In a conversation with debut author Debankan Das
Hey book lovers,today we have on board, a debut indie author, Debankan Das. His novel, "The Curse" is a fictional work that deals with suspense, mystery and thriller. Or so it seems unless you dip into it's lines to discover even more! So without further ado, let's get started!
1.Name one fictional character from "The curse" that resembles you the most. Gyanendra. I have prepared his character keeping my habits in mind. Just like me, he too dreamt about the lady in black sari. Apart from that, he tries to relate his abstract jigsaw puzzle kind of dreams with reality. I too had this habit.2.What is your writing motivation? Could you tell us the story behind 'The curse'?First of all I use to watch and listen to a lot of stories. I have seen a lot of movies which had really unique storyline. This was my foundation as a storyteller. I watch regional movies- Bengali (1950s to present), tamil, telugu, Malayalam, hindi (ranging from 1950s to present). Apart from that, I watch Chinese movies, Hollywood movies (ranging from 1918s to present) and some movies made in the UK. So this created a storyteller inside me. What really motivated me, were flop movies or the movies I didn’t liked. When I see a not-so-impressive movie, my brain starts improvising the story I saw. This started to trigger my creativity to make any story out of anything.The curse story was made in a very similar way. I watched a Bengali movie, ‘baishe srabon’ based on serial killing. The movie was a huge hit and I liked the movie throughout but I was not so happy with the ending (anybody who watched that movie would understand why). So I decided to make a story on serial killing with great ending. But I wanted to give a very solid reason for why the killing was happening. So first, I came out with a reason. Now, in most of the serial killing stories, the villain gives clues, which doesn’t makes sense to me because why a killer should give clues in such a manner? Then I saw a horrible dream of the lady in black sari. I was so moved by that dream, I utilised it as a background of my story. Then I made the character of Gyanendra who gets the clues by his dreams. So this is how the story was prepared. 3. Any special reason behind the choice of genre? I haven't seen many debut authors try this category. I believe it is because of the complex plot structure. Though you did carry that off pretty well. Did you not feel nervous about it? Also do you intend to stick to one genre?No I do not want to stick to a single genre. The reason I have chosen this genre is because after action genre I like supernatural/mystery/thriller genre the most. I didn’t choose action as a genre to write because action is something that I enjoy watching; not reading. But thriller I can write and I feel fun to read. A thriller novel with supernatural elements can be gripping and quick read so I liked that part. I know a bunch of authors writing mythology fiction and another bunch of authors writing romantic novels. It’s my opinion that Indians are not getting enough mystery/thriller books to read that are original and have an Indian flavour to it. It’s not like people don’t want to read thrillers; they want it but are not getting enough. Apart from this, the characters of the story were very easily designed in my mind, so I wanted to make a story out of it very badly, even though I knew that it would be challenging but I also knew that it would be fun. So I was not nervous, I was excited. 4. Few quickies : Money or fame? Both Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Commercial fiction Blogging or vlogging? Both Interviews or book reviews? Both are needed but I want more interviews Audiobooks or ebooks? Audiobooks Paperbacks or hardbacks? Hardbacks 5. How long did it take to write the first draft?It took me approximately 6 months but then it was left over for five years. This year I have improvised it a bit and finally published. 6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations?It was a thrilling experience. I felt the tension of the characters 10 times more than the readers did. I started to worry of what is going to happen next in my story because I have to prepare it anyway.It had surpassed my expectations. I liked it more when I prepared the climax scene. At first I never wondered that the ending will be so amazing. Everyone who read it appreciated the gripping storyline and the sketches made by me. It feels great when the readers are happy. 7. What do you think is the most exciting thing about being a 1st time author?I guess it’s a sense of achievement that I can write a novel and I can make other people entertained. 8. What do you think is the biggest challenge?My biggest challenge was my job. Because I was doing job, so it took me 6 months, otherwise I would have finished it in 3 months or less than that. Another big challenge was I got stuck while writing and had no idea what to do next and how to come up with the climax scene. It took me a month or two to come up with the climax idea.9. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Share your writing rituals with us.A. I am a pantser. Although, while writing the novel The Curse, I had no idea what is plotter or a pantser. But when I came to know about these terms I became sure that I am a pantser. I develop characters in my head, imagine few scenes for three to 4 days and then just start writing. I get new ideas while I am on the writing process. But I want to be a plotter because I found there work process to be more organized. 10. Could you kindly introduce us to your work in progress?My next novel is a drama about a guy struggling in corporate world. It had some amount of comedy and some romance elements. I am writing it with another first time author. It will be completed next year. 11. A lesson that you've learnt throughout the process of publishing your first book baby?There are many lesson that I have learnt like marketing a book is as important as preparing it. People do judge a book by its cover, so I made the cover of my book as impressive as I can all by myself. The marketing of book is just something that I am learning day by day. 12. Your advice to aspiring authors?My advice is read as many books as you can and search for more and more stories both in literature and in movies. When you know many stories, they somewhere do a chemical reaction in your brain and a new refreshing story is often synthesized which will be unique. Just a small imagination about a scene is enough to write an entire story. Just make it a rule to entertain your readers because making the readers bore is a sin and one who commits that sin is punished with bad results. https://amzn.to/2xOO8Id https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9gG... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
