1. What inspired you to write Earth to Centauri?
I am a bit of a tech and sci-fi nerd. The story of what an actual first contact with an alien race was ganging around in my head for some time and I just thought I’d give it a try. The spicing up happened much later as I started writing. 2. What inspired you to write Science Fiction? I am a bit of a tech and sci-fi nerd. Guess that’s also because I am an engineer and love to tinker around with stuff. I’m a huge star trek fan and I think that’s where my inspiration comes from. 3. As a male writer, do you find it difficult to write from a female prospective? I do find it difficult and even now I am not sure I am doing justice to the character. Guess I’ll have to keep writing and learning and trying to incorporate as much as I can to build the characters. Being surrounded by two daughters and a wife at home does give me a little bit of a perspective. 4. Though there are many Indian authors, not many embark upon science fiction. Why is this and how can it be remedied? I think there is much more focus on historical fiction in India at the moment and there are plenty of excellent books out by some great people. The lack of focus on SciFi may be a result of the Indian belief in faith and destiny. As such I believe SciFi has always been western centric. Its difficult to break into the genre for an Indian author even though India has had some of the greatest scientific minds. I am translating y book into Hindi the predominant Indian language – getting it across to the mainstream in a language they understand will be key to breaking the barrier. 5. When reading a book, does the gender or ethnicity of the author impact the voice you assign the novel in your head? It should but this has been difficult for me to accomplish. Having travelled to many countries I understand little bit of how people speak but getting in a different gender or ethnicity is very very difficult without making them a stereotype. 6. What are you currently reading, and why did you pick it up? I am reading Retrieval by Regina Clarke to give her a feedback. In the name of God by Ravi Subramanian to get a feel of Indian writing styles and also The Long Walk by Stephen King to get a feel for pace and dialogue. 7. How can an author cope with feeling their story deserves to be heard, but fearing criticism? Oh. You’ve hit a raw nerve. I’ve recently got some review stating my grammar is bad. Honestly it hurt. It took me a few days to get over the criticism and find another editor to help me. Besides, I always feel, what if someone says the story line is awful? Fortunately this has not happened so far. There is always hope that I will be able to find my own sweet set of readers who like my stories and my style and I have been fortunate to find a few whole have actually loved it. 8. What else do you do outside of writing, and how do you maintain the balance? I hold a full time job which requires 6 days working and a while lot of travel. I try squeezing in time whenever I can – on the plane, in the hotel. Mostly I use travel to keep making the story in my head. It does mean a whole lot of late nights. Balancing work, family and writing is very difficult. 9. What’s next for Kumar L? The translation for Book 1 has just been released. I am finishing off Book 2 of the series and focusing on marketing. Ideas for Book 3 and 4 are forming up at the same time! |
THOUGHTWARDS
Thoughtwards is a blog celebrating forward thought and the diverse thinkers who think them.
M. Lachi is an award winning recording/performing artist and composer, a published author, and a proponent of forward thinking. Having studied Management at UNC and Music at NYU, M. Lachi employs both savvies in her creative endeavors. For more on M. Lachi's music click here. 
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