Another interview! This time, I have Katha_Pathak, author of Reincarnation and Ayanika Bahubali, with me!

Legend:

Q: The interview (me!)
A: The interviewee (Katha_Pathak)

Q: Greetings, I'm The Word Artist from Author Insights. If you are free, please respond to this message so we can begin. 

P.S. Do you have any nicknames that I can call you by?

A: You can just call me, Khushi

Q. Okay then.

So Khushi, would you mind telling me a bit about yourself? It can be as personal as you wish, or just your books.

A: Ok, so I am fully Indian. That means I like everything about India and I am crazy about it which is noticeable in my books.

Q: So you mean all of your books either have Indian characters or reference to Indian cultures?

A: Yeah, you can say that. Right now, reincarnation and Bhakt is inspired from Hindu mythology and Ayanika Bahubali is based on the Bahubali series.

These are the the three books which I am currently writing. There are a list of books which I need to write

And they all are Indian Characters by the way and therefore there are references to Indian cultures. *laughs*

Q: Oh, right. 

Let's talk about reading. What is your favourite book, and why? Who's your favourite author, and why?

A: I have read many books written by many different authors, therefore I don't have favourite authors, but I like reading about mystery, history, mythology, fantasy, magical,murder mystery and detective novel. If you ask in detective genre then Arthur Conan Doyle's, Sherlock Holmes and from India Satyajit Ray's Feluda. These two are favourite series

Reason for Sherlock Holmes being my fav because due to it I got introduced to the world of detectives

Reason for Feluda is due to small story related to my Childhood. When I was in 1st grade, my dad had made me watch an Hollywood movie called Mask. It was a comedy movie but I was scared due to the antics of the person who was wearing a green mask. So, in the night, I was not able to sleep. One day, my dad invited his colleague, Tapas uncle for dinner. When it was around 10:00 pm, my parents asked me to go to sleep but I was not able to sleep. So I was standing near the bedroom door, and Tapas uncle saw me standing there. He called me near him and gave CDs of Feluda movies. By watching the movie, my fear went away and Feluda became favourite

Other than that, my favourite books keep on changing just like fav tv and movie shows.

Q: I see. So Feluda is like the cure to your fear of Mask. 

You seem to enjoy reading. Has any book, movie or TV show inspired you in writing before? Do you purposely watch shows/read books to get inspiration for your books?

A: Many tv shows, movies and books have inspired me to write. While I watch something or read something, I slowly start imagining myself in the story and what would I do to change it, or take it on a different path. It only happens if I like the show, movie or book.

No, I don't purposely watch shows/read books. I do it for entertainment. And if I like it, then only I start imagining myself in the story.

Q:  Hmm, so I imagine you would have a lot of fun writing fan fiction. 

Do you prefer reading on Wattpad or published books? Why?

A: I prefer both as I can read anything which interests me and keeps my interest in it, be it on wattpad or published books. But more then electronic version of books, I like reading normal books due to it's smell and the nostalgia you get when you touch it and start reading it.

Q: I agree with you. Normal books smell nice and the sound of rustling pages is calming. 

Do you read the same genres you write?

A: Mostly yes, as I also need to research while writing my stories.

Q: I see.

Let's discuss your book, Reincarnation. Would you mind telling me what this book is about?

A: This book is about the journey of a girl, Kajal Manjrekar, who realises that she is reincarnation of someone important from ancient India. It's journey to protect her lover and the entire world from evil.

Q: Sounds shocking and yet exciting! 

We have yet to talk about the world of your story, but first let's talk about Kajal. What kind of personality does she have? How does the events that occurred during the story affect the changes in her personality (if there were any changes)?

A: Kajal has an adventure-loving and explorer type of personality. She deeply cares about her family. She is a fashion designer in her family brand 'Saieerekar'. So yeah, she has a creative flair in her. Utill the big reveal, she used get to vision about who she is in her past life. The visions started coming to her frequently when she was living Hotel Indraprasth in Hastinapur. Over here only, she meets the love of her life, Arun Devlani, who she will marry. Throughout the story her personality becomes more stronger, and she becomes more brave and will go to any extent to save her loved ones.

Q: So Hotal Indraprasth like 'triggered' the visions of her past life. 

Hmm, as you write Hindu mythology as well as historical fan fiction, did you follow how the person from ancient India was written originally or did you give your own spin to it?

A: I gave my own spin. I put a bit of my personality in the character but kept the main characteristics intact

Q: I suppose that makes sense, since technically it's a reincarnation into another person, so that person's characteristics would still exist, right? 

What inspired you to write this story?

A: Yes.

