For this episode of the Author to Author segment I am in conversation with not one but two amazing Young Minds from the team that delivered the superbly creative, ‘Inside Young Minds’. They have co-authored the book along with six other incredible Young Minds. Working with them was one of the most rewarding literary projects I have ever worked on. I have learnt a lot from them. They prove that nothing is impossible if a bunch of Young Minds work together. I recently had the privilege of talking to two of the Young Minds, Muskaan Hooda & Yukta Jaiswal. Here are the excerpts from our conversation.
Muskaan Hooda is a student of B.A. English Hns. and is a student at Amity University Haryana. She is a person with lots of enthusiasm and energy. She likes to pen down various things that happen around her and she loves to listen to retro music.
Yukta Jaiswal is the co-author, editor and creative manager for this book. She started editing and designing books at the age of 17. She loves learning new things, especially languages. She is fluent in Hindi, English and Korean. She can play musical instruments and can draw portraits of people, too.
1. What does writing mean to you? Why do you write?
Muskaan - Writing is an art which helps in oozing out my ideas and my creativity out on a paper. I write as I love writing my experiences and it also relaxes my mind.
Yukta - For me, writing is what I feel. It is the best way to combine and depict my thoughts and imagination. I write to make people known to the world of imagination.
2. When did you start writing? Do you remember the first time you wrote something?
Muskaan - I started writing in class 8th. I wrote a poem for my school magazine.
Yukta - I wrote the poem 'lost love' when I had to let go of the person I loved very much.
3. What was the source of your inspiration earlier? Did it change with the time?
Muskaan - There was no such source of inspiration for me as I found that writing about my experiences made me very happy.
Yukta - Experiencing things have always been my inspiration. It has not changed. For me, combining our experience with imagination will give us the best text. And the text will be both relatable to the reader, and will give him hope and glimpse of existence of better things.
4. Would you like to share few of your favourite lines of your story?
Muskaan - Favorite lines of my story were "But now she has just left with herself all alone. Rosy is scratching the wall and thinking in her mind that why God did all this with her and why only she was left, she should also die. From the story 'Apple of Inspiration'.
Yukta - 'Stockholm syndrome: - When a hostage starts to show a feeling of trust or affection towards their captor, or in simple words when the victim falls in love with her kidnapper.' This line is one of my favourites as this consists of both love and dark side of a person.
5. What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
Muskaan - My difficult part while writing stories was that I was not able to gather my ideas in a creative way.
Yukta - For me, the most difficult part of writing is keeping the stories a bit realistic yet imaginary in order to make the reader believe in them.
6. What comes first for you — the plot or the characters — and why?
Muskaan - For me, the plot comes first because the plot needs more refining.
Yukta - The character comes first as they are the ones around whom the plot revolves.
7. What’s your favorite and least favorite part of publishing?
Muskaan - Editing is my favorite part of publishing.
Yukta - My favourite part of publishing is that enables me to share my conscience with the world. The worst part is that a bit of our work is filtered out or altered instead of connecting the author directly to the reader.
8. How did you come up with the title for your book?
Muskaan - Collective ideas and discussions with the team made it possible and as the title suggests that the book is the result of some various young college minds.
Yukta - This book was written by young minds who wanted to give an insight of what goes on inside young minds and how they feel about the world from their perspectives.
9. What inspired the idea for your book?
Muskaan - I think the thought of publishing your book is itself an inspiration for writing. Being my first book, it pumped me to write more precisely.
Yukta - The curiosity to show people the world from our perspectives.
10. What part of the book did you have the hardest time writing?
Muskaan - I think hardest part about writing a book was majorly in writing the conclusion.
Yukta - The hardest part for me was the story 'Devil's love'. It is the story which will give a very strong impression. Also, it is a bit dark, so writing the dark side of a character and showing the qualities of an antagonist in a protagonist was the hardest part for me.
11. What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?
Muskaan - A cup of coffee does the work perfectly.
Yukta - All I need in a writing space to stay focused is slow music and hazy weather.
12. If your book were made into a movie, which actors would play your characters?
Muskaan - My characters would be played by Manoj Bajpayee and Deepika Padukone.
Yukta - If my story 'Devil's Love' was to be made in a movie then, Ranveer Singh would have played the role of Virat and Katrina Kaif would have played the nerd 'Shruti'.
13. What is the future for the characters? Will there be a sequel?
Muskaan - Still I don't have a mind about a sequel. But I think if people want, we can work over it.
Yukta - For 'Devil's love', there is a possibility of a sequel showing the love life of a kleptomaniac and a girl with Stockholm syndrome. However, for 'the pendant', it doesn't seem that a sequel is needed.
14. What do you like to do when you are not writing?
Muskaan - Music is the key for my free time.
Yukta - When I am not writing, I love to listen and play classical piano music. Sometimes I also draw portraits of celebrities too.
15. Which writers have inspired you? Do you feel yourself ever influenced by the writing style of a writer?
Muskaan - As such I do not follow any writing style. I write whatever comes to my mind.
Yukta - The writers that have inspired me are, J. K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer. The authors kept their stories fiction yet a bit realistic making us believe that such things can exist. I really love their writing style.
16. How often do you write? People say writing needs time; best words come out in leisure. How do you manage your time to write and work?
Muskaan - I write once a week. Yes, definitely writing needs time, but I think good management makes it easier. You just need good skills of management and you are all sorted.
Yukta - I always write for irregular intervals and after irregular intervals. It is never static or certain. I always start to write whenever a thought struck my mind and becomes a flow of imagination. When I am busy with my work and I get a story in my mind, I try to remember the key points and flashes and I write them down later.
17. Please let the readers know about your projects for future? Are your working on any book? And please share any stanza you have written and you repeat it most of the times
Muskaan - I am planning to write about one of my most favorite incidents about my life. It would be a part of my life which had a very great impact over my life.
Yukta - In future, I plan to write a series of novels. I haven't written anything yet except the plot key points and characters.
18. What is your message to the young & aspiring authors who are willing to explore the new dimensions of creative writing?
Muskaan - I would just advice all those young authors that just believe in your work and you end up creating something magical.
Yukta - My message is that, you should explore the world in which you are born, because this will not come again when you are gone. Also, always remember to forget the bad memories that hurt, you only deserve good memories that made you happy.
19.Mention your upcoming writing endeavours?
Muskaan - Autobiographical stuff is my upcoming Endeavour.
Yukta - I would try my best to complete the novel series and make it as interesting as possible.
Thank you taking time out to read my conversation with the Young Minds
- Jasveer Singh Dangi
'Inside Young Minds: A collection of short stories and poems that will take your breath away' presented by The Cog Publication LLP is available worldwide on Amazon in ebook & peperback format.
Disclaimer - All views & facts mentioned above are the sole responsibility of the respective author being interviewed. The Authors, Muskaan and Yukta, are solely responsible and liable for the information including but not limited to the views, representations, descriptions, statements, information, opinions and references.
Jasveer is an Author, Behavioral trainer, award -winning Health and Safety professional & Founder of The Cog Publication LLP, India. He is currently based in Canada. His Amazon Author Central profile is - https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B07M6KS48Q
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