Joygopal Podder is
an Indian author who lives right across town, in Gurgaon. He started his writing career two years ago at age 50. Joygopal Podder has already written and
published 11 novels in 22 months including 10 crime fiction novels. 5 of these
books are located in the Indian film industry. He features in the Limca
Book of Records for two consecutive years as India’s fastest crime
fiction author. His books are
categorized into of crime fiction and thrillers.
Joygopal Podder’s 12th book “Vanished”
releases in end December 2012.
Here is extract from an
interview Author Joygopal Podder
gave to Himani Vashishta.
Congratulations for your outstanding success and
achievement. What kind of response you
are receiving from your readers?
My readers are constantly referring my books to their friends and
relatives (and sharing synopsis and reviews of my books on social media
platforms). This is very inspiring to me; I have a dedicated and growing
readership which waits for my new books.
My readers enjoy my fast paced
writing. Some have appreciated my plots and characterization. One has written
to me that I have a unique ability to describe and visualize in detail for the
readers of my books dramatic situations and diverse locations and fast paced
action, and give them the feeling that they are right in the middle of it all.
Please tell something about yourself… You started writing at the late age of 50. How
did that happen? What were you doing before that? What inspired you to write your first novel, and the books that came after that?
I work as Director – Fundraising of the International NGO and
anti-poverty agency ActionAid. I have been working in the social sector in
India for twelve years now. Prior to that, for seventeen years, I worked with
leading companies in India and abroad.
I came to writing at age 7, in
London, where I was born and spent my childhood. My first published story was
at age 12 in a children’s magazine in Delhi. I was a freelance writer during my
school and college days.
Then I earned a gold medal in Law,
got offers from multinationals, joined Brooke Bond and then Godrej, and a
management career took over. Writing took a backseat. Bills had to be paid,
cars had to be bought, and a house had to be built...
When I was 48 years, my wife
nearly died of blood poisoning and I went through a financial crisis. My wife
survived – but lost her kidneys. I saved my house – but with great difficulty.
The unpredictability of life made me want to fight back – and leave a legacy of
some sort. I decided to go back to my first great passion, writing. I floated a
few blogs, and began to struggle to start a book.
I was struggling for many
months to find a story. I first thought of writing teenage detective fiction on
the lines of a popular series I used to write for ‘Target’ magazine three
decades ago. Then I went for an office conference in Austria and discovered
that my professional world was full stories of struggle and triumph and human
drama. So I based my first book on the NGO sector, where I have been a Director
for 12 years. I love reading thrillers and crime fiction, so that’s the genre I
chose. What emerged was a thriller featuring a social sector activist.
My next novel delved into my
earlier experiences in the corporate sector. I developed a story involving
criminal activities which get tangled up with a corporate takeover battle and
billionaire family intrigues.
The fourth book involved a serial
killer, and this had nothing to do with any kind of personal experience from my
life. I let my imagination run riot, but grounded my story in familiar
geographical territory, namely Gurgaon, where I have my home.
I have authored fourteen novels in
two years; so the plots span a wide terrain. Bollywood and its stars and directors
and producers provide interesting characters and plotlines for many of my
books. Some of my novels are police procedural, others are devoted to human
drama.
I will explore historical drama
and humour novels at a later date.
Do you write every day and for how many hours? How long it takes you to complete a book? What motivates you to write so extensively? According to you how easy or difficult is the art of writing?
I write every day, normally in the evenings, after returning home from
office or after a family outing on weekends. Writing is an efficient
de-stressor for me.
I write for about an hour,
sometimes two. On a holiday, I can go up to three hours. But I don’t time
myself; I stop when I feel I’ve done enough for the day.
I write one book in two
months, on an average.
When I started writing novels, I did not set out to break records. My
focus was on writing every day, that’s all. The records (fastest published
crime fiction author) just happened – because no Indian author of crime fiction
writes faster than me. I have been fortunate that I have met up with publishers
who appreciate my writing and are backing me. Writing novels is a passion. This
passion leads to five or six books a year.
This kind of prolific writing is
not new to the west or to the genre. John Creasy wrote 600 crime thrillers.
Gerard de Villiers wrote 170, Edgar Wallace 175, Erle Stanley Gardner 140, Evan
Hunter wrote 94 and Agatha Christie 85. These are the names which spring
immediately to mind, but there are others. This genre lends itself to such speed;
there is so much happening in real life that one can draw regular inspiration
from. Crime fiction is not a ‘happening’ genre in India yet; hence I stand out
with my speed of writing. A time will come when there will be several others
like me, I’m sure.
