Books & Authors
We all need motivation, to convert our setbacks and failure into grand successes. Author Sudhir Singh [Exclusive Interview]
Author Sudhir has come a long way, from his education and job in Delhi to helping the poor, helping NGO’s and finally writing his book The Ray of Hope which is received well by the people.
Today we had some glimpses of our conversation with Mr. Sudhir Singh.
Q1. Your book Ray of Hope is indeed good so is your first book, can you tell our reader a bit about your book?
Yes! This is my debut book. First of all, I am fascinated with the title “The Ray of Hope”; we all need motivation, to convert our setbacks and failure into grand successes. So I tried to put my experience with delinquency and accomplishment into this Book. This is very close to me because I lived this and keep motivated at my tough time as I write my book. I think this is a book about the challenges, hurdles, failure, The Hope, and attitudes of not giving up.
Everybody who has a heart! Honestly, my protagonist does not always succeed. They often get hurt, because they are not fictitious. They are either ‘you’ or ‘me’ and neither of us are superheroes in real life. Who do not win every battle; but we fight, and we fight till the end, we fight to survive. No matter how many times we fall and are torn apart, we get up and fight. That is how life should be lived. So, it is okay if you are going through something which is bothering you, keep fighting. This book is for those who fight daily and never give up. They always have hope for a better tomorrow.
Q2. What inspired you to write this book?
Writing a book is arduous than I thought and more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. None of this would have been possible without courage, confidence, and patience. I was in depression for months in the early years when I had a lot of financial burdens and lost my job. Delhi was my dream city before I sifted myself from Prayagraj to Delhi. After losing my job city was like a horror house. At that time I was more punctual than ever before. I used to get up early and always reached at interview site before the mentioned time. I walked alone on street, transported without tickets, walked from old Delhi to South Ex. by foot. As I count I attempted more than ten interviews and was disqualified in all.
I have lost my hopes but I did not give up, I tried and started home tuition in the defense colony and started writing in my free time, and made a temporary title “how an engineer turned into a teacher”?
That’s funny but I did & given four years on improving title and storytelling and now today after four years I have had this. I think setbacks and the dark days of my life are my great inspiration.
Q3. Your book is getting a good amount of visibility on social media, so when do you plan to launch your next book?
Next year in October, The Ray of Hope is a book that has a few questions, is this based on true, events? Did Raghu have a happy Life ever? What happened after the last story and how did Raghu stabilize a billion dollars company in just a few years. I think this is only a glimpse of the upcoming book, it will complete after the next launch.
Q4. Every writer goes through writer’s block, while writing this book have you gone through any?
When I decided to write “The ray of hope” without my father’s prior permission because he was not in support of my writing, the first challenge that I faced was vocabulary. As a Hindi medium guy, I had limited words but I didn’t give up. In the first few days, I did not write a single word just read it at the metro, at the canteen at the park everywhere I go holding a book and finishing some novels in one month. After when I started writing I suppose to be a master in word meaning. Since then I have continued the process of reading and writing and now readers have this in their hands. I expect “the ray of hope will give them a vision of hope and they will live their life to the fullest.
Q5. What is your work schedule like when you are writing?
I have a busy schedule with my non-profit. I am on a mission to help 1 lakhs unprivileged kids end of the year but in between, I managed my writing. I don’t bind myself with a timetable for writing I write whenever I find something notable either I’m traveling, roaring, or doing a party. Mostly I use my cell phone notepad to write some keywords. I always found that I have written some incredible stories when I was at the coffee shop or traveling by public transport.
Q6. Now that you are a published author do you have plans to make it your full-time career?
I’m not sure! The Ray of Hope is my debut book and maybe my story doesn’t get enough readers so I can’t take writing as a full-time. I’ll decide it after two or three bestsellers. Apart from writing I do farming for my living and help the needy through my End Hunger project. I only write when I’m free from these two. I love writing no doubt but I also love social service and farming and I give my first preferences to social service in all three.
Q7. How do you deal with poor reviews?
I have always been so excited to read poor reviews. I don’t take it negatively anymore, either I reviewed my someone or my writing, work I always take it stepping stone to improvement. No one is perfect and nothing is perfect so if there is an honest review it helps to write my next bestseller. The poor reviews are telling what improvement is needed and if there is any review on any specific part I don’t take it seriously because a coin has two faces. Everyone has their point of view if I’m writing my thoughts on love it’s not necessarily everyone will agree with my view so they can comment on the behalf of their view. So I am comfortable with any type of review.
Q8. What was your favorite part, and your least favorite part, of the publishing journey?
Writing a book is not an easy task, and when you are writings self-help it increases your difficulties Ten times, sometimes it’s being quite boring.
As a mechanical engineer who wrote some silly sentence on between some long questions to increase its length in semesters exam, who believe the examiners never been throw word to word. So for him, it’s not easy to write a paragraph with a continuous flow and meaningful sentences with a stunning vocabulary.
But honestly, I enjoyed it a lot as a debut book every day I learned something new that why I say writing is my favorite part, and editing is my least favorite the 50k word count novel after editing left with you the only 30k word count but I hearty appreciate ton – Gina McKnight – “Writing is like riding a bike. Once you gain momentum, the hills are easier. Editing, however, requires a motor and some horsepower.”
Q9. How much ‘world building’ takes place before you start writing?
Well, that’s a difficult question to answer unless you have written a couple of books set in different worlds. I have been working on inspirational settings for The Ray of Hope for probably 2 years before I really started with preparations to write it. This left me with a huge collection of ideas that I worked out at different levels of detail for various different worlds.
When I know sit down to start a new setting, I am starting with nothing. Saying that I started from scratch last winter would be just as wrong as saying that I have been working on the setting for 2 years now. But those experiences gave me skills and knowledge that now enable me to whip up a new set very quickly. I feel like if I write without having the basics of the world covered then I might make stuff up that I haven’t really thought about in the same way as the lore that I’ve written.
Q10. What advice would you give a new writer, someone just starting?
I say never give up! As I belong to a farmer family that lived in a small village of Prayagraj UP India. Prayagraj is a place where many people are from Bihar. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are Bhaiya & Bhai so you can call me to be a Bihari
“Bihari” is a word most probably used in Delhi & Mumbai areas to indirectly show you down and I have been called a Bihari when I used to live in Delhi because of my Hindi accent. But I never mind because they might don’t know Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit word? The renowned Mathematician, Aryabhata hailed from here. It’s called IAS producing factory and world oldest & largest library Nalanda library held here.
Above all, It has a Unique Bihari accent so I feel proud to be called Bihari, Being from a farmer family, being from an illiterate family, being rejected from more than ten interviews. Being my script gets rejected by many publishers. Being a Bihari I become “Author” a Bihari author.
When you have an attitude of not giving up you win. Failure comes when you give up. So never give up if I can do everyone can.