Swarupa Chavan is a name gaining popularity in the literary field with her impressive writing style that is alluring the readers. A writer and poet by heart and passion, she made her entry in the field of fiction with her first novel To Err is Human.
She has discovered her expressions through her writing. She loves traveling and exploring new places. She discovers a new facet about herself in every book she writes.
She has published three novels so far. A JOURNEY TO REMEMBER, TO ERR IS HUMAN and THE PREDICTION.
The Prediction as the name suggests is based on the theme of the power of Precognition. The protagonist of the story Tia is born with this unique power of predicting the future. But her prophecies of the impending calamities were always derided. It made her loved ones alienate from her leaving her derelict and forlorn. The book has been awarded ‘The Best Sci-Fi book of the Year 2016 Award.’
A Journey to Remember – is all about friendship and love. A story about two childhood friends Ananya and Reva. Best of friends yet having varied personalities which add the spice to an otherwise boring life. It is a funny story which revolves around the lives of these two friends and how they manage to complicate and create chaos in an otherwise normal lives of the people surrounding them. Misunderstandings, theft and fraudulence in the middle of budding romance and breaking hearts, twisting and turning the tale along its journey.
To Err is Human is a story about a simple, Maharashtrian girl Malini who has big dreams and who comes to Mumbai to fulfil them. Malini is compassionate, hilarious, sensitive, emotional and not to forget she is a magnet for errors, attracting disasters all along. Dealing with her mother who is obsessed to get her daughter married, is not her only worry. She merely arrives in Mumbai and finds herself getting herself abducted by gangsters. Her dream is endangered when one day she commits a vast mistake.
Swarupa has also penned and published short stories and poems in various Anthologies and Magazines.
Interviews
1. When and how did you start writing?
I have always been an avid reader and that led to my passion for writing. I started off with writing short articles for school and college magazines and realised that I was loving it immensely. That’s how my first novel To Err is Human was born.
2. What inspired you to write a book?
Like I shared before I had always loved to express myself through my writing. And like they say right things happen at the right time, so when I worked on my first novel I had not written it with the intention of getting it published but wrote it purely as my hobby. When I shared my work with my friends they unanimously expressed that the work was meant to be published. The rest as they say is history and my first novel To Err is Human got published turning me into a published writer.
3. Tell us something about your book(s)
My first novel TO ERR IS HUMAN is a story about Malini, a girl with big dreams who comes to Mumbai to fulfil them. Dealing with her mother who is obsessed to get her married is not her only worry. She merely arrives in Mumbai and finds herself surrounded by eccentric bosses and weird clients. And if that was not enough she lands up getting herself abducted by gangsters. You find yourself relating to her woes and everyday incidents as she unfolds one adventure after another sinking herself in trouble more deep than she can manage to get out of. Yet it allows us to catch a glimpse of her true self and realize that it is a normal human tendency to commit such errors.
Does that ring a bell? Malini is a character that has dreams just like you and me and is human enough to make blunders just like any normal girl. I loved creating Malini and her melodramatic family. The chaos she creates at her work place with her hilarious incidents. The challenges at her work place were also something which every reader could relate to and connect with the emotions which Malini faced.
My second novel A JOURNEY TO REMEMBER – is all about friendship and love. It is about discovering your true self. Sounds a bit philosophical isn’t it? But then that’s what life is all about. An everyday incident teaches you a lesson for life. The core principles and beliefs that you grow up with are suddenly challenged one day leaving you surprised and wondering what to do next. Life presents you with difficult choices to make. Sounds familiar? That’s what this novel is all about. A story about two childhood friends Ananya and Reva. Best of friends, yet having varied personalities which add the spice to an otherwise boring life.
It is a funny story which revolves around the lives of these two friends and how they manage to complicate and create chaos in otherwise normal lives of people surrounding them. Misunderstandings, theft and fraudulence amidst budding romance and breaking hearts, twisting and turning the tale along its journey.
My third novel THE PREDICTION as the name suggests is based on the theme of the power of Precognition. The protagonist of the story Tia is born with this unique power of predicting the future. But her prophecies of the impending calamities were always derided. It made her loved ones estrange from her leaving her derelict and forlorn. She grew up feeling deprived for affection and love, making her go deeper into a shell and rely on her instincts for connecting with the outer world. Her power of the sixth sense grew with time making her an object of ridicule by her father who thinks of her as an evil spirit. It is a story of how Tia struggles to gain affection of her father and brother and how she deals with her powers which she finds to be curse instead of a boon and how she has to face tragedies.
4. How do you feel after getting published?
It is a wonderful feeling to hold your book in your hands! The feeling cannot be justified with any words, the joy you feel when your creation is out in the world. It makes you feel immensely proud and at the same time more responsible to keep writing good literature and constantly entertain the readers.
5. Do you have a specific writing style?
The style which comes naturally to me is humorous and emotional writing. I think making people laugh is one of the most difficult tasks. Using your creative way to give a light moment to the readers is highly satisfying. I am an emotional person and can relate with human emotions in a natural way. This is reflected in my work so far. But I also want to try out various other genres like suspense, science fiction etc. as each of them have a flavour of their own.
6. How did you come up with the title, tagline, cover design etc.?
The titles, taglines and cover designs of my novels are an integral part of the story. They depict the crux of the storyline. After completing writing my novels I then think about the core concept around which the story is revolving and come up with various options for the titles and tag lines. I then select the best one which I find most suitable for my story. For example THE PREDICTION title clearly suggests that the story revolves around the concept of precognition or knowing the future. Its tagline – SHE COULD SEE THE FUTURE – again strengthens the idea that the protagonist of the story is bearing this unusual power of predicting the future. For designing the cover page I discuss with my publisher’s creative team and share with them the story concept and my ideas of the cover page. Based on which the team provides me with several options. Based on mutual discussions and iterations if required the cover design is finalised.
7. Which part of your book was the most difficult to pen down?
In my recently published novel THE PREDICTION I have described the life of the protagonist Tia in two parts. The first one is her childhood life with her family where she is born and brought up. The second part is her life in a boarding school where she is exposed to a completely new world. There is a transition in the life of Tia as she struggles to deal with her miraculous power of predicting the future and bringing out this transition is a seamless way was quiet challenging. I did not want it to be a stark distinction between the two phases of her life where the readers would find it abrupt but wanted it to be a smooth change flowing seamlessly with the storyline. I could finally achieve my objective and connected the two parts of the story line is a single flow.
8. Does the story relate to you or somebody you know?
The stories which I have written so far and the characters in them are a work of fiction. But I believe there is some part of the story or characters in them which the author derives from their sub-conscious mind based on past experiences. Be it some typical character they had met sometime or a place they had visited earlier.
9. Which are your favourite books and writers?
That’s a tough one. Well I have several favourites and naming a few would be unfair. The top of my mind favourites are the works of Ken Follet, Ayn Rand, P G Wodehouse, Paulo Coelho and Michael Crichton.
10. Your advice for aspiring and emerging writers?
I would say just one thing – Follow your heart. Be original in whatever genre of writing you are comfortable in and write that. Do not get into the trap of imitating novels which have a vast readership.
