At 23, Prithvin Rajendran isn't just an IT professional but a published author too. The Iron Tooth , his fantasy novel, which was launched recently, dwells on the good and the bad, castles and towers and the love of a beautiful princess.
“The story is about Princix, the protagonist, who becomes the champion of his kingdom with the help of a few magical items in his possession. He is asked to investigate the cursed kingdom of Dashtar. He encounters many challenges on the way and also falls in love with a princess,” says Prithvin.
Harry Potter , Lord of the Rings and Eragon are some of the fantasy series that have kept Prithvin captivated since he was young, inspiring him to write his own fantasy novel. “My fascination for fantasy developed because of the awesome stories told by my mother. And my dad used to buy me He-Man toys which intensified my desire to learn more about weapons, armour, castles and so on.”
While Prithvin only began to write when he finished school, his initial dream of writing an 85-page book grew into its present 226 pages. “I was waiting for my undergraduate admission when I began to write the book. It was quite difficult to manage studies and writing at one point. And once I even broke my arm and couldn't write for three or four months. I only wrote a few weeks a year,” he explains, “I have taken a leaf from incidents in my life. Once I fell down and had hairline cracks in two of my upper teeth and a swollen lip and a character in the book suffers the same.”
While The Iron Tooth (Rs. 195) has taken three years to finish, Prithvin says it was possible because of his family's backing. “I've given four maps at the end of the book and it took sometime to finish drawing them. I thought I'd publish the book later, maybe in my 30s but my family encouraged me to finish the story,” he says.
Prithvin is also planning to work on a second novel which will weave history and fantasy. “I'm thinking of basing this story on a historical character. And being a writer would allow me to explore other aspects of history and fictionalise them. But it's too early to say because it's just an idea as of now.”
