‘The days of the reclusive writer are numbered’

Winner of the popular award at RCA-2014, Ravi Subramanian talks about the emerging trends in popular fiction

May 08, 2015 05:00 pm | Updated May 09, 2015 03:53 pm IST

Ravi Subramanian

Ravi Subramanian

What does the popular award in a literary award function mean to you?

In every awards function, the best is reserved for the last. And when in a Literary awards function, the popular award comes in last, it only shows that popular fiction is what now drives the entire ecosystem - publishers, retailers, readers and authors. To my mind, it is the award to get in any literary awards event, and I am thrilled to have won it three years in a row.

“Bankerupt” was a new experience for you as you moved away from your core territory of banking sector and the book also marked your departure from Rupa to Penguin

I look at every book as a new learning opportunity. ‘Bankerupt’ was indeed a very different experience for me - a new publisher and a plot line different from my earlier ones. It took me a fair bit of effort to research academia in the U.S. and the gun control laws prevalent there. It was fun. Yes, Penguin did support me all through and I am happy I made this move. The distribution might which Penguin brought to the table and the stature they gave me as an author is unparalleled.

The book incorporates contemporary issues like Reebok scam and gun laws in the U.S. How do you see the writer’s role in times when the young generation often gets to know about real issues through pulp fiction?

As long as youngsters learn the right things, it really doesn't matter where they learn it from. In good old days, story telling was a popular means of learning for kids. And learning through stories is a lot more effective than any other means of learning. ‘God is a Gamer’ is the world’s first Bitcoin thriller. People who read ‘God is a Gamer’ will never forget Bitcoins for life. What would you prefer to do - read a boring text book on Bitcoins and get to know about it or read a thriller set in the world of Bitcoins and understand it in an unforgettable manner. It puts extra pressure on authors to ensure that their stories are realistic, down to earth and easily relatable.

Strangely, the walls between fiction and non-fiction are blurring in Indian landscape like you tweeted about how Hussain Zaidi’s has already talked about Dawood Ibrahim’s surrender offer in ‘Black Friday’ much before Neeraj Kumar came up with his take.

Most of the fiction that is written these days, irrespective of genre is inspired by real life instances - an exaggeration of facts. Hussain Zaidi has spoken about a lot of things in his books, about the politicians, mafia and the cops. Well, all I can say is that if the news channels read his books and mine, there is enough material there for them to debate, night after night, for the next full year.

These days some of the novelists write with a prospective film in mind. Does this lure of adaptation on big screen affect your writing in some sense?

Not at all. Writing with a film in mind, writing like a screenplay is a sureshot recipe for disaster. My writing has never been impacted by the lure of film adaptation. My only recommendation to writers is – go ahead and write a great book. If the book is good then filmmakers will figure out a way to adapt them into films.

Your chapters are getting smaller. Do you fear an attention deficit in the younger reader?

Not only writers, but anyone who interacts with the younger generation - parents, teachers, marketers, product innovators - all are feeling the impact of reducing span of attention. While this is one of the reasons why my chapters are short, it is not the only reason. The primary intent of short chapters is to keep the book racy. As I keep saying, short chapters, keeps the interest alive and makes readers turn pages at night while they are about to get to bed. This juxtaposed with a top class and furiously paced story, gives the reader a truly thrilling experience. The attention deficit in youngsters is impacting the reading habits of youngster’s big time and will in due course drive the kind of books being written.

There is an increasing need for the writer to be seen at different platforms and best selling writers are coming up with one book a year. Will it eventually lead to problem of plenty and poor editing?

The days of the reclusive writer are numbered. A writer must be able to stand in a cluttered marketplace and be able to convince his readers to read his book. Book Promotions are definitely on. I have seen many a good book fail because the author/publisher didn’t promote the book well. Remember, No one ever missed a book, he didn't know about. I diligently follow the one book a year theory and have never felt quality suffer. In fact readers have come back with a feedback that my books have got better over time. I do not think a book a year will lead to a problem of plenty. On the contrary I would imagine, acceptability of books will increase, the market will expand, niches will evolve and the books trade will do well.

How difficult is for you to imagine parts of the novel which don’t belong to your core competence. You have been trying to evolve beyond frauds and intrigue in your last couple of works. What is your process?

I pick on a contemporary incident/subject and make it the backdrop of my novel. Once I do that, I begin by writing the first chapter which is normally based on that core theme. And from thereon, it is very instinctive. I don't have the full plot in front of me when I begin writing the book. But yes, stepping out of my core competence took some effort and of course, lots of research.

What is the progress of films on “Bankerupt” and “God Is A Gamer”?

‘God is a Gamer’ is in the scripting stage. It will take some time as it is a complex plot. The film rights for ‘Bankerupt’ are with me. Any takers?

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