AN INTERVIEW WITH DEEPANWITA

Read Time: 4 minutes

• Your Name and about yourself.

Ans. My name is Deepanwita Chakraborty. I am an advocate by profession and an author by love. I have completed my higher secondary in the stream of science and Graduated in BBA LLB. I am a Bengali having her day teas and goodnight sleeps in Delhi. I love music as it takes into the world of imagination. That is the place from where my writing power emerges.

• Are you happy about being an Author? (( Feel free to pour your heart out here 🙂 ))

Ans. Yes. Not a bit of doubt in that. I love writing and I will keep on doing it till my last breath. I believe that a pen has more power to bring change in the life of human beings than spoken words.

• What’s your motivation as an author and what have you learnt from writing books?

Ans. There is a movie Coco. It is a great movie. It has explained a very beautiful thing. A human does not die when the soul leaves the body but it dies when people forget him or her. I want people to remember me through my work. My work is my life and my motivation.

The second part of the question is what have I learned from writing? I have learned patience. If a person has the courage to start writing a book and to complete it and then publish it, remember that the person has utmost patience. It is very difficult to go through all of it, from starting to scribble to finally seeing the book on the self. I respect all the authors in this world. You all are gems.

• As an author, what do you think are the positive things about your writing/stories/publications?

Ans. I do well in all types of genres. It depends upon the mood I am in. I write poetry, short stories. Right now, I am working on a self-help book. I am not going to share the topic, that a secret. And also, I am working on a novel. So, I am into it. Completely. And I enjoy it thoroughly.  

• Which book or e-books have you published and which are in pipeline? ((You can also write about each of them if you wish to.))

Ans. I have published two Short Stories i.e. “Where Truth Lies” and “I’m In Love with My Ex”. The former one is a thriller short story and the latter one is a romantic-comedy. I have written poetry “Lost Smile”. All three are available on Amazon in e-book format.

Two Poetries in the poetry anthologies ‘Sound of Silence’ and ‘Melodies and Harmonies’ published by Notion Press.

When it comes to the works which are yet to be published, there are a lot of them. The pandemic has changed completely everything for me. I have never written as much as I did in 2020.

My poetries are in process of publication in anthologies to be published by Nextgen Publication and BigFoot Publications. Open Letters in anthologies ‘Coming of Age’ to be published by Split Poetry India and an anthology named ‘Tormented’ to be published by Notion Press. And a short story published by Inkquills Publishing House.

• What’s your advice for budding authors?

Ans. It is going to take time. I will not sugar coat it. And there are no easy way outs. You have to hold on to yourself and keep on writing till the time you see your book in a bookstore. That should be your goal. And when you set that goal, never give up on it. You need to go on till the time you achieve. That is the only way to reach the peak. Only the people who have that courage, make it to the top.

• Do you believe in “Writer’s Block”?

Ans. Yes, I do. It does happen. But at the same time, it should not be used as a way to escape. Sometimes people do that.  Writer’s block does not happen all the time. when you are writing for a long you need to take a rest. if you are unable to find interest in writing at that point, don’t force it. It is ok to take some time off. You cannot force your imagination. But one should not use it as a tool for not writing. If you want to transform yourself from being a writer to an author then you have to give up being lazy.

• What are the problems that you have faced in your Author journey?

Ans. There are many. I should say whenever you are out on a journey, have patience and be aware. Being a person of sound mind and handle difficult situations wisely is very tough. But it is not impossible. One of such incidents I would like to share. I submitted my query to a literary agent. The agency was new and run by a woman singularly as per my knowledge. She showed interest in my work and I was quite happy with that. She was moving forward with my work like she has selected my work for publishing. But after some time she went completely silent. I was feeling anxious so I called her up. She demanded money for the editing of my work. Now, at this point, one should know that if the literary agency selects your work for placing it to the publishing house, they don’t demand money upfront. I knew that so I didn’t move forward with the process. So, to new authors, I would say that if you want to move forward you need to hold on to your patience and most importantly always remain informed. If not about everything (which is not possible) at least about the market you are going to enter.

• What Genre of Books do you create and Why you chose them?

Ans. I enjoy writing in any genre. Whatever comes in my mind I scribble it down. I choose genre depending on the mood I am in. so you can say I am, most of the time, working on different genres at the same period of time. I separate them by when I want to write what. It helps me with writer’s block too. Suppose I am unable to write on a particular genre now. I may end up writing something amazing on a different one. So, I give it a go whenever writer’s block strikes me. I just don’t stop writing. Anything that’s stagnant gathers moss