AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Interview session with Abhinav Singh – author of Drink to the Dry

Greetings Sir...

Let me start my session. Hope you had a wonderful day..

Can you tell us about yourself?

I basically belong from a small town "Gaya" in Bihar. Did my schooling till high school there and then moved to Varanasi for senior secondary school.

After that did my engineering from NIT durgapur in mechanical. Those were the times when I started to explore who I am and what I wanted from life. Turns out practicality is way beyond fiction. Even in college.

So I started writing there. That's where it all begun. I wanted to see life from a different perspective. I Started writing with the belief that everyone has a writer inside that wants to get out. It's just that words don't come by so easily for everyone.

So I worked on it. And here I am after a few years. After getting published, I'm working on my second novel right now.

Who or what inspired you to write?

As Ralph Waldo says, "Talent alone cannot make a writer.

There must be a man behind the book."

And to be that person, you have to go though a lot of stuff. Mostly people write about love and things that we all know. That's the reason we can connect to those writeups.

Only a few can write what everyone cannot feel. Something that's deep enough for everyone not to take a leap of faith and jump just to see what's hiding inside. Somewhere, I wanted to uncover the truth that lies behind a person and society. Truth that most of feel disgusted of now a days. Be it love, be it society or politics.

Nice

Do you remember your first piece of writing?

Yes

Can you share it with us?

To have never witnessed the ocean myself,

I always wonder about its marvel,

How beautifully the tides sweep away the shoreline

every time,

Never still,

Never together,

Never apart!

I wrote this 4 years back.

Lovely

What's the purpose of writing this book?

The purpose is to send a message to the society to grow up. To send a message to the millennium generation where everyone's sending texts, using left and right swipe. Basically they're wanting everything instantly. That's the reason most of the generation people are sad now a days. No one wants to wait in line and start a conversation outside a theater, they open an app, book their tickets and go for the movie. They keep filters on everything. Even emotions.

My purpose of writing this book is to send a clear message to everyone out there regarding the generation or the society. Their thinking and their way of happiness in a sober state.

What is the reason for choosing this title?

The reason is clear and that had been mentioned in the last page of the book. There's no condition where it means something related to alcohol.

Drink is the solution to the problems that are dry.

Who's your favourite author/poet?

Khaled Hosseini and Charles Bukowski

Reason sir?

Well, that's because of their honesty and brutality in words. Choice of simple words yet powerful enough to know what the person felt.

How do you feel when you write?

Writing has always been a way to convey a message from my conscience to my life. And that's what I do. I write what I see. And I try to see things from a different perspective. I believe in writing as something pure. And I don't want to see what impurity in writing feels like.

Well said

Did any of those incidents that were mentioned in your poems happen to you in real life?

Yes. I was in research phase for a year where I went through everything that I have written. I believe in raw feelings. If a person isn't capable of feeling that raw emotion, he/she isn't qualified to write on that subject. We only write what we feel. And you won't be able to write a raw piece when you aren't in touch with that emotion.

How was that research phase?

Awful but truthful. Honest but unkind.

I didn't think it would be hard as I had a habit of imagining things a lot. Turns out, it's the hardest thing I've ever dealt with. Being in that emotion is way different than thinking about it.

You get to know what pain is, and the happiness that follows the pain Or the suffering. It feels good if you're prepared to loose a few things. It's awful if you wanna have everything at the same time without sacrificing anything.

Is this your debut book?

I had written a novel last year but I burned it when things got bad. So yes, this one's my debut book.

I'm working on my next one as we speak.

Oh my😨 why did you take such a decision

Haha. Just some personal problems that went wrong. A book didn't mean much than saving a relation.

Can you give us a glimpse of your next book sir?

I'm just writing something other than just pretentious love stories that trend now a days.

Nice. Good luck for it sir...

How was your experience with blue rose publishers?

If I have to give a rating for their service, out of 10, I would give them 6. Sorry for being so blunt about it as you're a part of the team. No offence intended.

How supportive were your family sir during this publishing journey?

I never told about my writing to anyone till I got published.

I Started my journey a year back with my Instagram account. Opened an anonymous account just to see how elope respond to my writeups.

So in 6 months of writing, I had around 10k followers on Instagram. That's when people started texting to know the person behind the account. I did put up my picture but didn't give my name till I signed my publishing contract.

Woah nice

Where can readers find your writings and get in touch with you?

https://www.instagram.com/shimmeringwords/

What do you like to say to your readers?

I like to tell them that it's okay to feel nothing sometimes. It's okay to be a little lost. It's not the end of it, it's just a start of something new that's unknown to us. And we all know every known thing was once unknown at some point. It's okay to know the unknown. And it's okay to be a little different. In a generation where people are getting depressed, I ask them to be who they are. In this world where everyone's trying to be someone, only a few are keeping their own identity.

What do you wish to say to budding writers?

That writing is something that's just more than penning our thoughts on paper. It's like taking a stroll down the memory lane. No matter, how disturbed you get, no matter how happy you are, the honesty to the profession and the maturity in thoughts come by when you know the ups and downs. Once you write what you feel, try to feel what you write. If that makes sense to you, you've done a good job. Write drunk, edit sober. It'll always create a masterpiece

Thank you for your time and answering all my questions with patience

All the best for your future endeavours sir.