Meet Priya Narayanan - Author who hates to be stereotyped

#AuthorInterviews

• Hello, please tell us something about yourself.

You’ve heard of variety being the spice of life, haven’t you? Well, I’m that person for whom the maxim most certainly holds true. So while I run my own design practice under the twin banners Tatva and Soma, I am also a poet, writer, traveller and teacher. Brought up amidst the hustle and bustle of various cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad, a part of me always yearns for the quite solitude of the countryside at my ancestral village in Kerala. Consequently, I fall back upon writing for that sense of contentment and at times, closure. 

In a way, you could say I hate being stereotyped for you’ll find variety seeping into everything I do, be it in the kind of professional projects I undertake or the kind of books I read or write. I love both surprising and being surprised :) So while I have three children’s books under my belt with two forthcoming titles, my poems and short stories have appeared in various online and print anthologies and literary magazines and as you know, my latest book - Altitudinis: seekers, sinners & secrets, is a one-of-its-kind collaborative effort with ten authors contributing to create a single novel.

• Please tell us something about your book ‘Altitudinis’.

Altitudinis is a fast paced thriller with a generous dose of romance and family drama sprinkled over it. Here, I’d like to share some insight regarding the title of the book. ‘Altitudinis’ has generated a lot of curiosity, with many taking out their dictionaries to find its meaning. Let me tell you first off that you won’t find the word in an English dictionary; it’s a Latin word and while it could be a difficult coincidence to accept, we didn’t know about the existence of this Latin word until someone pointed it out to us at the book launch! We came up with the name based on the characteristics of a drug being researched in the story and if you are even slightly scientifically inclined, I can assure you that you’ll enjoy every bit of this research.

• What do you do when you are not writing?

Actually, it is the other way around. I write when I’m not practicing or teaching design or brokering peace between my forever-at-war kids. And when I’m doing none of the above,  you’ll find me travelling solo and reading everything that comes my way -my favourite modes of destressing :)

• Your book ‘Altitudinis’ is a multi-authored book, what is your contribution in it?

The uniqueness of this book is that although we started off thinking we could attribute every chapter to its writer, it never worked that way! Once we’d all written our chapters, there was a lot of shuffling of either chunks of writing or paragraphs or even single lines to make the story flow seamlessly, without inconsistencies and loopholes. Needless to say, the editing process was painstaking but well worth it! Now, when we hear feedback from readers appreciating the continuity and smooth transitions between the chapters, it feels gratifying. 

So, coming back to your question, I cannot point out to a chapter and say ‘this one’s by me’. But yes, I’m happy to share that I’ve tried my hand at all the sub-genres that have been explored in the book – family drama, romance, scientific research, murders…it was so much fun writing it all!

• What is the core message of your book? Why should readers pick it up?

The message of the story itself is summed up in the last line of the book; I don’t want to give it away. But there is another message that we’ve inadvertently managed to convey through our collaboration -that if there’s passion and the willingness to do something different, strangers too can come together and work meaningfully as a team. 

I’d like readers to pick up Altitudinis because unlike the saying, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’, our varied backgrounds -both ancestral and professional- have allowed us to add different spices to elevate the flavour of the story. I like to refer to us as a rainbow with three extra colours… wouldn’t look any less spectacular, would it?

• How is co-authoring a book different from writing a book as solo author? 

Collaborative writing, especially with nine others was no less than a management lesson for me... while managing meetings and ensuring maximum attendance was tough but doable, it was a pleasant surprise to be able to collectively manage egos too :)  

Usually, writing is a lonely job. An author is on her/his own doing everything from research to ideating to writing and revising all by herself and this at most times gets rather frustrating. The great thing about collaborative writing is that you are not alone at any stage. if you get stuck or develop the cliched writer's block, there are others who can pick up from where you left and continue...or they are there to brainstorm and help you think differently or even do the necessary research. And with a great team like we had formed, no one was judgemental about anyone's writing style...we tried to look for and capitalize on the positives of each writer.

The writing process itself was rather fun given the unpredictability of how the next writer would take the story ahead, thus ensuring laughs, thrills, guffaws and sighs.

• What is your favorite quote? The one you apply in your life.

‘The universe is made of stories… not atoms.’

I’d read this long back and although there’s nothing much about it that I can ‘apply’ in my life, it is a quote that keeps inspiring me to search out these stories and bring them to light. The research I’m doing for my forthcoming children’s book has furthered this thought and I am completely enamoured by the fact that every one of us is a bundle of stories -walking and talking and doing all the things we do, but stories nevertheless :)

• Define ‘Altitudinis’ in one line from your perspective.

An experiment in collaborative writing that threw near-strangers into a cauldron of stories, only to emerge as friends for life… with a published book to boot!

So, do you, my reader friends, have any questions for Priya?

Feel free to let us know.

Also, do grab your copy of this super-exciting book via below links.

Lots of Love