Going Deep with Author Chandra Shekhar About his Breakout Novel Mock My Words
Listen to this articleIf you are looking for an intriguing thrill-filled read then Mock My Words by Chandra Shekhar is just what you are looking for this winter. There is little doubt that this book will hit the bestseller list very soon, because its entertainment factor is on high, offering reader’s technology-driven thrills, martial drama and a good dose of romance too. No doubt this book’s technology-driven edge is partially fueled by Shekhar’s work in developing technology for everything from self-driving vehicles and facial recognition to video surveillance. With Mock My Words it’s clear that Shekhar will be just as successful as a writer as he was in the tech world. We are thrilled that he agreed to sit down with us to talk about Mock My Words, and what’s coming next.
How long did it take for you to write Mock My Words? What was one of the challenges you faced while writing it?
The first draft took me just a few weeks, and I said to myself, “Novel writing is a breeze.” Yeah, right! When I tried to revise the draft, that’s when I realized how hard it is to finish a novel, i.e. restructuring, rewriting, and polishing it until it sounded just right. That whole process took me a year or so. One of the challenges I faced was with the multi-threaded nature of the story. In my first draft, the threads were not well integrated and it read like three separate-but-connected novellas. Reslicing and resplicing the three storylines until they fit together into one coherent whole took a lot of effort, but I think I pulled it off.
If you could have anyone living or dead read your book, and then sit down with you to talk about it who would it be and why?
I have a soft corner for British writers of the early-to-mid 20th century, few of whom are widely read today. Aldous Huxley, PG Wodehouse, Somerset Maugham, Angus Wilson, Anthony Powell. I’d love to sit with anyone of them and discuss writing in general and my book in particular.
With so many people living on the go in these days, how do you find balance with family, exercise and traveling to fit in so much writing?
Time is not a problem for me, since I quit my previous job as a journalist to write fiction full-time. I’m able to do this because my wife, Anu, has a “regular” job, and we don’t have children. This is in contrast with many of my colleagues who have to hold a day job in order to support their families.
What is the first story you ever remember writing?
My foray into fiction started with a SF story called Boneless about a man afflicted with a bone-wasting disease who opts to have his entire skeleton replaced by metal alloy implants. This story is available for free on my webpage, and is my most downloaded story.
I hear you have a few more books in the works can you tell us about them, and when they will be released?
I have two books in the pipeline (and ideas for many more). One is Thirst for Power, which deals with the intertwined lives of an idealistic young man, a scheming politician, a romantic professor of English, and an enigmatic social worker, set against a background of political, social, and climate change. Taking place in India and London, this novel draws on my varied and quirky background. My other work-in-progress is an illustrated collection of short stories, flash fiction, and humorous verse titled Unintended Consequences, Illogical Extremes, and Other Ironies of Life. I hope to complete both books this year.
In order to get more information about Mock My Words head over to Amazon.
