Ms. NEELAM SAXENA CHANDRA
BRIEF PROFILE OF THE AUTHOR:
Ms. Neelam Saxena Chandra works as Executive Director (Systems)
at Mahametro, Pune. She is an Electrical Engineering graduate from VNIT and has
done her Post Graduation Diploma in IM & HRD and also in Finance. She has also
completed a course in Finance from London School of Economics. She is a
prolific writer. She has authored 4 novels, 1 novella, 6 short story
collections, 31 poetry collections and 13 children’s books, thus having a large
number of books to her credit. She is a bilingual writer; writing in English
and Hindi. She has received numerous recognition/awards, details of which have
been listed in reply to one of the questions, during this Interview.
Q Are you a professional writer? What is your specific field of
writing? Are
there any specific reasons, for choosing this particular field?
I am not a full-time writer and I scribble only in my free time.
I write in various genres such as poetry, fiction and books for children. In
general, I am a very moody person and I select the genre based upon my mood at
that moment. However, as of now, non-fiction has not yet generated any interest
in me.
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Q What has been the general assessment of the reviewers and readers
for your books? What is your own general assessment of your books? Which
particular book of yours, do you consider as the best so far, and why?
My illustrated book for children titled “Kasam Matmaile Mushroom
ki” by National Book Trust just had 20,000 copies printed in its second
edition. I suppose that speaks a lot about the assessment of the readers of my
books. Other reviews/newspaper interviews/doordarshan interviews etc. are available
on internet. I love my books and hence I am enthused to write more and more. All
of my books are special to me and have been written with full sincerity,
generating a lot of interest amongst the readers. And maybe, the best is yet to come.
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Q Please elucidate about your receiving awards/appreciation/recognition
& adequate sales for your books.
Details of recognition/awards received by me are given below:
(a)Winner in a poetry contest organized by British Council and
SAMPAD-2015 (b) Humanity International Women Achiever Award-2018 © Rabindranath
Tagore International Prize for poetry-2014 (First Prize) (d) Second prize in a
poetry contest organized by American Embassy in which Gulzar sahib was the
judge in 2010 (e) Second prize in Hindi Poetry contest organized by Poetry
Council of India-2016 (f) Premchand Puraskar by Ministry of Railways 2011 (g) Bharat
Nirman Literary Award- 2017 (h) Second prize in story contest organized by
Children Book Trust 2010 (i) Freedom Award by Radio City for the lyrics of a
song 2013 (j) Aagman Samman for best writer 2014 (k) Limca Book of Records
holder-2015 for the highest number of English and Hindi Books published in a
year (l) Limca Book of Records holder 2015 along with daughter Simran for being
the first mother-daughter duo to write a book together (m) Limca Book of
Records holder 2017 along with sister Nikita for being the first sister-duo to
write a book together (n) Sohanlal Dwivedi Puraskar-2018 for children’s
literature by Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Akademi (o) Soninder Samman (p) Listed
in Forbes as one among 78 most popular authors in the country in 2014.
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Q Do you promote and recommend writing of books jointly? In your
opinion what are the areas of benefits and problems, in such joint ventures?
I have till now got published only traditionally. I promote only
in the form of book releases or mentions on Facebook, but nothing more than
that. I think every author has a unique way of writing and it
may be difficult to write jointly.
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Q When & how do you get the ideas & do you immediately note
them down in a diary or elsewhere?
Yes, I just make a short note of any idea that strikes me on my
mobile on notepad and work on it later, when I get time. Being in a
full-fledged job, I have to really struggle for time.
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Q On an average, how many months do you take to complete one book,
in all respects?
Well, it all depends upon the time available to me. My novel
“Can I have this Chance” took me only two months to write and a couple of
months more for making it ready for publication. However, for certain other
books, I have taken as much as 2 years.
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Q Besides the quality of writing, in your opinion, what are the
other factors for the success of a book?
In my opinion, the factors helpful are a good publisher who has
a good network of distributors, a good fan following of the author and coverage
of the book in various media. But spending too much money on a book that may
just be average is not desirable and at present, market is full of people
offering such services. One should move slowly, but steadily.
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Q Which aspects motivate you to write books? Earning
money/publicity/helping readers/self-satisfaction/others?
It is the love of the readers that inspires me to write. I have
received amazing feedback, which makes me enthusiastic. In my book release
functions, people generally turn up in huge numbers. In my case,
self-satisfaction is the sole motivating factor.
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Q Has Face Book helped you in any way, in your writing career or
even otherwise? If yes, please elucidate. Also have your family members and
friends helped and/or contributed in any way, in your writing career?
Oh yes! I gained confidence with the feedback received on my
poems that I would share on Facebook. Moreover, initially, I would also take
part in the various contests organized by various groups and winning them
raised my self-assurance. My
family members and friends encouraged me and without their support I would not
be where I am today.
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Q In your opinion, is there adequate scope for name/fame/wealth in
the field of writing?
In my opinion, the scope is inadequate. There are too many
writers and the number of readers is dwindling, which make it really difficult
for a writer. Also, a lot of money factor has also poured in, in the form of
self-publishing, since most of such publishers do not bother about quality.
They just publish anything for money.
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Q What are the reasons for the general success of the concept of
“Agents of writers” in some countries?
The so called literary agents in most of the European countries,
USA etc. work on royalty, which an author receives from the sales of book.
Hence they choose very carefully and work with the author as a partner to
ensure sales. This concept is mostly missing in India and there are very few
genuine literary agents. Others demand huge money for everything at the initial
stage itself and are least bothered about marketing.
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Q What are your future plans for writing books? Also please say if you
were not a writer, in what other way, you would have expressed your creativity?
I have finished two English novels, a few poetry books and a few
children’s books. However, due to my hectic life schedule, I am yet to finalize
a publisher. Let’s see when I can find time for this purpose. Further, basically
I am a creative person. If not writing, I love to act, I love compering and I
love painting. One life is too short for me!
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Q What is your opinion about e-books? Due to this concept of
e-books, is the survival of printed books in future in jeopardy?
It is an age where sales of e-books are picking up, but these are
not real threats at present. However, a few years later, e-books may be the
only form of books available.
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Q What is your advice to the budding authors?
Keep writing. However, write because it gives you happiness and
not for name/fame/success. If you are a good writer, all these will follow you.
---------------vijaiksharma
