Tete a tete with Ravinder Singh

“It’s not just about the story but how you tell it.” An expert in the art of storytelling, author of many romance novels, and initiator of Black Ink publishing house, Ravinder Singh was recently in Pages Book Store in Vizag to promote his latest book ‘Will you still love me?’ Emphasising the importance of layers in a story he shares his journey as an author.

Romance with a cause

“I take inspiration from the many stories around me.”

Ravinder believes in leveraging romantic stories as an engine to pass on a social message. For his recent book, he picked up the plot of road accidents first, before building the story. He shares that this is a cause close to his heart as he has been an indirect victim to road accidents twice. He lost his girlfriend and his father lost his leg to road accidents.

Vizag connect

“While this is my first book event in Vizag, this isn’t my first visit here.”

Fifteen years ago, the Vizag city’s station was where Ravinder Singh would change his train while traveling from Sambalpur to Hyderabad. Reminiscing about the beaches he saw back then, he added that he was happy to be back.

Stories to movies

“Bollywood is a maze.”

While he has been approached for converting stories to movies, he shares that one can never be sure. He doesn’t, however, believe in approaching movie houses and feels that as an author, his job is to do everything possible for his book.

Work style

“I’m a lazy author, and I write when I want.”

Sharing that it usually takes him a year to get a book out, he adds that he writes up to 500 words in a stretch, and usually in the mornings. While the inevitable writer’s block does happen, it isn’t a big deal, and often leads to good writing after a break.

Future books

“My next book would perhaps be about friendships.”

Hoping to build a story about three best friends he hopes that his next work will talk about what happened to them and the bond of friendship that one takes forward. It would deal with what it means to grow old with friends.