Author’s Bio: Mihir Jaiswal is an avid
traveler, keen observer, an able orator and a storyteller. He has written
several screenplays, short stories, travel stories, poems and technical documents.
Among exploring many places and people, he traveled to an Eskimo village in
Arctic region of Alaska. His passion to bring strong characters and their
triumphs to life motivated him to venture into novel writing. He has a PhD in
Bioinformatics and is currently a visiting associate at US Food and Drug
Administration. His first novel Sculpting Revenge was well received and
now he is getting ready to publish the second, The Last Day of Randolf
Garrett.
DL: What inspired you to
write your book?
MJ: I enjoy watching theaters. I
watched ‘Marx in Soho’, a one-person play in an intimate theater in DC. My
expectation was a political documentary knowing it was a one-person play. The
lady who played the re-incarnation of Karl Marx was incredible, but
storytelling touched me the most. It was not at all a political documentary.
Instead, it was the story of his life and his struggles in raising his
daughters and feeding his family during his last days in the Soho neighborhood
in London. The communism and political ideology were demonstrated as a part of
his life, which constituted a different layer of the story. At the time, I was
writing another novel and was struggling with the romance part. That play
invigorated an idea in my mind to tell a mystery story with a hidden layer of
romance: a deep romance that lasts beyond death. That is Sculpting Revenge.
DL: Describe your writing
process? Do you use an outline or let it flow organically?
MJ: I like to have the climax
completely designed before I start writing any story: be it a short or a novel.
That way I know where all the roads in my story should lead to. Then next I
decide on the perspective. Sculpting Revenge is told from the
perspective of Arianna. The last step: I assign a set of adjectives to my
characters to create boundaries that they can not break during the story. The
last step is relentless writing. Since I have been associated with theater, I
act out each chapter before writing. In addition, I write long hours.
DL: What do you think
makes a good story?
MJ: There are two types of stories,
in my opinion: stories for readers and stories for writers. The best ones fall
into both of those categories. What makes a good story are intrigue and
novelty. If the story is intriguing for a writer then the writer wrote it for
oneself. If the story is intriguing to readers, then the story has a broader
appeal.
DL: Is there any
particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or
as an adult?
MJ: I read mostly non-fiction growing
up. I am always influenced by how any person conducts oneself in different
situations. Those observations become the basis of many characters in my
stories. Movies and theater influence a lot in my craftwork and storytelling.
For example, my next book, The last day of Randolf Garrett, the
storytelling is influenced by movie “Vantage Point.” For individual sub-plots,
I take inspiration from real-life observations and events.
DL: If you were hosting a dinner
party which three authors would be your dream guests?
MJ: One would be Mirza Ghalib. He is
probably one of the most influential poets of Urdu and Persian. He wrote his
entire life as poetry. I would love to have a normal conversation in poetry
with him.
Second would be Erik
Larson. Although he has written many books, Devil in the White City
influenced me. He wrote non-fiction books the fiction way: great story telling.
I would like no one else to tell story of my great dinner party.
Third would be J K
Rowling. She has created so many great characters with enough depth that
generations can create new stories based on them: truly remarkable. I also have
a question for her. While she stuck with Harry’s perspective for the first five
books, why did she alter her storytelling style in the last two?
DL: What are the keys to success
in marketing your book(s)?
MJ: The dominant strategy in
marketing, I believe, is connecting to the readers. Easier said than done, as
one has to identify readers first. I did not have any base when I wrote the
book, as I was not very active on social media and lived an isolated life. Thus,
my strategy was to be patient and secure while reaching out to individual
readers rather than readers in a group. One such example, I ran a voracious
reader campaign to identify 20 readers interested in my book. Within just a
week, one of the readers emailed me with how much she enjoyed the book and
rated it on Goodreads.
DL: What tips would you
give to aspiring writers?
MJ: Be relentless and finish what you
start. No matter what you plan to do with your story, memoir or poetry, it has
limited value, even for yourself, if it is not complete. Do not be nice. Push
yourself and complete what you started. Publication, editing, fame, movie, book
reading, and big contracts: everything is possible only if you finish your
story.
DL: How about sharing an
excerpt from Sculpting Revenge?
MJ: Here you go.
Arianna stopped walking.
She turned to Dave with a blank face. Dave looked her in the eyes, lifted his
hands, put them on her cheeks, leaned forward, and touched her lips with his.
They both closed their eyes, and kissed. In that minute, Dave lived their
entire time together. He did not want to let this moment go. Arianna was bubbly
and drunk sitting beside him at the bar. Then, she was trendy and charming
coming out of the speed dating. She was pleasant at the reflection pool,
engrossed at the museum, nervously waiting to sing Elvis, passionate about her
grandfather at the monuments, uneasy to see Walter, excited about painting her
pot, angry at the sight of Walter, and disappointed with Dave at the end of it
all. In return for all the varied moods Arianna had presented to him, he had
been the same boring Dave. He felt disappointed in himself, angry with himself
and ashamed of himself. Instead of being a gentleman with a lovely girl, I
was a giant ass, he thought. Could I have done anything better? Yes, you
moron, he continued admonishing himself. Alas, the opportunity had passed.
In a few minutes, Arianna would cross the security checkpoint and be gone
forever.
DL: What’s on the horizon
for you?
MJ: My next book, The Last Day of
Randolf Garrett, is in its final stages of publication. It will be
released this winter. It is an action/mystery, a story of last 24 hours in
chasing a villain, Randolf Garrett. Randolf wants to return the city of Hot
Springs to its glory days of 1940s, when it was a sanctuary for criminals
including Al Capone. As the law-enforcement gets nearer to eliminating Randolf,
the line between good and bad gets blurrier. It is a heart thumping, fast
paced, and action packed mystery.
DL: Where can readers learn
more about you and your book(s)?
MJ: They can learn more about me and
my books here:
·
Amazon
Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Mihir-Jaiswal/e/B07JYQSTZL
·
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/mihir.jaiswal
·
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MihirJa
·
Blog:
http://mihirjaiswal.blogspot.com/
·
Book Buy
Links: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JYKH5WD
It’s been a pleasure
having you here with us today. I know my readers will enjoy getting to know you
and your work.
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