Interview with author Romila C

In a conversation with author Romila C (Novemberschild), author of multiple books to her name. To read about a recent book by Romila C, visit Book Review : The Three Flowers - Novemberschild. In this conversation, we talk about her upcoming work, her life as a writer and many more things. Let's start!

-- Interview with author Romila C --

Q: “The Three Flowers”, how does it feel to be the author of this book?

A: Pleasurable! Poetry for me has been a way of expressing feelings and emotions. I started writing young, really young. Poetry constantly surprises me. I love poetry, mostly because there is usually another meaning than the one what you initially think. It’s really great to read something and being able to go back, read it again and find something completely new. I wish to write more poems.

Q: Tell us about the books that you have published so far?

A: My first eBook has been about the posts which I wrote for my first ATOZ Blogging Challenge. It was not marketed well so hence the reviews and reactions have been very limited. The Three Flowers is my 2nd eBook and I am blessed that it has been a blockbuster hit.

Q: What can we expect from you in near future? Any books lined up to be published?

A: My next book is a collection of short stories. I have not attempted really big stories. It has been released on Amazon on 25th September 2017. It is titled – Between the pages and other short stories. You can buy the book by clicking here.

Q: How do you plan for your books? Is there a process that you follow?

A: I believe in planning but all my three books have been just out a plan. I have not followed any process but as I have intentions of writing a full length novel, I am actually now going to follow a complete process right from a central idea, to a mind map, organizing it and planning the chapters in a proper way.

Q: What is behind the name, “The Three Flowers”?

A: The theme of my poems have been Micro poetry or 140 characters- The twitter poetry format which is in 3 lines/sentences and for me every line is a flower, hence I named the three lined poem as The Three Flowers – my blooming verses.

Q: What was the reaction of your friends or family members when you first told them that you wanted to be a writer? Can you tell us something about the support that you received from them?

A: It is my mother whom I first told that I want to be a writer. She supported me and she still supports me as she is my first reader. My brother is not a reader, but he encourages me to write. Friends are very few and they all like reading my work and support from them has been unconditional.

Q: You took up writing as an intentional move or multiple sequences of events led to writing? Or you think you were destined to be a writer?

A: I was destined to be a writer. I was in my 1st standard when I won my first prize of my life in Poetry recitation and after that my creative side came to light. I was not writing but I participated and won elocutions, debates and poetry sessions. As I was reading literally works by other authors and verbally expressing my opinions, I thought why can’t I write instead? It was in 1996, I first plunged into writing for my school magazine and after that I have not stopped. I am a right example of ‘practise makes a man perfect’ idiom and I am glad to be blessed that I can call myself a successful writer/blogger/author.

Q: You have written, “The Three Flowers” as a part of an online challenge, tell us about your experience and how it helped you?

A: Yes, The Three Flowers is the outcome of the annual ATOZ Blogging Challenge which I took part for the 2nd time. I don't believe in group blogging or group activities. I do literary challenges on my own. The experience of 2017 has been better than my first time. The challenge really helped me to walk alone and come out of as a winner. I read and supported other bloggers who were doing this challenge for the first time but in return I hardly received any support from them. I do have the statistics of this challenge like how many people read my poems, shared or appreciated my efforts. The huge response and reviews came after I compiled my posts into an eBook. This success pushed me to bring out my next book on short stories which were written by me in my notebooks and journals 4 years back which were pushed away in my study drawer.

Q: Is “Novemberschild” your pen name? How did it happen?

A: Novemberschild is not my pen name. It is my username/identity I had on Twitter. I am November born and I feel everyone has a child hidden in him/her despite the age he/she turns into. It was in November 2015 this name happened. I blog with this name, my blog is named as Novemberschild, though offline articles and the books are on my real name. Ever since I tasted the literary (eBooks) success, I have become more real on Social Media.

Interview with author Romila C

Q: How different is it to write micro poetry, poetry and prose? Which is your favourite, why?

A: Micro poetry is a genre of poetic verse which is characterized by its extreme brevity, as a poetic art form, it doesn’t really have any rules. There are also no real character length limitations either. Coming to poetry, it is an art with many rules. It is the imagination and expression of the poet in a sophisticated manner. It is either written or spoken orally in a structured way. Lastly, Prose is the most typical form of language, and does not necessarily require a formal pattern or verse. There is no form of rhythm, balance or repetition in a prose, but it is guided by a sustained formal arrangement. It is really difficult for me to pick my favourite as I have written all the three types in micro, short and long formats and all the three experiences have been quite satisfying for me. After a thought, poetry comes out as the favourite one. It is best words in the best order. It is more expressive and attractive. It serves to excite the readers. It is imaginative. Poetry has romance.

Q: Your writings are inspired, real or completely fictional?

A: I grew up reading literature a lot and I still read. Few of my micro poems have been inspired by own life such as the one you would find on alphabets C, H and P. My articles are based on opinions and my observations. I study people a lot. I have in me a never ending inquisitiveness inbuilt which makes me watch people’s body language, their small and big nuisances (irritants and etc) and their manners which gets me ideas to write about them/on them. My new eBook has 10 short stories, some of them are fictional but somewhere down they are related to real people which I tweaked to a story format.

