Interview with Abhishek Bose

In our on going endeavour in introducing new and upcoming authors to our readers, today I have Abhishek Bose who wrote the newly released 'Legally, Lovingly Yours' please find the excrepts of our conversation below;

Hi Abhishek, so how are you feeling after your book release?

Well, I am feeling great. J It has been a dream that has come true, a dream that even I didn’t know would turn into reality when I started writing the book.

What was the inspiration behind ‘Legally, Lovingly Yours’?

The increasing number of books and writers from IITs, IIMs, and other colleges inspired me to write a book based in a law school, which till then I had not seen anywhere. The characters in the book have been inspired by my roommates. The title was inspired by the storyline. So, I can say that I have had a mixed bag of inspirations behind writing ‘Legally, Lovingly Yours’.

Did you always want to be a writer and is your book semi-autobiographical?

Though I always liked writing since I was a kid, I never wrote anything fearing the outcome. I even didn’t know whether I could write or not till I came to college and wrote this book. I always wanted to be a lawyer, but it was in college that I found the writer in me. J

Whether my book is semi-autobiographical or not is one question that many people have asked me. The answer to this question is both – yes and no. Yes because some of the incidents in the book have been taken from my own life. No because the storyline is fictional and everything in the book except a few incidents are imaginary.

Can you please tell us more about yourself and your background and how this shift from a Law career to a writing career took place?

I hail from Lucknow, and I’m currently a final year law student at the Faculty of Law, ICFAI University, Dehradun. I would be graduating this May after which I would start my private practice. I have always liked writing, but this book is my first attempt at writing something substantial.

As far as the shift in career is concerned, I would like to tell you that I haven’t completely shifted my career from Law to writing. After I pass out in May I would be starting my law practice and writing would be continued side by side.

How was your growing up years? How did your family react to your decision to become a writer?

My growing up years were fun. I did everything that is expected from a growing up child. There’s not much to talk about it because it’s the usual that would come up. I told my family about the book after I had completed it and had sent it to publishers. Initially they were surprised, and now they are happy and proud.

While every author in India is writing about their personal experiences in the IIM, IIT & MBA colleges or even love stories that have been done to death, what is so different about your book?

I feel my book is a bit different from the books you are talking about. The first and major difference is that my book has a law school as its backdrop, which I haven’t seen till now. Secondly, it’s not an out-and-out love story. My book follows a guy’s journey of seeing, chasing, achieving dreams and overcoming the obstacles he faces through law school. It’s a story of friendship, enmity, love, dreams and reality. Another aspect that differentiates my book from others is, what I have observed, the absence of an erotic scene. What I have seen in other books is that mostly every one of them has sexual encounters between some of the characters. My book doesn’t have that.

How positive are you about the book being well received by the general reading public?

Every writer feels positive about his work being well received by the general reading public. And if the book is the writer’s first, then expectations and hopes rise. So it was in my case. And I am happy to say that whosoever has read my book has given me a positive feedback. Yes, there have been a few negative comments, but that is a part of the package, which cannot be ignored.

Tell us more about the writing experience of ‘Legally, Lovingly Yours’ and did you find any particular situation in the story that was difficult to write?

The journey of writing ‘Legally, Lovingly Yours’ began in 2008. And it took me two years to reach my destination. The journey was long, tiresome, sometimes tedious, but overall it was sweet and enjoyable. Chapter 13 was one situation I found was not easy to write. It finally came out in my dream after which it was a piece of cake for me.

Most of the critics feel that these days using colloquial language is a trend which doesn’t go with the essence of writing a book in English language. So what’s your take on that?

First of all I would like to say that I respect the views of the critics. In my view the use of colloquial language in a book depends on the writer and the audience they are targeting. I don’t know about others, but the major target audience of my book is the college and school going students. And as I myself am of the same age group, I can say that these days we like to read something which we can easily relate to and something that is not difficult to comprehend. I used colloquial language in my book because I wanted my readers to read my book, and not read the dictionary they might have used had I not used this type of language in my book to find the meaning of the words, etc. Therefore, I would like to say that the use of a particular type of language depends on the writer and the target audience instead of upholding the true essence of English language and writing.

Who are your favourite authors and which is your favourite book?

I have no one favourite author, because I read what I like or what appeals to me. It may be fiction, non-fiction, autobiographies, well almost anything. I like Godfather by Mario Puzo, The Cobra by Frederick Forsyth, books by Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon. I love Lance Armstrong’s autobiography. A couple of Robin Sharma’s books are some of my favourites. Ravi Subramanian’s If God Was A Banker, and Madhuri Banerjee’s Losing My Virginity and Other Dumb Ideas are also my favourites.

Do you think India has become a huge market for reading books? If yes, then what has influenced this change?

Yes, I agree that India has become a huge market for reading books. According to me, it was Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone that has influenced this change. This is because his book was easy to relate to and economical. And this started a trend of new Indian authors coming out on the literary circuit with their books, which was appealing to our generation.

What is that one thing about you that others don’t know?

The one thing that others didn’t know about me, but would now know, is that till I was in school I hadn’t even read a single book. I used to hate reading. After joining college I started reading, and now I am an avid reader along with being a writer. J

What are your future projects and when is your next book expected to release?

My second project is also a work of fiction, the plot of which I have in mind, and which I’ll start writing after college finally gets over. About its release, I don’t know when that’ll happen because I believe in quality, and not quantity. I like to give my readers quality to read and not quantity (pages filled with crap) even if it takes time to come out.

How is writing as a career? Do you recommend aspiring writers to take up full time writing?

Writing as a career is a very good option. But, in India it has a very limited scope until and unless you are not an established writer. Big publishing houses do not like to give new writers a chance, which indeed is sad. I agree that every profession, every career has struggle accompanying it in the beginning, but you can’t sit idle till the time your book doesn’t get published. My advice to aspiring writers is that try to get your book published, but also do a job or something that gets you a regular income alongside. Once you get 2-3 books published, and publishers know you by your name, that will be the time when you can think of taking up writing as a full time career.

What is your message to our today’s youngsters?

My message to today’s youngsters is don’t stop dreaming because as Walt Disney said “All our dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

How do you describe yourself in just one word?

One word – Optimist

I would like to wish you all the success with your new book and may you write more books that will help the readers to find another bankable writer like Chetan Bhagat in you J