Conversation with Varun about his book - Time Crawlers ~ Chevus' Read

Monday, August 6, 2018

Conversation with Varun about his book - Time Crawlers

fewgoodreads August 06, 2018 author-interview, indian-author, Q&A 1 Comment

Rarely you will find a sci-fi book by an Indian author and among them, it is even rare that you will find that work worthy enough to spend some time reading them. Varun Sayal has done a commendable job in "Time Crawlers". If you have missed our review of the book, do check here. Today we got the chance to interview Varun on our blog. So without waiting, I will take you through our conversation.

Lets start with your introduction. Can you please tell us about your educational and professional background?

Educational Background - B.Tech from IIT Delhi, Class of 2007. M.B.A. from I.S.B. Hyderabad, Class of 2012

Professional Background - Working with Amazon as Manager of Data Science

What were you like at school/college apart from studies?

I was a sincere student but also participated in a lot of theatre as an actor, director, especially during my 4 years at IIT Delhi. I organized and directed various play productions, which were immensely well received.

Which author inspire you the most?

I don’t read as much as I did and as much as I want to owing to my day job and my own efforts in the writing space. But I was immensely inspired by Isaac Asimov, because of the sense of realism he brought into his Science Fiction Stories.

When did you start writing?

I have been writing since I was a kid, but I wrote much less frequently at that time. I won an inter school competition in poetry when I was in 6th standard. I still remember writing a short story was I was in class 10th. During my bachelors, I was writing a lot of poetry on my blog, some of it I will be re-vitalizing on medium.com. I wrote a lot of playscripts as part of Dance and Dramatics Club at IIT Delhi.

When did you decide to become a writer?

I started serious writing around five years back when I started to write stories on word documents, I had no idea what to do with them at that point of time. At times I published short fiction on small blogs, wrote satire on few websites. But around eight to nine months back I decided that I should aim to publish formally in order to reach wider audiences within India and abroad. Which is when these Time Crawlers and other stories started taking shape.

What are your ambitions for your writing career?

With my books, I aim to bring a few new stories in this world, tales which are not just ornate descriptions that enable readers to pass time, but each of these stories should make the reader put down the book for a second and think about what would happen if that story were real. If I am able to do that I would consider my writing endeavors a success.

Do you have a special time to write, or how is your day structured to accommodate your writing?

At times if the flow of ideas is strong then I have written at night but, I usually prefer to write in the mornings between 08:00 to 10:00 AM because that’s the time when brilliant ideas flow in quickly with a fresh perspective. I usually sit on a comfortable chair with a proper back-rest, with my legs on the table, a fresh cup of piping hot tea or coffee on my side, a soft pillow on my lap and a laptop comfortably resting on it while my fingers clack on the keyboard bringing new realms and worlds to life.

Is this your debut work?

Yes this is my debut published work. I have been writing on blogs, and on medium for some time now, but never formally published a book before “Time Crawlers”.

What genre are your books?

I majorly love to write Science Fiction and Fantasy, with a hint of paranormal.

Can you describe your current book in few lines? What’s it about?

Alien Invasion, Dark Artificial Intelligence, Time-Travel, High-Tech Hindu Mythology, Djinn Folklore, Telekinetics and life-consuming Cosmic Entities are some major themes in my book which has 6 tightly-knit, fast-paced Sci-Fi stories.

Give us an insight into your main character(s)

Each story has their main characters, for “Nark-astra” it’s Prayaschakit, for “The Cave” it’s Kaaljeevi, for “Death by Crowd” it’s SS

Where did you get idea for this book?

I had been writing a lot of short stories on various themes, and had been getting feedback from various friends around them. One find day I decided that some of these stories need to be read by wider audiences. I chose the top six stories out of my bunch and complied them into this book.

How much research did you do for this book?

I keep reading around scientific advancements and controversy-theories, watching videos around them, that is a part of my ongoing research.

Do you have a trailer for your own book?

When was your book released?

15th June 2018

What are you working on at the minute?

I have already written the story summary of my next book which is going to be a novel, now I have to do the main task of executing it with some smart words to captivate the readers. It will be a full prose novel with elements from Time Travel, multiple dimensions, parallel universes and some themes from ancient Indian Mythology. I may include some paranormal characters and situations if they make the story more intriguing.

What are your thoughts on writing a book series?

I am not averse to writing a series, if in future I feel any of my books needs a sequel, I would definitely pen it down.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Two pieces of advice I would like to share with aspiring writers, firstly “Write something down”. Don’t wait for a perfect Eureka idea because it may never come. Write something, review it later, improve it, add more elements, add more story. Easiest way to get over writer’s block is to write. At times sparks don’t lead to words but words lead to sparks. Secondly build good relations within the reading community. Read other reviews, like them, interact with reviewers, compliment them where you feel they have done a commendable job. You finishing a book one day and then coming down raining on the whole reader community with review requests will not do you any good.

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