“Love is when someone else protects you from your own self.”- Novoneel Chakraborty; Marry me, Stranger.

Novoneel Chakraborty, the Indian author of fiction, was born on 27th October in Silchar. He is a full time author, screenwriter and blogger and specializes in writing romantic thriller with a little bit of philosophy mixed with it. His famous books include The Stranger Trilogy (All yours, Stranger; Marry me, Stranger; Forget me not, Stranger), How about a Sin tonight?, Ex: A Twisted Love Story, Black Suits You, etc. His books have touched thousands of Indian souls and have gained a lot of popularity. Here’s a little chat with him so that all of us get to know him a bit more.

1. What inspired you to become a writer?

Ans- I found my true calling to be a storyteller both abruptly and viscerally. There was never an external inspiration for it. When I was around 20 characters and plotlines started occurring to me. To get rid of them I started writing them down in the form of short stories. And in the process I tasted blood knowing well this was something I wanted to do all my life.

2. Did you always dream to become a writer?

Ans- I was more into sports and wanted to make a career in it. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. To become a storyteller was nowhere in my conscious mind ever.

3. Do you want to continue the genre of books you write or do you want to experiment new concepts?

Ans- As of now I’m more than happy writing thrillers but in the near future I would love to experiment and move beyond this. I want to create something in the children literature. I find it both alluring and creatively challenging.

4. How does it feel to be counted as a best seller?

Ans- It feels nice since it only means more people are reading your work. That’s precisely the goal of every commercial fiction author. To reach out to as many people as one can.

5. How long do you take to complete one book?

Ans- It really depends on the storyline. The longest I have taken is one and half years. And the shortest was three months.

6. How would you judge writing as a career option?

Ans- It takes time to build oneself as a Novelist. Taking it up as a single career in the beginning could be frustrating. I think only when one has built up a readers base with time and is confident of people picking one’s work it can then become a career option. Whereas television writing is more lucrative and can fetch immediate returns.

7. What is the scope available to novice writers?

Ans- Patience is the name of the game. Along with the normal marketing push, one has to constantly churn out good work which should bring word-of-mouth publicity for the author thereby helping him or her creating a reader base.

8. What are the struggles faced by writers?

Ans- Every author’s road is different and thus are the struggles. The only similar struggles I would say is of creating interesting storylines each and every time.

9. What are the requisites to be a writer?

Ans- Reading, good observational skills and also how interestingly and uniquely one interprets real life situations are some of the basic requisites of a writer.

10.What is the source behind your books? Your imagination or real life incidents?

Ans- My stories are always a mix of realty and fiction. My foremost priority is to make my readers believe this has happened with someone even if it’s a work of fiction.

11.Do you want your novels to be screened on the TV?

Ans- I don’t think my novels are suitable for Indian television.

12.Who is your favorite author? What are your favorite books?

Ans- Ayn Rand has been a great influence. There are several writers from whose work have been educative. The Fountainhead by Ayan Rand and Raat Bhore Brishti by Buddhadev Basu are my all time personal favourite books.

13.What is your message to youngsters who want to pursue writing?

Ans- Read, observe and question. These three always lead you to great stories.

14.Your message for readers of Storieo.

Ans- I would love to suggest them to keep on reading whatever fascinates them without being a victim of any hype. And inculcate the habit of being objective about things doesn’t matter how much subjectivity is encouraged in the society at every level.