Rugved Mondkar has just released his eagerly awaited, debut novel entitled Part-Time Devdaas…We caught up with the man himself to learn about his work and his book. Rugved also kindly shared some top lessons from his experiences of writing Part-Time Devdaas…, to help you budding novelists out there. Read on to learn what he had to say.
Welcome to e-Books India, Rugved! We are thrilled to have you join us for this interview. You have an interesting, creative background spanning areas including writing and directing films. Most recently you’ve also become a fully-fledged author. Can you please tell us a bit more about what you get up to and in particular your writing? When did your interest in writing first come about?
I work with a leading media firm where I write and direct socially relevant short films. I have assisted on more than a dozen commercial Hindi feature films, ad, and television shows. I first wrote a play when I was twelve. Though I never considered an actual career in writing, in the years that followed, I met people who encouraged me and gave me a chance to write for them, leading to me ghost writing three films. Now with the book coming along I hope to explore a different territory in the field of writing.
You’re debut novel entitled Part-Time Devdaas… has just been published. Can you please tell us a bit about this story?
PTD’s story is a contemporary romance. It tells the story of Arjun Kulkarni’s life spread over 11 years. The narrative of the book, which I like to call a switch narrative, is divided in three phases of Arjun’s life. The book starts with phase one, when Arjun is 30 years old, a film director, and is trying to find redemption from his predisposition for self-destruction. The second phase tells the story of 19 year old Arjun, when he first meets Hrida, and his love story with her spread over seven years. And phase three of the narrative takes readers to the phase, just after he breaks up with Hrida, and his Devdaas like partial pursuit of self-destruction, later on. Every next chapter switches between these three phases which makes it an interesting read.
What inspired you to write Part-Time Devdaas…?
I have met and seen a lot of people who claimed to have lost all the will and want to lead a happy life after losing someone they “madly” loved, then there were times when I would see those very people doing everything from dating other people to having a successful career, and still whining about a lost life. These observations started a dialogue in my head about story of such a guy, and the rest of the plot flowed in.
Would you like to write anymore novels? If so, is there any book you’re currently working on, and if so, can you please give us a sneak preview of what readers might expect from you in the future?
I would definitely write more books. The work on the second book in fact has begun. It’s again a contemporary romance, but set in a completely different zone than PTD. I am a very slow writer so I don’t know when I’ll complete it, but I am hoping to bring it out by the end of 2015.
There are many people out there who would like to write a book and get it published, but are held back because of one reason or another. From your experiences of writing and publishing Part-Time Devdaas…, can you please share 3 learning experiences you’ve had, which can help other budding authors?
One has to be fiercely disciplined, intensely patient and supremely realistic while writing; these three things help you a lot. Writing is a lonely profession, so one has to first identify why they are writing, because that’s the driving force to discipline yourself. Many people start writing, but leave it half way due to lack of discipline. You have to dedicate a specific amount of time to write on any given day, even if you write nothing, getting yourself to fire your laptop every day and attempt to write is important. Next comes the part when you are done writing and have to find a publisher. It’s a very tiring process, hence one has to be patient and keep trying till you find the right people. People think becoming a published author is equal to becoming a billionaire and a star, though there is certain amount of fame involved, there should be no illusion about the money. So as I said earlier, you have to identify the real reason behind writing a book. If it’s instant money or fame you aspire then you have gotten the rules of the game all wrong.
How can people find out more about you?
People can get in touch with me on:
https://www.facebook.com/rugvedmondkarofficial
https://www.facebook.com/PartTimeDevdaas
Or email me: rugvedmondkarofficial@gmail.com
Get a copy of Part-Time Devdaas…
We would like to express our deep gratitude to Rugved for answering our questions. If you would like to grab a copy of his book Part-Time Devdaas…, you can do so from Flipkart, Infibeam and Amazon.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]