Khushwant Singh
Pizza Religion
Q.1 Tell us a little about yourself?
Perhaps something not many people know?
A. Well, I belong to a business family, we are into
manufacturing of truck containers, spare parts, seeds, and a few other businesses. I was always a mediocre student who was barely interested in studies, but
destiny had other plans for me.
Q.2 How many unpublished
and half-finished book do you have?
A. I have close to sixty half-written, unpublished books
on my laptop, and I am not joking.
Q.3 Where do you
get your ideas?
A. Basically, I don’t run after ideas, anything that gets
my attention, and if that thing got some substance, I start working on that.
Q.4 What advice do
you have for writers?
A. Stop looking at the bestsellers, write something that
is very natural to you, don’t try to impress anyone, if your book is natural, it
will eventually become successful.
Q.5 Do you try
more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
A. The naked truth is that I don’t write for readers,
what they are reading these days, what books are doing well, I write only what
I want to write.
Q.6 If you could
tell your younger writing self-anything, what would it be?
A. Read more books, I got terrible command over the language,
I am extremely dependent on editors, and even I don’t know how many mistakes
are there in this interview?
Q.7 What are the
most important magazines or websites for writers to subscribe to?
A. Seriously I don’t know, but try to read whatever gets
your attention, anything well written and well researched will eventually help
you.
Q.8 What is the
most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex?
A. I don’t feel any problem in writing characters from
the opposite sex, I think I am very much feminine in a way because I was always
very close to my mother, aunts and my cousins, I am not bragging, but I think I
am a good listener, and it helps.
Q.9 How do you
select the names of your characters?
A. Anything that pops up in my mind at that moment.
Q.10 Do
you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
A. Yes, I read all the reviews, but I don’t take criticism
personally, people have different taste, and I think it is their right to fry or
burn a book if they don’t like it.
Q.11 Does
your family supports your career as a writer?
A. Yes, they don’t interfere with my choices, or you
could say that I don’t care about what others think, I do what I want to do,
but deep down in their mind, I know they don’t consider writing as a bread
earning a thing, which is true, because I am still very much dependent on other
sources of income. In near future, if I become a bestseller like Chetan Bhagat
or Amish Tripathi then scenario could be different.
Q.12 What
do your fans mean to you?
A. Do you think I have fans, I mean seriously, yes I love
to interact with them on Instagram or over an email, and few of them became
very good friends of mine, so sometimes we talk as well.
Q.13 How
many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
A. I have written eight books so far, to say which one is the favorite is a bit difficult to answer, every book is very close to my heart.
Q.14 Do
you have any unique and quirky writing habits?
A. If writing naturally is considered quirky, then
definitely, I am guilty, I don’t write for the sake of writing only, I write
only when it is coming naturally to me, in fact, I decided to answer your
questions tonight because I felt like answering to you, I know it is not really
the way that people appreciate, but I have to be authentic to myself that is
most important to me, I don’t do anything half-heartedly.
Q.15 What
do you consider to be your best accomplishment?
A. I have not achieved anything worth mentioning, but
every single email from a reader who felt something after reading my book
surely assures me that I am moving in the right direction.
Q.16 What
is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?
A. Well established publishing houses rarely considers a
new author, first preference is given to well establish names only, they mean
business.
Q.17 Who
edited your book and how did you select him/her?
A. I have many freelance editors with me, and sometimes
friends jumped in to help me, just a few days back an editor ran off with my
money and she kept lying to me for such a long time, in-fact she wasted my four
months, so when I shared this story with one of my friends she saved my ass,
now she is working on that project, yes I will buy something very nice for her
because she won’t accept money from me, I know her.
Q.18 Which
famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?
A. I would love to meet Bill Gates, no, I will not ask
him for money making tips, but seriously I don’t know something is special
about that person, his aura radiates something. I think it can’t be explained
in words.
Q.19 What
is your favorite book and why?
A. That’s a very difficult question, but I think 9 lies
that are holding you back by Steve Chandler and Sam Beckford really changed my
thinking pattern.
Q.20 How
can readers discover more about you and your work?
A. They can follow me on Instagram at @eccentric_mystic or
they can simply email me at khushwantsingh800@gmail.com.
Book Links - Amazon IN
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