Q: Your book “The Three Flowers” has received many good reviews, any particular review that made you go wow?

A: Let me share the real time numbers with you. I received 32 reviews, all of them are positive. For me every review is important and WOW. I prefer not being biased here. For me all my readers are equally central and responsible for my eBooks’ success.

Q: Tell us about, how writing is a part of your daily life?

A: Writing is a part of my everyday life and I write every day. Personally I have a goal of 1000 words minimum a day and it keeps me motivated to work. Though I have no fixed time for writing, it is a must for me. I am not and I can never be lazy when it comes to writing. Sometimes it so happens that I get a good idea to write about something, but I feel like "let me think more about it." There is a very good chance that I don't get the same ideas again which I got then. So I just jot down whenever I feel like writing or when I get some thoughts.

Q: Apart from being a writer, is there anything else that you do professionally?

A: As I have just finished my third eBook, I plan to brainstorm on idea(s) for my next which hopefully will be a novel. I write professionally for blogs/print/websites and wherever and whenever I am approached by brands to write for them. I blog everyday in my digital space – my blog. I have a start up plan on paper which I will bring to reality soon. I definitely want to evolve as a social media, blogging and brand consultant.

Q: Tell us something about your experience of getting a book published? Is it easy, difficult?

A: I am a self-published author. All my three books are self published on Amazon. It is free and relatively easy to publish a book on Amazon as a Kindle e-book. And fast! It takes about 12 hours to appear on Amazon for sale. You control the whole process from start to finish and retain all the rights to your book. More people are buying eBooks which hints if you write well, you will have sales. This method of publishing is very comfortable for me and I am glad few copies of my micro poetry book were sold, though I had given out maximum copies for free to readers and reviewers.

Q: If you are given a chance to make one change in your book, “The Three Flowers”, what would it be? Why?

A: I am really happy with the outcome of the book and I do not wish to make any changes in it.

Q: Do you read as much as you write? Which are your favourite books?

A: I read a lot and lot and I read everything. My reading and writing ratio is equally balanced.  My favourite books are many to name few – Train to Pakistan, Delhi – A Novel, Pinjar, Raavi Par, Mirza Ghalib, Godan, SevaSadan, Maila Aanchal, Animal Farm, The Merchant of Venice, Ulysses, The Jungle Book, Dust on the Mountains, Time stops at Shamli, The Sensualist, Falling In Love Again, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code and a few banned books.

Q: You prefer reading e-books or the traditional paper back/hard cover? Why?

A: Since I had dreams of being an author, I romanticized holding my book in a paperback format. In the years that followed, I never lost my love of the paperback. All of a sudden the market flooded with eBooks. Undeniably, today’s society has a tendency to prefer eBooks. There are advantages of each one in most aspects. Those aspects are mobility, space, flexibility, and tactility. My personal choice is with the traditional paper back/hard cover. Paper books just feel good in my hands – even the best designed iPad sometimes is cold, lifeless steely contraption by comparison. The uniqueness of paperback books is still unmatchable and irreplaceable, but this doesn’t make me go completely against eBooks as all my three books are in digital formats and my readers prefer them in this way.

Q: Two things that you like and dislike about micro poetry?

A: Poetry (in any format) that has that spark of originality to it really grabs me. The emotions are important, but the way in which they are portrayed, the language; that's what is most important. It's the imagery that really can pull a piece together. I like symbolism, stealthy rhyming, symbolism, and a "WOW" factor in the end of every poem. I don't dislike anything about this poems/poetry.

Q: If you have to give one reason to our readers to pick up your books, what would that be?

A: I would like to quote Dr. Seuss - “The more that you read, the more you will know.” Reading is educational. When you read, even a novel or any written material, you learn. What you learn depends on the book. My first eBook had me sharing my thoughts on random topics such as antagonists in literature, to blogging, origin of the number zero and the birth of the city of Rome, the lack of education to support organ donor programs and the disappearing greenery in our ever expanding concrete jungles and the next eBook had 26 beautiful micro poems (many of the readers, had no idea what micro poetry is and they confessed that they learnt about this form through me) and my new book has stories, where you can learn the strength of emotions between the pages of mixed feelings. Knowledge is never a bad thing. In fact, it is almost always a good thing. So, educate yourself. You cannot teach others anything unless you first learn it yourself.

Q: Any message you would want to share with our readers?

A: I would like to say is that every reader means a lot to me. You all motivate me and I love you for that. Each one of you has a special place in my heart and you are helping me achieve my goal. I would like to thank each and every one of you for everything you do for me.

Q: How can our readers connect with you?

A: You can write to me directly by sending me an email which is in my blog – Novemberschild.com, if you are active in Twitter, you can tweet me @romspeaks or follow me on Goodreads by searching my name.

-- End of interview with author Romila C --

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