Interview with Author Prabhanjan Tattar

Author interview with "The NZDream" blog

https://www.mynzdreamblog.com/write-for-us-and-author-interviews

Tell me a bit about yourself….

By profession, I am a Statistician with a PhD degree. After publishing several peer-reviewed scientific research articles and statistical books with Wiley and Packt, I turned to fiction. For fiction, I use the pen name S B Akshobhya.

What genre/s do you write in?

I have published a thriller, a romance/YA, and a coming-of-age novel. Unpublished scripts fall in these genres. It is my aspiration to write espionage and a horror novel too.

How long have you been writing?

I have been writing since mid-2017 onwards.

Do you have any published books or articles? Tell me a bit about these and what publishing route you took.

Yes, I have published three novels in India. My debut novel “The Panipuri Crimes” (TPC) was released in April 2021, “Finding – A Measure of Her” (FMH) in August, and “Prema Naada Pandita” (PNP) in September. The respective publishers are Srishti, Locksley, and Kalamos. While all three are traditionally published, the middle one FMH has been repped by literary agent Suhail Mathur.

Did you use an editor? If so who?

Except for the editors at the publishing companies, I have used only Grammarly.

Did you use a book formatter and cover designer?

No, I have written all my scripts in Google Docs. The covers have been designed by the publishers with little input from my end.

Did you self-publish or get traditionally published? How did this go for you?

TPC and PNP have been directly accepted by their publishers while Suhail Mathur repped FMH. I had my share of rejections of a handful of other scripts.

How do you market your work and promote your brand?(Include links)

Primarily, I have been using the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. While a few newspapers articles have covered TPC, I am yet to hit the market aggressively for FMH and PNP. I have a poorly maintained website, and I intend to improve it.

What social media and writing platforms would you recommend?

While we try Facebook and Instagram, the sales are hard to come by.

Do you use an agent?

Yes, Suhail Mathur had repped FMH.

Do you use paid advertising? If so what?

Yes, AMS.

Do you have a blog or website?

Yes, a poorly maintained website www.akshobhya.co.in

What inspires you most to write?

After crossing the initial three-four scripts, the characters have refused to leave me. Now, my characters Nyasa Sudaiv, Rathishree Kannur, Veena Rao, Naada, Aniket, Sagar Bansal (RIP, LoL), Hayagriva, et al. have become the invisible family. There are more than a handful waiting to see the print who inspire me to write.

Also, the kick-ass world orders me to write a million more stories.

What do you do to help with writers block?

Writer's block is a blessing in disguise. Creativity has bounds and limits, and when you see the dead-end, it is time to reinvent. Reading and research beg of you and when you ignore them for far too long, the writer's block kicks in. Thus, reading my favorite go-to-authors RK Narayan, Agatha Christie, and PG Wodehouse is my block slayer.

How do you plan your writing and start?

I do an outline for my thriller novels. Romance and other genres come a bit naturally. No, I don’t plan writing and the reason is the answer to the next question.

Is writing your full time job? If not what else do you do?

No, it is the third priority work. Working as a Data Scientist for British American Company is the first, scientific research is second, and writing is third.

What are you working on at the moment?

Currently, I am closing on a novella which is a spin-off of a published novel.

What is your target audience?

The generic fiction reader is my target audience.

How long does it take you to write a book?

Thirty writing days at the speed of 2K words per day.

When did you first discover you enjoyed writing?

When I wrote my debut article “The Drunkard Raaga” on the legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam.

What is your writing schedule look like?

Two hours a day during the weekdays, and 8-10 hours on weekends.

What does your family think about you writing?

My parents are super happy, my wife is chill, and she indeed is the first reader of all of my fiction writing, and my daughter is on the lookout for her name in the acknowledgment.

What do you do when you are not writing?

Reading and research.

Where do you get information and ideas for your writing?

The world is the mother of all information for fiction writing.

What do you think makes a good story?

A sincere flow from the heart and pragmatic thoughts from the mind are what make a good story. Also, the ruthless editing that must go to eliminate the loose ends is a necessary evil and the difference between a good story and a not-so-good one.