Author interview with Ashwini Bagga
Today, we have Ashwini Bagga with us, here is an brief introduction about him. Followed by this interaction with me.
Born and brought up in Jaipur, erstwhile a Software Engineer turned Road Safety Expert, Corporate Trainer and Speaker.
Recently served as Road Safety Consultant at Road Safety Cell, Transport Department, Rajasthan under Project Management Consultancy Services by Consulting Engineers Group Ltd. for Rajasthan Road Sector Modernization Project funded by World Bank.
I am an avid reader, travel freak and an eager learner and at present undergoing Ph.D. from Manipal University Jaipur on Road Safety. Besides being an active member of various social, cultural and literary forums, I also spare time for my passion for writing and guitar.
- Can you please introduce yourself to the world of literature?
I started my professional career in the field of writing as a content writer. I developed content for websites, wrote articles and blogs etc. I also jotted down scripts for few commercials for one of the FM channels. In fact, I was keen to spin stories especially for films and at a later stage I switched myself to fiction writing.
When did you start writing?
I have been writing since my school days but that was an era when I had been new to this field as an amateur writer I could not gain much attention. I loved to read and listen ghazals. In my earlier days of writing I wrote lot of ghazals, poetry short stories etc. I still love ghazals and Late. Shri Jagjit Singh Ji is my favorite.
- When you published first?
Many of my poetry, ghazals and articles had been published in various newspapers, magazines and websites. My first non-fictional work was on Road Safety. I wrote two books on Road Safety titled “Road to Road Safety” and “Essentials of Road Safety”. In year 2017 my debut fiction Barista Bollywood got published.
- Describe yourself in day to day life?
This is one of the toughest question because I find it difficult to define myself confining to the activities I expedite in a day. Apart from writing, I have to manage my professional life as well. I try to maintain a balance between the two. Being a Road Safety Expert and a Corporate Trainer (Road Safety) I address various community groups to sensitize and educate them. I prefer maintaining a daily checklist to manage my day to day activities and I plan my day accordingly.
- What are your hobbies apart from writing?
Writing is also one of my passions and other than writing I love playing guitar.
- Tell us more about your book?
My latest creation is a contemporary fiction titled Barista Bollywood. It is a 300 pages story that portrays life of three young aspirants who wish to get a breakthrough in Bollywood. The trios named Akash, Anisha and Shamit hails from different cities in India and dreams to established themselves in the film industry in their respective verticals.
Well, it is a known fact that behind the glitter and glamourous face of Bollywood, there also exists a dark and gloomy side of Indian film industry. Though competition, exploitation, gender discrimination, casting couch, rigged award ceremonies and monopoly are some of the elements which defines the darker sides of Bollywood. The story of Barista Bollywood details the failure of the three characters, their struggle and a captivating plan that shocks the reader at the end. Barista Bollywood is overall an inspiring entertainer that is capable of captivating reader’s mind till the last page.
- How do you manage your writing time?
As I described earlier, I try to balance my professional and writer’s life. Depending upon the workload I shift my timings and plan a day’s activities accordingly.
- What according to you are best marketing stragies for a young writer?
Best or worst, a particular marketing strategy could not be recommended for all user groups. Depending upon the circumstances and available resources one needs to carefully devise his or her own marketing strategy. Now days I see lot of young minds coming up with innovative ideas and I appreciate their courage and imagination. Depending upon one’s creativity, nature of product one must carefully plan his or her own marketing strategy. Market has abundance of marketing tools and services to promote young authors, even they can also harness power of social media to expand their reach. Marketing strategy also depends upon the kind of publishing method one has opted.
- Which is more important to you Content or marketing?
Marketing something without having quality content is next to impossible. To market something one must have solid grounds. Money can buy success but not happiness. Without content one’s identity will soon die. It is my personal opinion and suggestion to the aspirant authors that they must focus on quality and depth in whatever they are writing. If their writing reflects substance, the marketing will work for them two folds. At stage one, one will have mechanized followers and subsequently they will celebrate the organic one, which will come their way by default.
- Your favorite writer and why?
I prefer reading Indian writers. Amish and Ashwin are my favorites. I had also read Chetan Bhagat a lot and of course every reader would have read Chetan Bhagat at least once in their life. Amish’s imagination is superb whereas the deep-rooted research by Ashwin in his writings projects fascinates me the most. Work of both the authors is beyond imagination. I believe writing historical, mythological thrillers is one of the most difficult tasks in fiction writing.
- What are your upcoming projects?
I am working on three projects as far as my writing is concerned. First, I am planning to have my fiction Barista Bollywood translated in Hindi. Thereafter I will launch its Hindi edition. Second, I have outlined story of my second fiction and it will be a suspense thriller this time. I hope, by the end of this year I will be able to finish writing my second fiction. Third, in collaboration with a production house I am working on producing a web-series on Road Safety. The series will comprise short videos highlighting various issues of Road Safety. The videos will aim to enlighten, entertain and educate the viewers through innovative ideas and concept I have written and developed.
- Any tips to the upcoming young generation.
In fact, there are many but the point which matters here is, the platform. In case of writing, I find that young generation is keen writing about love, friendship and relations because at this age they perhaps had not explored other avenues of life. Give time to ripen your writing skills. It will come naturally and gradually with the time.
If one wishes to have advise for self-development, then one must have hunger to learn. Learning is the only key to expand one’s capabilities and skills. It is true that one cannot learn everything and on the other hand one must not let go a chance to learn whenever it happens. Remember, learning brings you returns, may be after a year or after a decade but it definitely pays you back.
- Describe yourself in one sentence.
I Am A Rare Creature on Earth.
Weblinks
- Website – http://www.ashwinibagga.in/
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAshwini/
- Twitter – https://twitter.com/AuthorAshwini/
- Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/AuthorAshwini/
- Barista Bollywood on Amazon – http://www.amazon.in/dp/B073ZC58QC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500369157
- Barista Bollywood on Flipkart – http://www.amazon.in/dp/B073ZC58QC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500369157
- Photographs – http://www.ashwinibagga.in/gallery-personal/
Thank you for the sincere answers sir. I wish you all the very best for your future books.
If you are interested in publishing your interviews, please write to me at prabhu@prabhuprasad.in