I was inspired by an Hindu epic, Mahabharat to write this story. I have read it many times but it still does not fail to amaze me. I already felt sad for the eldest brother, Karn, who was on the side of Kaurav by mistake. So, I decided to write a story of 6 brothers in modern setting. Once I was surfing through net to search more side stories of the epic, when the story of Karn-Draupadi caught my eye. But after researching a lot to find some more evidence for this story, I could not find so chose do Arjun-Draupadi love story. This gave me the required push to write the story. And that's how I started writing Reincarnation.

Q: Oh, I see. 

Let's talk about your other work, Ayanika Bahubali. What's this one about?

A: It's based on bahubali series but there is inclusion of a new character called Ayanika Bahubali who is the twin sister of Amarendra Bahubali. It will follow the story of bahubali series but there are slight changes to it.

Q: What are the similarities between Ayanika Bahubali and Reincarnation (if any)? What are the differences?

A: I would say there are no similarities as they both go on a different track. The only thing similar in them is their source material, that is the epic, Mahabharat. Otherwise both of them are completely different.

The character of Ayanika Bahubali is a mixture of personalities of me, Abhimanyu and Lord Krishna. Whereas in Reincarnation, Kajal's characteristics is mixture of mine and the queen's personality.

And also, Ayanika Bahubali's story occurs in past, most probably somewhere in ancient India time period. Whereas reincarnation occurs in future while connecting the past.So these are the differences and similarities of my stories.

Q: They both originated from Mahabharat but are so different. How surprising! 

What was your main inspiration for having a twin character? How did you decide how the story would change because of that decision?

A: My main inspiration was the movie series only, as Bahubali never gets a chance to say his feelings to his mother, Rajmata Sivagami. So I started imagining myself as a voice for Bahubali and from their I started thinking about the story in my way and that's how the entire plot took birth.

The main event's in the movie will surely face a change, mostly in terms of Bahubali but it won't disturb the other consequences happening in the story

Q: I just love how you twisted the story and imagined what would have happened instead. 

How did you start writing your books? Or maybe, just writing in general.

A: I started writing stories in creative writing classes in my school from first grade. But it was not that frequent. But what ever show or movie which I liked, I used to imagine myself in there, and what would I have done to change the event but not the story. So, this how I developed the stories in my brain.

For reincarnation the case was a bit different. When I was 9 grade, I started writing it between my school free periods, on some folder sheets. Then in 11 grade, I thought of giving wattpad a chance, and wrote and electronic version on word. The original draft is completely different from the one which I published. 

Q: So in a way, you knew you would prefer writing fan fiction instead of writing other worldbuilding-heavy genres like Fantasy because if you liked a movie, you would think about possible situations or endings to a certain decision, right? Kind of like a multiverse, where there are lots of alternate realities. 

Who is one person (or two people) you'd like to thank?

A: I would like to thank many people for making me like this. First would be my grandparents from both sides especially my grandfather from father's side who introduced me to History of India and also Hindu myths. Then my school teachers and classmates who encouraged me to write Reincarnation. Also my parents who let me read the books which I love to read. Finally my wattpad family who are still waiting for an update of Reincarnation *laughs*

Q: A big thank you to all those above! 

And yes, they're still waiting and (might) be hanging from a cliffhanger right now lol 

Movies seem to inspire you a lot. How did you start watching movies?

A: The credit goes to my parents especially my dad, due to his social experiment the bug of watching Bollywood movies bit me. And also second credit goes to my grandma from father's side, due to her I started watching Indian Tv series

Q: So mainly your relatives from your father's side, right?

I assume your favourite movie is Feluda, right?

A: And my mother's side also. In detective genre in Bengali movies, it's Feluda (also including the books). I am saying this because I mostly categorize movies which I like and love into genres and languages. And also in some genres or in language as a whole my fav movie keeps on changing.

Q: Interesting! 

I have just two more questions for you: 

 1. What makes your writing unique (e.g. good in character development, stunning worldbuilding) 

2. What is one piece of advice you would like to give to any aspiring authors?

A: The answer for 1 question is, the basic idea with which I write the story and for any story, thinking myself to be a character in the story makes my writing unique. 

The answer for 2 question is, believe in your idea for the story you are writing and don't feel discouraged if you don't get enough views or votes or comments on your stories as someone might be reading your stories somewhere and enjoying it also

Q: I totally agree with you on that! 

Well, that wraps up the interview. Thank you for your time, Khushi!

A: And thank you for taking my interview *smiles*

~~The End~~

I hope you enjoyed reading my interview with Katha_Pathak! If any of her books look interesting to you, do check them out and give her a follow! 

Hope y'all enjoyed this interview and learned something new today :)