Exclusive | An evening with Ravinder Singh .!

Love stories have always mesmerized  and  deftly drawn its readers into a fantasy world where everything good happens right at the end. Right from the time  Pride and Prejudice was penned  to new age love story of Revolution 2020, romance is one such genre which  has always attracted  and charmed  the readers. Romantic  novellas give wings to one's imagination and tempt the fantasies of the readers.  One does not necessarily have to be in love to enjoy such tales of love, a steaming cup of  Coffee, a dreamy  book and some music is what  becones one into a world of love and fantasy…!

In todays challenging world ,youngsters have to deal with plethora of issues,so the best genre which lacks the complexities and attracts the youth today,amongst other genres is romance. There have been many authors  who have stressed upon ‘love’ but one  writer who surpasses  others  and continues to woo its love struck readers is Ravinder Singh.

Ravinder Singh debuted  with his novel I Too Had a Love Story which touched millions of hearts. Can Love Happen Twice? Which was his second book also grabbed the attentioin of lost of readers. After spending most of his life in Burla, a very small town in Orissa, Ravinder has finally settled down in Chandigarh and has taken up writing as his full time career.

Armed with a management  degree from the renowned Indian School of Business ,he has worked with a few Indian and multinational IT companies for more than eight years.  Adgully caught up with this charming personality, Ravinder Singh to know more about his life, career and future plans. 

As mentioned, above an engineer and an MBA holder who's worked with Infosys and Microsoft has finally taken up writing full-time. On asking what made him quit his dream job at Microsoft and become a full-time author, he said, “Sense of satisfaction did. I wanted to follow my dreams of taking up writing full time and more importantly starting up a publishing venture Black Ink (www.BlackInkBooks.in) to launch various debut authors. Hence I called it a day at Microsoft, which interestingly was once my dream company to work with.” That car accident in 2007 in which he lost his then girlfriend changed his life completely. “In my attempt to not let my love story die down, I became an author by chance,” he added.

Having written couple of love stories and a collection of short love stories, he  recently launched another book, “Your Dreams Are Mine Now.” Singh is set to launch  his forthcoming novel in November 2015. Crafting yet another emotionally powerful and tragic love story titled “Your Dreams Are Mine Now”, Singh’s latest book is a powerful read set to take readers on a journey, making them cry, laugh and allowing them to fall in love all over again.

Set in the Delhi University, this book is also about young dreams and ambitions. With the college politics in the backdrop, the book creates a life-like atmosphere of what goes on in student politics.

On asking whether he is willing to experiment with a different genre, Singh said, “I have written four books and edited a collection of love stories. My first novel 'Like it happened yesterday' isn't a love story but on the subject of nostalgia. It's all about growing up in this country in 1980s when we didn't have internet, mobile phones and ATM cards. There was just one TV channel and on Sundays entire Bharat used to watch Mahabharata. So you see I have experimented with writing in other genres.”

Well, there is been a well-perceived notion of famous books getting adapted into films. Chetan Bhagat’s ‘One night at the Call Center’ was adapted to a movie ‘Hello’, then very recently his book ‘Two States’ got converted in to a movie ‘Two States’ and many more authors have experienced the same. So when asked Singh if he has got an offer for  his books being adapted into films, he said, “Yes. And I have rejected them all just because I didn't see the commitment in their eyes to do justice with my books. I treat my books as my babies and I will be very cautious to hand over them to someone to adapt into films. I would love to see my books adapted into movies, but only with the right banner where the creative people can do justice to my stories.”

Well, every author loves reading which is quite obvious and Singh apart from his books loves reading Nicolas Sparks, John Green and Khaled Hosseini. Though he does not read non-fiction but does listen to audio-books when it comes to fiction. The last he heard was of Rashmi Bansal. The first set of books from his publishing venture Black Ink will be out in market by end of 2015 .He is hopefull his next book too can come out by end of 2015 too. Audience feedback being  one of the important aspects of  judging ones work hence  Singh  loves interacting with his fans online and offline and takes inspiration from their thoughts.

Adding further on how does  feedback help, he stated, “It helps in knowing what they like and what they didn't. There is a message in my new novel 'Your Dreams Are Mine Now'. Only when I talk to my readers, I realize if they are consuming this message or not. Also, communication (besides book) creates a strong between and author and his/her readers.”

With lots of fragmentation and plenty of options, marketing plays a vital role in every industry. Though in this case marketing is publishers' task but Singh takes an active interest in planning the strategies and events that they plan. “This time I am on India's biggest book launch tour to launch my new novel. I am visiting 21 cities/towns,” he stated. 

This young, smart, passionate and charming author has carved a space for himself in the hearts of almost every passionate reader of varied age-groups. Singh when in the mood  loves playing snooker and is crazy about Punjabi music and loves dancing to its beat. | By Aanchal Kohli | Twitter : @aanchalkohli