To try something new, for the first time, I've interviewed a reader. She is the most supporting person I've ever met. She is one of the reasons my story writing ability has improved far more than I could have ever anticipated. I am eternally grateful to her for all the encouragement, the friendly suggestions and having a firm belief in the stories I write. Without further ado, let's get to know her opinion and experiences.

Interview:

Q. Tell us about your reading habit.

A. My reading habits. I include reading in my daily schedule and it becomes mildly frustrating to have passed a day without having read something. But well, such days come too. Sometimes you don't get time to read at all. Nowadays I'm reading at least 1-1:30 hours every day. Sometimes I grab more time when plans get canceled or I'm simply in a mood of binge reading. So yeah, reading is sort of random in case of how much time I give it daily, but it's something that I do regularly. I have a habit of rereading the books that are my favorite because there are some books that have simply too much to offer and you can't take it all in merely a single read. You go back to these books to see what new you'll discover this time in the same old pages. Most of the books I reread are the ones that delve deep into characters and philosophy, books that make you think and live in it long after you've put it back on the shelf. And I like to read slowly and peacefully, without rushing unless it's a suspense. Slow reading here means you find a certain line or paragraph with inspires some thoughts. When this happens, I put a stop to the book and entertain whatever thought that a particular paragraph or line has induced before moving on. Contemplation is part of reading, in my opinion, so I ruminate while I read. And where time is concerned, I give plenty of time to reading. Binging is my favorite thing if time and situation allow. Moreover, I finish a book at least within 7-8 days of starting it. So if I haven't managed to bring it to even half within first few days, I'll binge towards the end of the book. And binge is fun.

Q. Do you read mostly for entertainment or self-improvement?

A. Well, to answer this is a bit difficult. Self-improvement in what regards? In terms of writing or in terms of being a better person. Or in terms of being more dexterous? I read, for all of these reasons. Reading entertains and improves. And yes, it can be one hell of an addiction - no jokes here. As for me, I started reading as entertainment and to satisfy my needs for reading more of new stories. As I read more, I started picking up biographies and essays too. And that expanded to philosophical pieces and inspirational ones too. So now reading is both for entertainment and self-improvement but most of all, I read to learn. Learn not only about how to form proper sentences but to learn more about life. Improvement comes more easily for those who look for it, but it comes nevertheless even to those who look for mere entertainment. Learning and improvement are consequential to active reading. It's like soaking yourself in water. Once you put in your hands, it comes out drenched with at least something you knew nothing about previously. 

Q. What books have more influenced your life?

A. All the books I've read have influenced me in some ways. But to name a few... The Alchemist by Coelho, Rita Hayworth, and Shawshank Redemption, by King, The Story of my Life by Helen Keller, some pieces by Vivekananda and stories by Premchand. I'm quite sure I'm forgetting some books here which I'll remember later on and regret not mentioning them. But as for now, these are the ones that have influenced and shaped my mindset and way of thinking, although I'll say it's still in a process if shaping itself. But not just long books, there are sometimes short stories and essays or biographies you read that leave a deep impact. There was this one story in our school textbook. It was named Rattrap. It was one hell of a story. I don't remember the author's name, my bad. Then there's little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery. Little Prince moved me to tears. Children's stories are the ones we sometimes learn more from than adult books. The Little Prince was one such book. It questioned the being of an adult. Starting from a simple question of whether you see a boa constrictor in a given picture, it takes you on a ride so magnificent that makes you regret losing that innocence and imaginary wonder of childhood. A children's book? I think adults would gain as much, or maybe more than children do. Talking about it makes me want to read it again lol. And then a recently read book, Wings of Fire by Abdul Kalam. It was a magnificent book. It has not only plenty of information about the life of Dr. Kalam, but also some rare pieces of advice and observations by him. And it makes me even a crazier fan to know he was an avid reader. A down to earth person. Well, I'll come to a stop now. I'm giving way too long answers.

Q. What is the title of the last book you read (on and off wattpad)? Can you give us a brief description of what liked and disliked about the story?

A. Off the wattpad, the last book I read was The Adultery by Paulo Coelho. It was a nice book. Towards the end I liked it. Not as good as The Alchemist though. It's far from that one. But a fine read nonetheless. What I like about that book is it's ending and pieces of observations and monologues - the whole book is the monologue in itself. What I disliked was that it was getting a bit draggy. Boring at some places. And now on Wattpad the last book I read was The White Capes by. This book is a treat! And I dare say I liked it better than I liked The Adultery. Best points about the book was it's fresh story and authentic characters. Apart from that, the characters are all nuanced and the narration itself, in terms of vocabulary and literature, is flowing smoothly. A story set in medieval times is accompanied by the medieval narration, old English, I mean. It goes perfectly with the times and age. When I first started reading it, the narration and metaphors used caught my attention the first thing and it didn't take more than a chapter to decide that this will be one of the best narrations found on wattpad. Apart from all that, what makes a story connect with readers is that it must contain some original thoughts and observations that the writer feels about himself. And that's what was the case with this one. Parallels with our own society in terms of characters and situations were brought forth effectively and philosophy made it rich!

