired to do something with the Endless Sky universe, as I absolutely love and adore the characters. It’d be interesting to bring that to a game setting.
I also have plans for some short fiction pieces, most inspired of stuff I wrote while back in college. These are half-baked ideas that I want to share about interesting premises; one is a Steampunk story based on people I knew at the time, and another is about a captured fairytale princess stuck with a smartphone as her only connection to the outside, modern world. I’d love to finish these as my next projects.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking without a doubt. Despite it being a scientific book with real life principles, it always felt I opened some otherworldy tome that explained the universe. The art was especially compelling to me, which helped me even like it more. I recommend everybody give it a read at least once.
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