1.Name one fictional character from "The curse" that resembles you the most. Gyanendra. I have prepared his character keeping my habits in mind. Just like me, he too dreamt about the lady in black sari. Apart from that, he tries to relate his abstract jigsaw puzzle kind of dreams with reality. I too had this habit.2.What is your writing motivation? Could you tell us the story behind 'The curse'?First of all I use to watch and listen to a lot of stories. I have seen a lot of movies which had really unique storyline. This was my foundation as a storyteller. I watch regional movies- Bengali (1950s to present), tamil, telugu, Malayalam, hindi (ranging from 1950s to present). Apart from that, I watch Chinese movies, Hollywood movies (ranging from 1918s to present) and some movies made in the UK. So this created a storyteller inside me. What really motivated me, were flop movies or the movies I didn’t liked. When I see a not-so-impressive movie, my brain starts improvising the story I saw. This started to trigger my creativity to make any story out of anything.The curse story was made in a very similar way. I watched a Bengali movie, ‘baishe srabon’ based on serial killing. The movie was a huge hit and I liked the movie throughout but I was not so happy with the ending (anybody who watched that movie would understand why). So I decided to make a story on serial killing with great ending. But I wanted to give a very solid reason for why the killing was happening. So first, I came out with a reason. Now, in most of the serial killing stories, the villain gives clues, which doesn’t makes sense to me because why a killer should give clues in such a manner? Then I saw a horrible dream of the lady in black sari. I was so moved by that dream, I utilised it as a background of my story. Then I made the character of Gyanendra who gets the clues by his dreams. So this is how the story was prepared. 3. Any special reason behind the choice of genre? I haven't seen many debut authors try this category. I believe it is because of the complex plot structure. Though you did carry that off pretty well. Did you not feel nervous about it? Also do you intend to stick to one genre?No I do not want to stick to a single genre. The reason I have chosen this genre is because after action genre I like supernatural/mystery/thriller genre the most. I didn’t choose action as a genre to write because action is something that I enjoy watching; not reading. But thriller I can write and I feel fun to read. A thriller novel with supernatural elements can be gripping and quick read so I liked that part. I know a bunch of authors writing mythology fiction and another bunch of authors writing romantic novels. It’s my opinion that Indians are not getting enough mystery/thriller books to read that are original and have an Indian flavour to it. It’s not like people don’t want to read thrillers; they want it but are not getting enough. Apart from this, the characters of the story were very easily designed in my mind, so I wanted to make a story out of it very badly, even though I knew that it would be challenging but I also knew that it would be fun. So I was not nervous, I was excited. 4. Few quickies : Money or fame? Both Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Commercial fiction Blogging or vlogging? Both Interviews or book reviews? Both are needed but I want more interviews Audiobooks or ebooks? Audiobooks Paperbacks or hardbacks? Hardbacks 5. How long did it take to write the first draft?It took me approximately 6 months but then it was left over for five years. This year I have improvised it a bit and finally published. 6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations?It was a thrilling experience. I felt the tension of the characters 10 times more than the readers did. I started to worry of what is going to happen next in my story because I have to prepare it anyway.It had surpassed my expectations. I liked it more when I prepared the climax scene. At first I never wondered that the ending will be so amazing. Everyone who read it appreciated the gripping storyline and the sketches made by me. It feels great when the readers are happy. 7. What do you think is the most exciting thing about being a 1st time author?I guess it’s a sense of achievement that I can write a novel and I can make other people entertained. 8. What do you think is the biggest challenge?My biggest challenge was my job. Because I was doing job, so it took me 6 months, otherwise I would have finished it in 3 months or less than that. Another big challenge was I got stuck while writing and had no idea what to do next and how to come up with the climax scene. It took me a month or two to come up with the climax idea.9. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Share your writing rituals with us.A. I am a pantser. Although, while writing the novel The Curse, I had no idea what is plotter or a pantser. But when I came to know about these terms I became sure that I am a pantser. I develop characters in my head, imagine few scenes for three to 4 days and then just start writing. I get new ideas while I am on the writing process. But I want to be a plotter because I found there work process to be more organized. 10. Could you kindly introduce us to your work in progress?My next novel is a drama about a guy struggling in corporate world. It had some amount of comedy and some romance elements. I am writing it with another first time author. It will be completed next year. 11. A lesson that you've learnt throughout the process of publishing your first book baby?There are many lesson that I have learnt like marketing a book is as important as preparing it. People do judge a book by its cover, so I made the cover of my book as impressive as I can all by myself. The marketing of book is just something that I am learning day by day. 12. Your advice to aspiring authors?My advice is read as many books as you can and search for more and more stories both in literature and in movies. When you know many stories, they somewhere do a chemical reaction in your brain and a new refreshing story is often synthesized which will be unique. Just a small imagination about a scene is enough to write an entire story. Just make it a rule to entertain your readers because making the readers bore is a sin and one who commits that sin is punished with bad results. https://amzn.to/2xOO8Id https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9gG... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
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