“Do not live with the regret of not having taken the chance, listen and follow the deepest calling your heart.”
As a creator of unusual stories, Zahir writes simple yet unique stories which connects with the lives of common men, especially the younger generation. His Debut Novel ‘The Perfect Dilemmas’ published in 2015 was captioned as ‘The Most Common yet Uncommon Story of 2015’ by leading English, Hindi, Gujarati & Marathi Media across India, making a mark in best selling list.
His Second Book Love-Buddy has been published in 2017 & within a short span of time received an overwhelming response and captioned as ‘The Fastest & Unusual Romantic Story Ever’ by the readers across, well known Book reviewers & bloggers in the country and by various newspapers. The book has also undergone a reprint within 6 months of its release.
For his passion towards writing & efforts towards supporting Project Nanhi Kali- India’s biggest Educational Intervention to support and provide education to the Underprivileged Girl Child In India, Zahir has received many appreciations which includes dignitaries like Mega Star- Shri Amitabh Bachchan, Chief Minister of Gujarat- Shri Vijay Rupani & many more.
With his real life inspired stories & for connecting stories with important life lessons as a guest speaker he has also inspired & motivated the audiences at various prestigious forums which includes literature festivals, Film Festivals, National Book Fairs, Book events, University Youth Conclaves, College festivals and many more.
What is the story behind your book ‘Love Buddy’. Where did you get your idea for the book?
Right from my childhood days I have been an avid reader and love to read all kind of fiction novels. Back in those days and even today we have stories and novels which runs up to hundreds of pages and on the other hand the reading span has decreased drastically (Thanks to our busy lifestyle) Keeping this in mind when after my first novel which was published in 2015, I always wanted to experiment & pen down a story which a reader would able to finish in almost one go while enjoying each and every chapter of the book.
The idea actually came from the commercial Bollywood cinema as I always used to think that if a Bollywood movie can entertain the audience for 3 hours by putting together all the entertaining elements such as Romance, Drama, Action, and suspense in one movie then why not a book? Hence stuck the idea of Love Buddy.
Challenges you faced while writing this book and in your life as an author?
While writing Love Buddy there were two main challenges I faced. One was to do justice with each and every character and second with the entire story line as I was looking at including not just one but multiple entertaining factors such as Drama, Friendship, Humour, Romance, Action & Suspense and that too in around 30000 words which is approximately 110 pages (Which surely can be a quick read)
About my life as an Author I feel the main challenge is to maintain the balance on the three important pillars of my life which includes Giving time to my family, Justice to my corporate career & lastly following my passion of writing, and each pillar is equally important.
What is your life mantra?
Well I don’t think that I have a mantra as such but what I learnt from my past experiences is Not to Live with the Regrets in Life. If your heart gives you a signal, your approach is right and you action won’t harm anyone then you must take a chance and give it try. So what you do not succeed at least it will give you an experience, a chance to learn from the mistake and most importantly you will not have regrets in life.
What is your writing process like?
My writing process is very simple, as soon as an idea stuck in to my mind I immediately jot it down. It could be a paragraph, an outline in brief or at times only a single line. Once I have a plot ready I start writing down my thoughts of the entire story in bullet points which has points like what will happen in the story, main incidents, the characters, beginning, end and many more such details. This process is done completely randomly means there is no sequence to any particular bullet point.
Once the bullet points are ready, this is the phase wherein I get in to writing the entire story basis the bullet points and try and bring the colours out of characters. Once the first draft is ready I get in to basic proof reading and work on the finalization of the entire story. Once this stage is over and I know that this I want as a final story then the detailed editing process starts which has multiple layers.
Anything special about your book that you want to share?
As I mentioned earlier, Love Buddy is a typically bollywoodia style Novel of just two nights & day which is absolutely a quick read and has all the entertaining elements such as Romance, Drama, Friendship, Action, Emotions which will keep the audience entertained till the end. The cherry on the cake is until the readers turn the last page of the book they won’t be able to predict the end!
According to you, what are the three qualities an author must have to achieve success?
The three qualities an author must have to achieve success are
- High Patience level- Writing a book, Rewriting it, getting it published & finally putting all the efforts to make it successful, this is an entire process and patience is the key to success.
- Passion- You cannot write a good story if you don’t have passion to write it. Writing it just to become a ‘Published Author’ or for the sake of doing it won’t really last long.
- Good Marketing Skills- With such a dynamic publishing industry and many young & aspiring authors coming up it is very important for one to adopt to the right marketing strategy in order to promote the book. Having said that it is also extremely important for the authors to take the Right Marketing Approach rather than getting attracted to Fake Marketing Strategies.
What are your plans for next book?
I already have the first draft of my 3rd Novel ready which would be published in 2018 and currently working on my 4th Novel.
What advice do you have for young writers?
There are stories everywhere, we all are surrounded by stories and if you have a great passion for writing then keep the passion alive and one day you will make it.
Also till the time you write a book and finally become a successful Author take up a job and stick to that as this would act as a fuel to your desire of becoming an author.
Share a quote or line that has been your inspiration.
Do not live with the regret of not having taken the chance, listen and follow the deepest calling your heart.
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