Q. What is it in a story that keeps you hooked till the end?

A. I think it's safe to say characters and plot but that's not always the case. As for me, I finish the books to the end even if they are somewhat boring in the beginning because some of the books get interesting only towards the end. But there's something in certain books which makes you want to devour the book in a single sitting. Now the books that I've binged had either a very strong and suspenseful plot or very interesting characters. Sometimes the plot is what holds the story because the book is plot oriented, for eg Shutter Island, and in case of Wattpad, consider your own book. There are just so many layers of stories to unfold that you can't leave the book. But it's not just the plot which has layers. The characters have layers too! And unfolding these layers is what keeps me hooked. I would want to be consumed in a book in depth. A book which raises questions and give you something to think about. For eg, how about biographies? What keeps you hooked on a biography? It's the originality, the knowledge that what you're reading is true makes it more fascinating. And what in a fiction? What does fiction do? Fiction expresses those same originalities by weaving them in a story. So if the book that I'm reading is honest and it has layers - in terms of characters and plot both, then that keeps me hooked!

Q. What genre do you prefer reading the most and least?

A. I think I don't really have a preference as long as the book is great. I do read lots of horror, but when I read a fantasy or a romance or any other general fiction, I'm just as occupied as I am while reading a King's book. So I think I can say that there's not exactly a favorite genre, only favorite books. Because the list of my favorites contains books from all genres. But yes, there's one subgenre I'm not so fond of, which I naturally avoid, and that's action. Too much of useless action gets a bit boring, unless, of course, that action is quite creative in a way maybe.

Q. Name your five favorite books of all time.

A. Well, only five? Lol. I have too many. But to name five- Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Misery, Sacred Games and The Alchemist. But these are not the only ones. These are five of my favorites, not all of them.  

Q. Have you ever gotten reader's block? If yes, tell us what has gone wrong with the book.

A. No. I haven't ever got a readers block for edited, published books. But if you want to count some books on Wattpad, then yes, maybe you can say I've had them. Usually what kills the mood to read is too weak characters and not much originality. I can't read cheesy fanfictions and I can't read those books in which the sentence starts from a small letter after a full stop. I mean, I know, you shouldn't judge grammatical mistakes too much because they are bound to happen, but heck!!! You should know the first letter should be capital and that there are things known as paragraphs and commas. Dialogues get mixed in internal monologues sometimes in some books and you can't tell if there was supposed to be a full stop there or not. Grammatical mistakes are allowed on as far as it allows the flow of reading. When it starts hindering my understanding of what's written, then no matter how cool a story is, it will go down the gutter because that cool shit is unreadable. And then comes cringing romance. Don't get me wrong, I love romances too - Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorite authors after all - but there's a difference between good romance and shitty romance. The latter makes me flinch. Consider a couple where the good girl gets a possessive and 'protective' bad boy. This is just an example. There are many other romances which aren't really romantic but more like misinterpreted horrors. And then there are horrors which should have been in romance genre. I mean what the hell are you doing, putting it in a horror when all it has is a kidnapper who falls in love with the one he kidnaps just because she's too good looking? What's that, huh? Why put it in a horror genre and cheat the readers? And then comes CEOs. Ah, the hot CEOs!! Why don't I find one and spend a fairytale life where a control freak is called a protective Prince Charming? I know why. Because I'm lucky. This CEO thing happens just so often that it has become a freaking accident that needs live coverage. Aren't we lucky it wasn't us?

Q. Do you think a writer should deliver readers what they want?

A. Well, why not? A reader is your source of encouragement if not inspiration. But wait a second. I don't think it's as easily answered a question. The writer and reader. There's a connection there. And of course, you should try to deliver what YOUR group of reader wants. But there's another thing and that's self-satisfaction. When you sit down to write something, you start with the seed of an idea and you let it generate under the right conditions. And after having it generated and reaped, you give it to those who like that particular sort of fruit. What I mean here is that editing is the part where you should take care of the needs of your class of readers, that's the reaping. But generating it, that is, writing the first draft, you've got only one person to satisfy and that's yourself, the writer. You can't reap and grow at the same time. The writing, the whole process of creativity is absurd and abstract and very powerful. When it flows, let it flow. To hinder it in its process by questioning it, again and again, is not right. Let the flow create an imperfect perfection and then shape it according to your readers. You can't craft what's not there yet. So yeah, write what you as a writer want, and deliver what your readers want.

Q. Why are you on wattpad?

A. Well, actually, me being on wattpad was an accident in a way. No one recommended, and I wasn't looking for a platform like this - at least not at the time I discovered it. I was(and am) a horror story buff. After having read long romance novels of Nicholas Sparks and Jane Austen and too much of general fiction, I started looking for short horror stories on internet. It was my favourite time pass. So I happened to stumble upon a book called Awakening by Catrina Burgess. I was in 11 standard then. And I read the first part of this book within two days and after that I pretty much forgot about where I had read that. That was my habit back then. But I remembered the name of story and author. After almost three years later I happened to find the name of that story in back of my old English textbook. Awakening by Catrina Burgess. Out of curiosity I just searched the story because I wanted to read it again. And that's when I found I couldn't read it complete until I signed up. So I immediately signed up and made an account on Wattpad and was flooded with so many stories!

