When he is not writing, he thinks about the different future events that can affect our planet and hence rather than a novelist, he wants to be addressed as a futurist.
He is none other than Madhav Mahidhar, the author of the compelling thriller Blood in the Paradise.
| bookGeeks: | Tell us something about Madhav as a person. |
| Madhav: | I was born and brought up in Nellore town, AP. I studied MCA at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai.
I started writing from the year 2003/2004 onwards after the completion of my MCA. My first attempt was a complete failure. The story was about a four-year-old girl witnessing a murder. I wrote sixty pages but I could not proceed further. I was shocked, shaken and surprised. I went back to the basics and started practising again. A decision I took was to never ever start writing a novel without building/designing the entire story. I began writing ‘Adrusyam’ in the year 2007 and this time there was no stopping. I completed the novel comfortably in ten months. From the year 2009/2010, I began designing the stories on national/international themes. That was also the time I got hooked on to future studies. More than a novelist, I would like to be known as a futurist. I am not elaborating anything on this because I am going to talk a lot about the possible future events in the coming years. I commenced writing ‘Blood in the paradise’ in July 2012 and completed the first draft in April 2014. ‘Blood in the Paradise’ got delayed because I had to defer the editing and the publishing processes as I switched my jobs twice in 2013 and in 2015. |
| bookGeeks: | When was Blood in the Paradise first conceptualised? |
| Madhav: | I got the idea when I was in Pune in 2012 and it took me six months to conceptualise the entire story. I wrote the first 18 chapters of the novel in Johannesburg, South Africa. |
| bookGeeks: | Tell us something about your experience as a Telugu writer. |
| Madhav: | I started writing my first novel ‘Adrusyam’ in the year 2007, I completed it in 10 months and it was a one lakh word novel.
It got published in the year 2008/2009 in the Telugu magazine ‘Navya’. |
| bookGeeks: | Do you continue to write in Telugu too? |
| Madhav: | No, nowadays I am not writing in Telugu. |
| bookGeeks: | Being a full-time professional, how do you find the much needed time to write? |
| Madhav: | Yes, It is a very challenging task. I utilise weekends very judiciously and sensibly. I am still single, so there is no pressure of being a family man. |
| bookGeeks: | So, what are you working on next? |
| Madhav: | I am not going to write anything in the year 2017. The designing of the story is going on and I will start writing in the year 2018, it is going to be a two-part high-octane political/action thriller. So you can expect my third novel in the first half of 2019. |
| bookGeeks: | Who is your favourite Indian author and why? |
| Madhav: | My honest answer, I have not read much of the literature by Indian authors. I have read Sydney Sheldon, Michael Crichton, John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer.
Actually, for the past five years, I am not reading much instead I am thinking a lot about the different possible future events that may affect our planet and prospective remedies we could implement in a peaceful manner. |
| bookGeeks: | A few words for your fans. |
| Madhav: | Frankly, I don’t think I have yet reached a stage where I could give advice to others. I have written two novels, it is just the beginning of my journey. |
| bookGeeks: | A few words for bookGeeks. |
| Madhav: | You are doing a great job. Keep up the good work. All the best to bookGeeks in all your future endeavours. |