Interview with Ravi V, author of The Exiled Prince!!!

I had a wonderful Interview session with the debutante author of THE EXILED PRINCE published by FINGERPRINTS. 

1.  Hello Mr. Ravi, what is your feeling after being an author?What’s your perspective about life now after achieving a rare flagship in your life?

 It is quite unique. By being an author, one sort of a commitment for life. It’s like being married to your true love.

As far as life’s perspective is concerned, I am unsure. Every day is a surprise, a decade ago when I began researching many of these epics and works, I had no idea of writing a book. But somewhere life had its plans.

 2. When you saw your first novel for sale on E-commerce websites and placed at a bookstore for the first time, what kind of thoughts dominated your mind?

It is indescribable. The path I had walked through made me think that this is not up to me and I wanted to give up. But some motive or other did keep me pushing through the journey and the day it all came alive and the book was in the stores, it was like I was born again.

The images from certain stores in Ahmedabad, Chennai and Bengaluru were soulful to me, each of those places were special.

 3. Before we head towards discussing your book, we would like to know in spite of being an author, what do you exactly do? And do you wish to continue with the job or come into full-time writing?

 I am an entrepreneur and a data consultant. I wish to pursue entrepreneurship in more areas of life now that the world of books and imagination has opened up.

 4.  What is your latest book- The Exiled Prince all about? And from where did this idea of rewriting Ramayana is your style occur to you?

 I have to say that the Crystal Guardian series is not the Ramayana, it is a mythological fiction that uses Ramayana as a vehicle to deliver its plot. When it is read as a casual reader, it will raise eyebrows on the narration or presentation or even the whole canvas of this magical time.

At the same time when the reader chooses to question the embedded plot, the canvas changes its course to show case a different line of story that is buried beneath the tale.

 It is not rewriting the Ramayana but repositioning a lateral plot inside the familiar characters using a different point of view.

 5. How much long did it take to write this book from the moment you started developing the story to start writing it till completing it finally with editing and all?

 Writing was relatively easy compared to the amount of time it took to understand mythology from a holistic view (not just the story of Rama). The study and research of several areas took more than 5 – 6 years and a lot of travel.

 6. Indian Publishing is too hard to deal with, was it easy for you to get a Publisher or did u wait for a long time to get your work published?

It took me close to a year to find a good publisher. Yes it is tough and I had been working with my agent for a while on this.

7. What are the Promotional strategies that you and your publisher have applied to promote/market your book?

Several, it’s a complete strategy that involved online and offline campaigns. From sample chapters to give aways and video trailers, we have pursued everything.

8. What exactly is your target from your Books- 1. Getting most copies sold out, 2. Getting the love of readers or 3. You just wrote it because you wanted to write a book once in your life, hence you have no targets?

The target is to get the story followed by all who would read a book. One of the main goals of the book was to have the younger generation look to Indian mythology as treasure coves of futuristic science. There were also other areas such as trying to throw light on the rural folklore and the parables that connect the great chain of stories together. 

9.  By when are you coming up with your next novel? And if possible, do give us an idea about what it would be.

The next book would be in the CG series as the crystal opens up its depth and the reasons. How and why the crystal is what it is will also be in the book.

Also, there are two series I have in plot already. One of them is a mythological thriller and the other is historical thriller based on the life of Mahmud of Ghazni. A few screenplays in mind too. 

10.   In the end, tell us in 5-7 lines, what speech will you give if you win a Major Award for the Best Indian Author for your books?

That is very context based, it would be in lieu of the award and the reason.

But in general I prefer talking about futuristic science and the betterment of women and young minds. I will also talk about how imagination can fuel the future of coming generations.

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