He’s the author of the bestselling book Dada and the recently released book Once Upon a DharamYudh. His name is Vibhor Tikiya. An alumnus of IISc, a Top 10 ranker at IIMA and also an LLB, Vibhor told us more about his latest works in an interview we carried out with him. Read on to learn what he had to say.
You’ve recently published your second book entitled Once Upon a DharamYudh. Can you please tell us a bit about this book?
The book Once Upon a DharamYudh takes from the concept of an ideological battle between two men from different financial backgrounds guided by the age-old Bhagvad Gita. Since it takes from there, I named it DharamYudh which was also apt since Dharam also stands for duty and what one believes is right. Both men in the story fight for what they believe is right and are willing to do anything for their Dharam. The book covers their story.
In what ways has the Bhagavad Gita influenced Once Upon a DharamYudh?
The Gita shlokas guided the flow of the book. Each chapter takes off from these shlokas. I had a story of conflict in my mind and the characters had shades of grey. The situations they found themselves in were where the Gita shlokas found their place. They gave a sensibility to the chapters and to the entire story in general.
What other things influence your fiction work?
Inspiration flows for me from incidents, events that happen all around. The Delhi gang rape bought out anger in me and her last dying statement to her mother influenced the title of my third book I Want to Live. A chat with a man from Peru led to a potential title Kill the Men. Ideas and inspirations are aplenty. It’s the follow through and the building of a meaningful story which would captivate the audience for all of 200 pages that’s the tricky part.
Are you working on any other book(s)? If so, can you please tell us what we might expect from you in the future?
I have a habit of announcing the next book at the end of the work that releases in the market. My third book is to come next year. It’s titled I Want to Live. My fourth one is partly conceived. So yeah, I guess I will write till I have a story to tell. If I run out of stories to tell, you will have seen the last of my works.
Can you please tell us a bit about your approach to writing? For instance, is there a particular time in the day when you write? Do you plan your plot and subplots beforehand and then follow the plan? Or do you write in a free flowing way?
I write in a free flowing way. I think the discipline is needed once you are done writing the first draft of the story. You have to ensure the structure and that there are no inconsistencies. I have noted people look out for them. It’s like searching for factual errors in fiction. There is only one plan when I’m writing the first draft and that is there is no planned way to write it. Someone who read my books told me you write from the heart and I’d like to believe that.
From your experience, can you please share one piece of key advice with budding authors who want to publish a book?
Well, if you’re in it for a full time career, it’s a frustrating journey. It takes a lot of effort to reach a point where you can think of it as a profession rather than a passion. But, if you have a story and you want to make sure it’s out there, do it sooner rather than later. Just go for it. If the content’s right, you will find takers for it.
How can people find out more about you?
People can contact me at vibhort@gmail.com. You might sometimes get a delayed reply but I assure you that you will have one [ that is if the questions are not too offensive 🙂 ].
Getting a Copy of Once Upon a DharamYudh
We hope you all enjoyed our interview with Vibhor. If you would like to get a copy of his latest book Once Upon a DharamYudh, it is available from online stores such as Flipkart 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]