We bring you an interview with Novoneel Chakraborty, Author of Roses are Blood Red
1. Congratulations on your new book, ‘Roses are Blood Red’.You write on the romantic thriller genre. Is this your favorite genre by chance or by choice?
Thank you so much. I would say it happened by chance as when I started writing I found out that I love to tell my stories with a certain level of mystery and thrill in it even though essentially, they are relationship stories. I’ve always maintained that an author doesn’t choose the genre. The genre chooses him/her.
2. Tell us something about your latest release ‘Roses are Blood Red’.
The book is a heartland love story that deals with what the ‘absence’ of a person can do to a man and how much it can twist his outlook. It also tries to answer the eternal question of whether one should ‘move on’ from heartbreak or not.
3. The book is the haunting story of passion and eternal love. Do you believe that there are second chances when it comes to love? Do you really feel that love can heal the wounds (your opinion please)?
Whether there can be second chances or not depends on the individual really. And whether love will heal or further damage us totally depends on how we are letting love affect us and what’s our take away from our experience being in love.
4. The book tells the story of a girl named Marisha Shergill. Is the story somewhat relatable to true life events or completely fictional?
Like my all stories, this one too is a mix of real and fiction. Some of the incidents have happened for real, some of the feelings I have penned have been experienced by me personally while some are a fictionally-tuned version of reality.
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5. How does it feel after writing so many books? Did you dream of becoming a writer or it happened by chance?
Sharing my stories with so many people is an unparalleled high for me. I never thought I would ever become a writer. It happened totally by chance but now when I think back I think I was destined to become one.
6. What another genre of books do you generally like? Which is that one genre you want to explore?
I read all kinds of books. Don’t have any genre related preference. If the blurb excites me, I’m in.
7. Who are your favorite authors?
Tagore, Ira Levin, Ayn Rand, Keigo Higashino to name a few.
8. 2019 marks your debut on Wattpad under the pen name Elizabeth Eli. Why didn’t you chose your own name and decide to write under a pen name that too of a female?
The book was an experiment from my end and thus wanted to use a pen name for it.
9.Few words to the readers.
Read. Read. And read.
10. What is the biggest surprise that you experienced after becoming a writer?
That my work can bring some changes in someone’s life. Or so I’m told.
11. What are some ways in which you promote your work? Do you find that these add to or detract from your writing time?
Like all, I do so mostly via social media and public appearances/book launches whenever any new book releases. I think it’s all about time management. If done well, all things can be done properly.
12. What projects are you working on at the present? When can we expect a new fiction/non- fiction book from you?
I’m working on my next novel along with a few web shows.
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13. What do your plans for future projects include? Any plans for a motion picture/web series based on your book(s)
Yes, few projects are in the line pipeline but it’s too early to talk/mention it.
14. How do you feel about ebooks vs. print books and alternative vs. conventional publishing?
Ebook are the future, no doubt, but I don’t think anything can replace a printed book or printed reading material. I believe both alternative and conventional modes of publishing should co-exist without cutting each other out but in coalition adding onto more and more overall readership.
15. Who are some of your favorite authors that you feel were influential in your work? What impact have they had on your writing?
Ayn Rand, Ira Levin, Tagore, and so many others have influenced me subconsciously as a storyteller.
16. In your opinion, what is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre, which they need to know?
The fact that no two stories are the same. So, to compare books and stories is something I find totally pointless. Love or hate a story for what it is and not for what it isn’t.
17. What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
I wanted to simply tell a story that excited me hoping it engages the one reading it. Seeing the reader’s reactions till now, I think I achieved my goal.
18. What did you find most useful in learning to write? What was the least useful or most destructive?
Writing has been a self-realizing process that has been constructive and destructive in its experience.
This interview was published in Storizen Magazine February 2020 Issue
