Birth of a Book: Author Interview Series V
- Anagha Anil
- Sep 19
- 5 min read
Metaphorically Metaphorise by Veena J
Metanafic (Metaphor-Narrative-Fiction)- a new genre
Q) What inspired you to write this book? Was it a person, an idea, or a specific moment in your life, or a little bit of everything?
A: My inspiration for the book is all about children, basically. So, usually children learn poetry or poems for marks, okay. It is based on the devices that they learn, and they don’t get into the poetry or get the essence of it. Usually, the adults too do the same because they know the content, they can resonate with the poem, but they can’t keep on thinking of the metaphors that they use, and then they can’t get the art in it. So that’s what my thing is about. So when I was handling kids—I used to take home tuitions and all—one thing that bothered me was why children are learning this for marks' sake? So if I could explain to them the metaphors, they are actually enjoying it. But they don’t have the right path to get into the metaphorical world. So that’s what my inspiration is all about, then I thought of giving them a simpler way so that metaphors can be enhanced, and in a way, poetry can be enhanced. This is all about a plot where this can be enhanced into a poetry, it can be developed into a prose piece or it can be converted into a novel as such. So this is the creativity of it, and that’s the idea for the book.
Q) So what are the challenges you faced in the making of the book?
A: Okay, so the very first thing is that the whole book was a challenge because you can’t explain when someone is asking what you are writing. You can’t say this because you need to explain the whole concept. Are you writing poetry? You can’t say no. In a way it is poetry, but you can’t say “yes”. Are you writing a novel? No. Are you writing a short story? No. Then what are you doing? I am creating something new, and they are like, give you a stare and then they leave. So that's the very first thing I faced. And then when I was publishing, in Notion Press, in that, when I published it, I almost did everything, and then they cancelled the publication, saying that this format is not something usual, so we can't proceed with this. So they mailed me saying that this format cannot be done, so you can try in another format. I was very clear that the first version and the sentence that should be replaced had to be in the first part of the book, and the replaced one should be in the next. But just because it is new, the publisher itself didn’t know what to do, and they rejected my book, saying “no”. That was very challenging for me, and Nitish Kumar made everything for me. He made an attempt to rebind everything. He actually found out another way, how to transform this, and then he took over the space, structure, and all, and he made everything, and then we published the second time, and that got, fortunately, good. So that was very challenging but I was very hurt when my book, you know… this is the first book, right? When they said we can’t publish it because of so and so, just because it was new and not something that was prevalent, that's the hardship that I faced.
Q) Do you have plans to write any new books in the future?
A: Yes, I am planning to, it is in the process. So, actually, I am planning a collection of blogs. I am not consistent, by the way, I am writing it. So these blogs, you know, are based on my daily, day-to-day experiences and my career in teaching; I am teaching right now, so that is also a part of my blog. Also, these blogs have a literature touch to it. Somehow, I will relate it to literature. So I wanted to document this in the form of a book. Everyday life is not everyday life, so it's always what you take away from your life. So capturing that in blogs is always a good chance to make it nostalgic as well as to connect with people. So that’s what I believe in. So that’s what I am planning to put forth in a blog and a collection of blogs. So that’s what the idea is.
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My Euphoric Quill by Alena Sara Thomas
Collection of Poetry and Prose
Q) What inspired you to write this book? Was it a person, an idea, or a specific moment in your life, or a little bit of everything?
A: I get major inspiration from my loved ones. Everything about a day, where I spend time with my loved ones, makes me so much interested in writing. So I've also written it in my dedication page, where I've written: “For my dear loved ones, you are the reason I write, the inspiration behind every word and every lesson shared”. So my major inspiration to write is my loved ones. And also, I find inspiration in the little things that I find in life. I take inspiration from flowers, from nature, from the little smiles I get every day. I get inspiration from a lot of things…so yeah.
Q) So what are the challenges you faced in the making of the book?
A: Being consistent for me was really hard. Rufus Sir always mentions this in class that being consistent is one thing you have to follow to be a writer. I think it is really true. I was consistent for 100 days, and that is why I was able to publish the book. Writing continuously every day is not a piece of cake. For me, it was really hard. Some days you just want to go home and sleep, and you don’t feel like writing. But only if you sacrifice that and force yourself to at least write something, at least two lines if you write one day, that is what makes you a writer, and I found it hard to be consistent. But I sacrificed a lot of things to be consistent. And also publishing, we need to get proofreaders, cover page designers, etc. For me, getting cover page designers was really hard. I almost changed three designers because I didn't like the cover. So that was also one thing that was really hard for me while publishing my book.
Q) Do you have plans to write any new books in the future?
A: Currently, I am working on a book which will be a collection of 50 poems. I am also planning to add a visual representation of the poems, which I don’t know if I will be doing in the next book, but I am planning to do it. So I hope it works out well.
Grab your copies here and share your thoughts with the author: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DTP1Q3FP?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_wa_apan_dp_TG2QGC93PVKH6QREHW4W&ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_wa_apan_dp_TG2QGC93PVKH6QREHW4W&social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_wa_apan_dp_TG2QGC93PVKH6QREHW4W&starsLeft=1&skipTwisterOG=1&bestFormat=true&newOGT=1
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