An Interview with Kshitish Padhy

Scriptwriter and graphic novelist, Kshitish Padhy released his first novel 'Law of Averages' recently. Here's a glimpse of the writer who wants to win our hearts with good stories and entertainment of sorts.

Q : How far has the Law of Averages worked out in your life?
A : Law of Averages has worked out well for me. As a kid, I loved reading story books and comics and now I am thrilled to write my own. I am in a field which I enjoy thoroughly and I've got a fair bit of success in my profession. I am happily married to the girl I fell in love with.

Q : Comics and novels are definitely a two different worlds. What was your experience while making this transition?
A : Both the mediums have their own challenges but writing a script for comics is comparatively easier to writing a novel because you have the support of illustrations for your story. While in a novel you have to weave the entire scene through words only which should be powerful enough to create the visuals in the mind of the audience.

Q : Just curious – is this story any way related to your personal life or any one you know?
A : When I researched for this genre, I found that most of the books were either autobiographical or semiautobiographical. Hence I chose to use the comic industry is my background. Around 30% of the story is autobiographical and inspired from true events in my life which have been tweaked to enhance its effect on the story. However there are events which are pure fiction and have no resemblance to the people in my life.

Q : What do you think the youth of India enjoys reading today?
A : In an era of instant gratification where the youth is hooked on to social medium and gadgets, their reading habit has declined. However in the past few years, we have seen that the youth is reading lot of young adult fiction and mythological fiction. This can be mainly attributed to a new breed of writers who cater exclusively to the tastes of the youth without bowing to the whims of purists. These books are appealing to the youth with their innovative storylines which are closer to the reality but are fun to read. The audience connects to the protagonists in these novels easily and hence these books are getting extremely popular. Mythological fiction is another segment which is catching the imagination of the youth. These stories are narrated with fresh approach and lot of drama is added which is appealing to the youth.

Q : Who are your favourite writers? Do you identify with any of them or aspire to write like him/her?
A : My favourite writers are J K Rowling, Enid Blyton, Alistair Maclean, Arthur Conan Doyle, J.R Tolkien and CS Lewis. I practice hard to emulate their writings and I do aspire to write fantasy fiction like them.

Q : If you had not become a writer, what other role would you have chosen in life?
A : If not a writer, then I would have chosen marketing and sales or would have made documentaries.

Q : Which fault in others do you most easily tolerate?
A : I tend to ignore the faults of people around me and try to focus on the positive qualities. I'm more conscious of not picking up faults myself.

Q : According to you, is it the theme of ‘love’ that drives all writers – be it bitter or for the better?
A : The young adult fiction is dominated by love stories with every author trying to capture different shades of love. Since love is one of the most powerful emotions felt by humans, the stories often revolve around it. So yes I agree with the above statement.

Q : What's the most annoying cliche about writers?
A : We tend to get excessively defensive of our work and resent criticism of our work.

Q : Which one do you prefer while drafting your stories – writing it down or typing it out?
A : I belong to the old school. I need to jot down my rough ideas and plots on paper. I even draft my scripts on paper first and then send it for typing. When it comes to typing, I have a high inertia of rest.

Q : Where do you see yourself in the next five years? Scripting movies or creating new comic heroes?
A : Five years down the line I hope to have my own franchises of novels and comics and let other people work on the movie scripts. I may at the most give some creative inputs.

Q : Contemporary Indian writers whose works you found interesting?
A : Ashok Banker, Preeti Shenoy, Devdutt Patnaik and Chetan Bhagat

The Bookish team and readers wish you luck! Keep penning Kshitish.