A story with Novoneel Chakraborty

We all know that Novoneel Chakraborty’s upcoming novel ‘Black Suits You’ is soon going to hit the markets. And before that, his Stranger Series took away the hearts of the readers especially that Stranger. I took this interview much before when the new book was under editing stage.The interview tookplace over telephone and I must say he conversation skills are amazing. I would like to thank my dear friend, Manvi Singh who always convert the audios into written format. She is a soul sister and I can rely on her.Lets start the interview then :

1. When did you realise that okay, this is it, this is what I’ll do, like, writing is you and those words give in relief?

The thing is, I was always a reader and not even in my distant world did I think that I’d write a book one day, since being an author was never my aim, but that curious element in me made me really upbeat about what I’d do after my college ends, though I was pretty sure that a nine to five job was certainly not my thing, and as I was pondering about my future, a character in my head started knocking, like it did not let me concentrate on anything else around me so I decided to pen it down in order to get it out of my head so I may focus on my studies but the moment I jotted my first short story, another set of characters kicked in and I wrote down a complete set of 25 stories only for myself and that’s when I realised okay, that’s my real calling.

2. What is the genre of novels you usually feel comfortable to write?
Okay, I never really sit down with a pre planned planner that this is how the story will be since even I never know how will I lead the story I am writing, but as I wrote down my first novel, A Thing Beyond Forever I realised that I’m not someone who could write a story without any twists and turns that’s how in my second novel I realised that I’m pretty good at writing romantic thrillers, like that’s something which comes naturally to me.

3. How would you define yourself as a writer, introvert or extrovert?
As a person I’m pretty introvert but probably as a writer I am an extrovert since my characters are usually bold and that’s maybe because of how I am, so I make a way to discover and explore through them. So, I too intend to live the extrovert side of me since in real life I do not do so.

4. Are you a believer of destiny? Have you ever mentioned this concept in any of your books so far?
I am a strong believer of destiny but so far I don’t think that I have actually taken it as a theme in any of my stories though it has been a part of many of them since my own beliefs do reflect back in my story and obviously, when we strongly believe in something, that belief surely comes down as an expression, consciously or unconsciously.

5. What was the thought process behind your first book, A Thing Beyond Forever?
Since that book is all about reincarnation, what excited me was the fact that what if I come back one day after I’ve died and that too into a completely different, fun version of myself. Past life and after life, all these concepts actually excite me and that’s why I feel that there can be a possibility of them.

6. So, what triggered the idea behind the famous Stranger Series?
Okay, so I did have this title with me since a long time, Marry Me, Stranger and it was an apt title for a book but I had no idea of what should be the book all about, but then there is this friend of mine who usually calls up to confide though I don’t know her personally but she kept me wondering as to why would someone confide into a stranger, someone he/she do not know personally.

7. Are any of your books reflect in your personal life?
As creative people, we all tend to observe our surroundings and the people we have all around us, be it friends, family or ourselves for that matter and basically that’s where we get a gist of what it will be all about but basically, I just use a part of it and then give a fictional dab to it so on an average I won’t say that any of the books are based on my life.

8. What was the experience while bagging your first publisher? What all difficulties did you face?
Basically, when it all started, I was kind of ignorant and when you’re ignorant you turn confident too, because you don’t know what will be served to you at that point of time. Since I was young back then, so one tends to be a bit bull headed that whatever comes my way, I’ll surely live upto it.

9. Is there a genre you haven’t written but wish to write?
It’s the Children’s books because the amount of imagination which one needs to put in and the kind of interest one has to develop in a child for that matter is kind of challenging.

10. Is there a particular pattern you use in order to publish your books, like the time gap between two books?
It actually depends on the story since there have been books I’ve written in a year or a book I’ve written in one and a half years so it completely depends on the story as in how much time it demands out of me. But being professional, I guess, six to seven months is what my publishers demand from me.

11. Do you face writer’s block?
Not really, I usually prefer cooking up everything in my head first and then get down to write usually. Like, I jot down points in my diary as and when required and then get down to frame it well, but even when there is a time when you cannot really think of a lead in particular, one should take a break and observe and introspect about things.

12. Have you ever climbed out of your comfort zone in order to write a book?
Umm, yes I have, specially my third book, How About A Sin Tonight did bring me out of my comfort zone since building up on five distinctive characters in the same book is really a tough job but in the end that book actually helped me evolve as a writer.

13. A message for the budding writers and of course, readers.
To the readers, I’d say that it’s better to read things which interests you, and not certainly the ones which are hyped because I’ve encountered a large section of readers who read things just because they are hyped.
To the budding writers, you definitely need to read a lot, because it’s only then that they’ll be able to play with the narratives and build up a character well and the other piece of advice would be, always question your experiences. Whatever you, or anyone around you may experience, one should always question it, because that gives you a chance to build in new characters.

About the Author

Novoneel Chakraborty is an Indian author of fiction. His specialty lies in romantic thrillers that he writes along with philosophy mixed with it. His first book “A Thing beyond forever” released in 2008 and won the national bestseller tag in just a few months of its release.

He followed it up with “That kiss in the rain” and then wrote the book that won him the biggest applause, “How about a sin tonight?” He went on to write commercial bestsellers like “Ex” and then “The Stranger Trilogy”. The first two books of the trilogy- “Marry Me, Stranger” and “All Yours, Stranger” have won many hearts. His recent release is “Forget Me Not, Stranger”, the final installment of the trilogy. His next book, “Black Suits You,” a psycho-sexual thriller is scheduled to release on 15th November, 2016. Apart from writing books, he is a scriptwriter for television.

Pre- order your copies of Black Suits you from Pustakmandi-https://www.pustakmandi.com/Black-Suits-You-Novoneel-Chakraborty