Inspired by a ‘The First Step’s ’ Hindu In School edition article, we have Rithivik Bala from Coimbatore, who has authored a fiction book at the age of 12. He’s currently studying Class 7 in Vidhya Niketan Public School.
To start off, take us through your journey of writing a book.
Back when I was in the second grade, my father told me this story about a tango of pirates. I really liked how they travel around the world and live a very adventurous and unsure life. He told me this story when we were travelling from home to school, so when I came back from school I started to write this down. I wrote it for 3 years. But then when I was copying it down onto the computer I noticed how childish it was, and ditched the whole thing and started writing it again. Just as I finished the new version of the story, I came across an article about Akshat Jaganmohan in The Hindu In School edition, written by Hasini Lakshminarayanan, The First Step. That sowed the confidence to publish my first book, and also gave me an insight on which publisher to contact. Then, I contacted the same publisher- Readen Publishers, and soon received a reply saying that they would publish the book. For the next five months, both of us worked hard. Though I worked for 5 years for the book, my book grew more than half its size in those five months. Then, on the 10th of October, I saw the fruit of my work- at last, ‘Adventures of Scottish Pirates and the Deadly Dragon’ was published.
Tell us more about the story in your book.
When I wrote this book, I started to learn how to visualise the basic structure of the globe, and which continent was placed where. This story is about a tango of pirates and their amazing ship- the Dragon. In the beginning of the book, the ship gets stuck in a storm and the crew lands on an island where the captain discovers that the ship has magical abilities. That's when the captain discovers that the ship can actually be steered using his compass needle. This ship went through a lot of hardships as it sailed through the seas, just like the lives of the pirates.
You can order the book from Odyssey Bookstore’s website or Amazon, and it will be delivered to your doorsteps!
We would like to know more about your papers and how you push yourself to write more.
Thinking about how great I will feel if my article gets published drives me forward to submit my entries for the Weekend Inbox section of The Hindu In School. This determination pushes me forward to write. Recently, my writeup was published for the seventh time.
Can you tell us about your hobbies?
I love birdwatching and nature. The calmness is what I enjoy a lot. Though some people think birdwatching is boring, dangerous and monotonous, I think it is the epitome of true happiness when you spot a bird, and the feeling is simply ecstatic. I also play table tennis. And my most prominent hobby is writing.
Moving forward, tell us about new projects you are working on.
I'm working on 2 novels currently, side by side. One is a Tamil book and the other one is a science fiction book in English. It's based on modern developments taking place in science. The fiction book is getting quite interesting, so I'm currently fully focusing on that one.
Is there something that you would like to change in society? If yes, then what would it be?
I would like to change the mentality of people towards nature. My family and I introduced a waste segregation method in our apartment, and it's going on quite successfully. It’s now helping the Coimbatore Corporation a lot. I have learned that even if one person does something there will be a huge change somewhere, in some corner of the world. Thus, I want to convey the thought of nature conservation to the public, as I feel it's the need of the hour. And the other one is about writing. People think that writing is hard. But, I feel that everyone can write. While there is an inborn writing talent in some of them, others can easily develop it. The only thing that we have to do is to believe that we can do it, because words do have a lot of impacts.
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