A monumental effort
By Twishy Q] How did you arrive at the idea of Taking The Taj? Four years ago, my wife and I had gone to visit the Taj Mahal. As we were entering it, I noticed there wasn’t much security at the monument. That’s when I thought, ‘What if a group of terrorists took over the Taj Mahal? How many men would it take?’ It slowly began to form a story plot in my mind. Then over the next few months I made two or three more trips, sometimes, believe it or not, with a measuring tape. It wasn’t long before the idea had caught hold of me completely and I fleshed it out to write this book. Q] How long did you take to write the book? What were the challenges? It took me about eight months to write the first draft. I would sit every evening and write for an hour or so. On some days, I’d end up writing up to 2,000 words or more, while on others, I couldn’t do more than 300. As a copywriter, I was used to writing no more than 100 to 200 words every day, but this was a 400-page book. It was challenging, but the thought that I was actually writing a book kept me going. Q] What was the reason behind bringing in the historical perspective? From the very beginning, I was clear that the story would traverse two-time zones, the present and the past. Since a young age, I’ve been quite taken by writers like Wilbur Smith, who did the same thing effectively. The challenge, however, was being in the right mood to write the right passages, because the historical sections needed to have their own style from the present-day passages. Often, I would start a historical passage and then I’d realize I was making it too tense and terse. Q] How has being a copywriter and a creative director affected your writing style? Firstly, even though I’ve written about 300,000 words I think most of my sentences are short and choppy. Secondly, I think I was more at home writing the tense action passages rather than the poetic, descriptive ones. Thirdly, there are many who say that the book reads more like a screenplay than a novel… Q] Do you believe this will be made into a film soon? Well, I have my fingers crossed. Talks are on with various producers and production houses. Let’s see what happens. Q] Are you happy with the way the book turned out? I have mixed feelings now. For a long time, I was so happy with myself that I had written a book, that I never really went back to analyse it impartially. Now when I look through it there are sections and characters that I think turned out really well and there are others that could have been etched out better. My wife says that the sex scenes read like 30-second films —short and to the point rather than nicely built up and romantic! Q] How has the book been received? Saleswise, it seems to be doing pretty well. Reviews wise, it’s been mixed. Some people have given it four and five stars calling it “a thriller of international standards” while others aren’t happy about there being “too many characters”, and that it “reads like a screenplay rather than a novel”. Q] What advice would you give to aspiring authors? Find a story you want to tell. Then test the story out to people who can give you impartial feedback. Write the main plot out in as much detail as possible. My first plot outline was just three pages long, but my second went to 16. Finally, when you start writing try to be disciplined about it and write at least 1,000 words a day. Then, just go with the flow! Feedback: twishy@exchange4media.com
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