Writing is like playing a musical
instrument. The more you do it, the better you get at it. I am a better writer
now, after my 14thbook, than when I wrote my first. Writing is easy
for those who enjoy doing it – and for those who write for themselves as well
as for their readers. Those who write specifically to get published will soon
run out of steam…
I do not sleep over my books;
that’s why readers find them so racy. I do not re-work sentences and word
placement. While writing one book, the seeds of the next have already been
planted in my mind.
When you write, what plays thru' your mind? Is it the
murderer and the criminal, or is it the detective....which character is
important for you?
Evil has cockroach endurance. Evil
is fascinating, so long as it does not target you specifically, but is limited
to the pages of a book or the silver screen. The criminal persona, even if it
inhabits only the background of a story, with the investigators in the
forefront, is the more interesting. That’s where the mystery and suspense come
from. So the serial killer, the professional bank robber, the conman, these
characters are more important to me than the detectives who catch them in the
end.
Yes, we do need an India grounded
detective character who can capture the imagination of the reading public. It
will happen – Indian writing in English is maturing. I may not be in the
forefront of this, as I would not like to find myself limited to particular
characters and a specific style and sub-genre. I write a book every two months;
this pace of work can be maintained only with ‘creative genre hopping’. With
each book, I would like to go where the fancy takes me.
However, I have also developed a
team of police detectives who appear in three of my books. These two detectives
are from Gurgaon Police and have featured in three crime fiction books I have
based there – ‘Millennium City’, ‘A million Seconds Too Late’ and ‘Beware of
the night’. They are also the investigators in my soon-to-be-released 12thbook
‘Vanished’.
My 13th book,
‘Goddess’, is very loosely based on the lives of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn
Monroe, but in an Indian setting and with mystery sub-plots. My 14th book,
‘Dynasty’, is about the family members of a hotel tycoon who are stalked,
attacked and warned but nobody knows why and by whom. There are many characters
in this book, each with a history, unique personality traits and special
motivations. There are no black-and-white stories; all the characters inhabit
grey areas and have questionable motives and ‘human’ failings – and strengths.
How tough the publishing industry is for
new comers? Is it tough? Were you initially rejected by some publishers?
The publishing
industry is very tough for newcomers, but then so is the music industry, the
film industry….I could go on and on.
The first novel I wrote was also
the first book of mine that was published. The struggle for me was short, but
it was intense. I went to bookshops and copied down the e-mail addresses or
websites of various publishers from the book jackets. I did research on the
internet for more publisher details. I then sent the manuscript to 14
publishers. The spate of rejections did not deter me; I focused on writing my
second novel. The 14th publisher accepted my manuscript.
Do you have anything to say about the support you get from
your family and friends while writing a book?
My family and friends have been
inspiring me to reach greater heights in writing. My wife and daughters
understand that I cannot be with them all the time after work, that I have a
second career as a writer. My family tries to keep pace with my writing speed
and read my manuscripts as they are being written and offer plot development
and characterization comments. Their support cannot be quantified; all my
books, so far, have been dedicated to my family – I think that speaks for
itself.
What kind of books you like to read?
I read authors, not books. Sidney
Sheldon, John Grisham, Arthur Hailey, P G Wodehouse, are amongst my favourites.
I do, of course, prefer to read crime fiction and thrillers as a genre.
Amongst the classics, I favour the detectives Sherlock Holmes and Hercule
Poirot. From contemporary crime fiction I would choose characters like Jack
Reacher, Peter Decker and Harry Bosch. There are no favourite murders or crime scene
descriptions, though I remember a striking sentence from an Agatha Christie
book: “You would never have imagined that such a frail man had so much blood in
him!” This sentence held the clue to the eventual solution of the crime
mystery.
Amongst contemporary crime fiction
writers, Lee Child (actual name Jim Grant) is a great favourite, for his gritty
descriptions and racy style. Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series is another
favourite.
Would you like to offer any advice to aspiring authors?
Read and read and read. Then write
and write and write. There are no short-cuts to writing success. And write so
that you are remembered for generations – not forgotten in six months.
Could you tell us something about your future literary
plans?
I write crime fiction and
thrillers because those plots come to me the easiest. But I will be writing in all
genres eventually. My daughters want me to write humour. I will. I want to try
out historicals also.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Still writing. Better known as an
author. Perhaps seeing one of my books on the silver screen.
Any message for Himani Vashishta’s Diary readers...
If you want to write, or paint, or
act, or sing – don’t wait for that great day when you think the inspiration
will strike you. Just roll up your sleeves and get to work – now.
Thank you, Mr. Joygopal, for
your time. We will meet again. Wish you good luck for your forthcoming novels.
Regards
Author Himani Vashishta
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