Q. How many hours in a day can you devote to reading?

A. I can easily devote 12 hours of the day as I've done it before. I never got a chance to discover if I can devote more than that or not, coz I get hindered too often. I'd like to know though.

Q. What's more important -characters or plot?

A. What's more important, character or plot. I think both of them have their significance and it's pretty hard for me to make a choice in these regards. A simple story with complex characters can drive the plot in a way that wouldn't have been possible if the characters weren't as strong. So characters are more important in my opinion. A good plot without good characters would resemble a series of events. That's all. Just some events. It's your characters who we live way more than we live the plot. The plot is a piece of information and characters are what makes sense of those pieces and makes us experience them. And isn't that the whole purpose of reading a book? To live and experience them and their predicaments. We see their perspectives and that's what stirs the emotions in us. That being said, the plot is not a child's play either. But what I think is that the lack of a complex plot can be overcome by strong and complex characters, but lack of strong and distinct characters can't be overcome with a plot. When there are good characters we appreciate the whole book, the plot forgotten. When there are no good characters it's absence is felt throughout the book and the best comment left for that book is - "the plot was great."

Q. Have you ever tried writing? If yes, tell us more about it.

A. Yes, of course, as most avid readers dream and attempt, I've tried writing too. In school I used to write short children's stories but never bothered much with keeping them saved somewhere. I would write, gloat over whatever shit I've managed to write like an idiot and then forget about it. And those were mostly story scripts lol. Only mention of events in indirect speech. Never were there dialogues or detailed conversations. Then after I got to class 10, I stopped writing altogether, for whatever be the reason I don't know and just read and read without writing anything except for school essays. Serious attempt at writing was about three months after I joined Wattpad. And this started out feebly and with lots of doubt and courage. This courage came when I read some overrated books on wattpad which had a crazy amount of fan following and I thought, I can write better than that. This thought initially was more of a reaction to those stupid, no-grammar-cared-for, sort of books. 

Then one day, out of nowhere I wrote the first chapter of Taken, which first became prologue, then later on became the blurb of my story. There was no idea, no plan, no plot, only a particular scene in my mind and I wrote that scene down and in a hurry selected a generic name for the story and published it. It happened within a day without prior planning. And all I needed at that time was someone to read and tell me if sentences were properly formed or not and if it was written fine. I had already prepared myself for criticism because it was my first proper attempt at writing a full chapter of around 1500 words with dialogues and scenes written down. 

The first reader I had was Piyush Senapati. I think he has left the Wattpad now. I was pretty happy to get my story noticed by him because I had already read a short story by him, which was a very good one in case of narration and all. So he gave me some suggestions over improvement, said he liked it and I was already on the ninth sky. Then he said he was waiting for next update and I was at a loss. Because I never intended that first chapter to develop into a story that would ever get readers. That book wasn't meant for updates but only for receiving scrutiny and some constructive criticism. But I was too happy to say that in that moment and I said I'll update. Then I started weaving a story around that one single chapter I wrote and surprisingly I got both readers, appreciation and the plot that I was going to write. 

You, my dear friend, were one of those very first admirers of my work and who encouraged me to write more. Truth be told, I got however far I got because of you. Then yeah, exams and hiatus after hiatus kind of broke my flow and gave me a terrible writer's block and I had to start all over again after a huge gap. Everything started afresh. My writing improved but I still couldn't complete it for some reason. And so I took down the book. Currently I'm working on another story which is going great and I'm enjoying it. I plan to start updates only after I've got the whole story jotted down so this time when I start updating, it'll be more regular. And yes, I plan to rewrite that first book after I finish the current one. 

Q. What books are you planning to read in future (On and off Wattpad)

A. The list is long!! Off the wattpad, I'm going to finish reading remaining Harry Potter, Hannibal Rising, Rosemary's baby, A village by the sea, Lisey's story, Goodbye Mr. Chips and Emma by Austen. And on Wattpad, I have too many to read and I guess I'll just randomly pick the books from my library because I haven't made a reading list for Wattpad yet. And these are books for coming two months. For next two months, I'll make a new list.

Q. What is your favorite/ motivational phrase?

A. "We'are all going to die, all of us. What a Cirus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing." -Charles Bukowski.

Q. How would you inspire a wannabe reader to read a book?

A. From what I can understand, if it's just beginning, then no matter how good, classics shouldn't be picked. For developing a habit and to enjoy reading in itself, pick a light read which is not too heavy. If classics are to be picked then I think it should be that children's version in easy language. An easy going book, with not too heavy vocabulary, would be good. Let them get a taste of reading and slowly they'll get into the habit. Picking up a heavy book in first go can be a downer for non-readers. As for me, whenever I have to recommend a book for a first time full book reader, I always suggest The Alchemist. Other than that, a few books for a light-hearted reading would be Harry Potter. Reading mystery is always good for getting hooked.

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@AnyaSharma97 I cannot thank you enough for taking time and sharing your experiences with me. You are a wonderful person. Stay blessed!