Author Talks : Hridya Biju, author of “Connected Dots of Pluto”

#StoryBerrys is starting its ‘Author Talks’ series, and the first Author we have invited is Hridya Biju. 

Hridya Biju is a young adult who recently published her debut Novel “Connected Dots Of Pluto”. She started writing at the age of 7. She just finished her 12th grade and is aiming to pursue her degree in Designing.

“Connected Dots Of Pluto”  is a story of a young girl who has a passionate and loving family, the story is about she achieves her passion, to become an Astronaut. Even though she has everything in her life, she feels a void in her soul…

In an illuminating conversation with #StoryBerrys, Hridya talks about her journey, her writing and her life.

#StoryBerrys : Hridya, Congratulations on your debut novel ‘Connected Dots of Pluto’. How does it feel to be a ‘Published Author’ at such a young age?

Hridya : Thank you mam, honestly speaking, knowing that there’s a book of my own, it feels unreal. It’s very exciting and yeah I feel very good about it.

#StoryBerrys : Tell us your journey as an author, how and when did you decide to take up writing? Along with your studies, how difficult it was to write?

Hridya : Well I started to write in a very young age, I guess I was about 7 or something. My first short story was called  “Childhood friends”, and ever since then, there was no looking back.

I used to write stories in my rough book every break, free period, we could say that stories were my buddies.

If I talk about how I managed to write along side studies, the answer is I habituated to write at night, just before I go to bed. I used to and in fact still try not to sleep without writing at least one page.

#StoryBerrys : What inspired you to write this particular story?

Hridya : We mourn and get hurt when we lose a person or when something major happens to them, I wondered will a person get hurt  and become depressed for a person whom they have never known or even been fond off. This thought of wonder that I randomly had one day is the reason for the story to be alive!

#StoryBerrys : What comes first, plot or characters?

Hridya : Well it depends, for me sometimes it’s the character, sometimes it’s the plot. But I guess mostly it’s the plot which comes first and then the characters .

#StoryBerrys : How deeply do you bond with your characters? How much the lead protagonist of the book is relatable to you?

Hridya : That’s a great question, my characters are most often a better side of me or a worse side me, exceptions may include. But anyways I get involved so much into  the story that you won’t believe me if I say that , while I write emotional  scenes, literally tears will be flowing down my eyes.

#StoryBerrys : Being a debutant author what kind of challenges did you face to publish the book?

Hridya : People are not always welcoming, they try to put you down in every possible way, even if they have no knowledge about writing!

Which create a lot of insecurities, that you perhaps lose trust in your talent. But we have to keep moving forward by just trusting yourself and your talent.

#StoryBerrys : How much support have you been receiving from your parents, family and friends? What was their reaction when you told them about your decision to publish the book?

Hridya : My family especially my Amma and Achan are my pillars of support. I doubt if anyone else had supported and encouraged me to write like they do. In fact it was my Amma who came up with the idea to publish one of my books.

Frankly speaking I was suppressed by insecurities that I was so terrified to write again, it was my parents idea to bring me out of it by publishing one and yeah that’s how the book “ Connected Dots Of Pluto” came up

#StoryBerrys : What is your future writing plan? Which other themes or subjects would you like to write about in the future?

Hridya : I have some ideas in my mind which I would hopefully publish soon.

I would love to explore writing in every genre as I don’t like to create a border for my creativity. Also writing in each genre has it’s own path, I would like to learn and traverse to each path.

#StoryBerrys : If you had to describe your protagonist Nicole in Three words, what would those three words be?

Hridya : Perceptive, Passionate, Persistent

#StoryBerrys : Other than writing what are your other interest areas.

Hridya : Other than writing, I’m very much interested in dancing, choreographing and sketching.

#StoryBerrys : What advice would you like to suggest to young people about writing?

Hridya : If you have ideas and are interested into writing don’t let other people to bring you down. Believe in yourself. Write in your freedom of creativity, there’s nothing as such that, a writer should write in only a particular style, you have all the freedom to write in your own styles or even create a writing style.

Thank you Hridya for sharing your experience.  #StoryBerrys wishes you glorious success for ‘Connected Dots of Pluto’ and hopes you would come up with many more remarkable books.

Book details

Book is available on Amazon.in