It is never too late to follow what your heart says! Author Ramesh Arreja has always been enthusiastic about great writing, and is privileged to have turned his passion into a thriving career as a professional author.
He has been writing professionally since 2017 and also has numerous books and a publishing house to his name. Mr. Arreja has been highly lauded for his writing capabilities and skills in screenplay and writing. As a child, he would conjure up stories with his imagination and pen them down on his notepad. In 2017, Ramesh started writing professionally and later went on to launch his publishing house- The Book Basket Publishers. Today Mr. Arreja is a successful screenwriter and author who has worked with many renowned names in the media industry.
Storiyaan has recorded for you a conversation with Mr. Arreja to get a glimpse of his life and the role of writing in it!
Weaving stories with Book Basket
Interview
Questions and answers
As a writer, you are at times urged to write something from someone else’s point of view. How do you manage to put yourself in others’ shoes?
As a writer it is very important to observe conversations and understand the varied perspectives. In my opinion a writer has to listen more than he/she speaks. That’s when he/she will be able to express what he has grasped. Being an empath, it has greatly helped me in stepping in others’ shoes. That’s how I manage to pull it off.
You certainly would have faced a lot of obstacles as a creative writer. What was the one thing that kept you going?
It’s the burning desire inside of me which has always kept me going. Writing might be the toughest job for some, but for me it’s more about expressing yourself and doing what you love. When you are passionate about something, you are internally driven about it and obstacles then don’t break you.
Being a screenwriter, what is your strategy? How do you make it different from regular fiction writing?
Well, it’s totally different, you have to visualise from cinematic point of view. Screenwriting is more technical than regular book writing. And I love it, the transition, the dialogues everything about it is so fascinating. There are a lot of details in screen writing that are to be followed than regular fiction writing.
For budding writers, do you think writing acts more as an escape rather than a career choice?
Doesn’t matter what you do, if you don’t love what you do, then it can become like 9 to 5 mundane routine kind of job for you. Writing is definitely an escape from reality but having said that, writing has lot more scope as career specially in this decade.
How do you deal with the writer’s block ?
I just take a break from writing and do other recreational stuff like travelling to a place which is close to nature, or playing cricket or binge watching some shows on Netflix. I allow writing to flow naturally. If it doesn’t come naturally to me, I take a break and then come back to it.
Talk to us about your publishing house Book Basket.
It breaks my heart when I see publishing houses just looting the first-time authors in the name of publishing their books. I have been a victim myself, so I decided to do something about it. Here at BB, we have created a platform for new writers to come and tell their stories. It’s very economical and our mission is to reach as many authors as possible.
What is the one advice or suggestion you’d give to all the new writers right now?
Don’t stop believing in yourself, there will be lot of naysayers out there. Understand everything has a divine timing and it will happen according to that. Just keep working hard and don’t worry about the results.