To Vindya Jayamaha, adventure and fantasy were genres she had always enjoyed. It was these memories that inspired her to finally write a story of her own.
While she believes in the necessity of explaining the authentic world and theories, her writer self finds it boring to write about the world “as it is.” Thus, her readers can rest assured that between the pages of her debut novel, “Cideral,” there will be that essential sprinkling of magic.
Who are you as a writer?
Like many readers, Vindya is more of an introvert and needs a lot of courage to carry out a conversation in person. Therefore, she believed that writing could help her “talk to the world about [her] daydreams.”
She was scared that one day, when she grew older and looked back, she might realise that she never fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a writer. It was this thought that drove her to write her novel “Cideral.”
Vindya firmly believes that reading books is an adventure, and thus, she tried writing one herself to truly experience how “adventurous” this journey could be.
She notes that the whole thought process of becoming a writer was entrenched in the books she consumed as a child. “Even now, when I see those books I loved…on the shelf of a bookstore, I get goosebumps…remembering the times I secretly read past my bedtime.”
What was your writing process?
For Vindya, there was no systematic process or specific time for generating ideas. “They just come from somewhere.”
Being a fantasy lover herself, Vindya’s inspiration came from a variety of creative sources. From things she had heard a long time ago and had since been buried within her memory, or from something she had read or watched and decided deserved a different ending. She even mentions day-to-day sightings, such as a photograph, the clouds, the wind, tall trees or something she sees through her window. Something that is “spontaneous and whimsical.”
In “Cideral,” Vindya predominantly focuses on looking at things from a different perspective. “I aimed to speak to the readers about the hidden courage in all of us and the possibilities a pure intention could achieve.”
Her story revolves around a child who tries to save her motherland and the lessons she learns from every character she meets on the way. She hopes that maybe these lessons could be “the ‘something’ you wanted to hear from ‘someone’ today,” and that all her readers would feel a little more hopeful after reading and experiencing her own scripted adventure.
What were the challenges you faced while writing or publishing your book?
To Vindya, the biggest hurdle was finding a publisher for her book. She found it exceptionally challenging for an unpublished author to find the right guidance from a professional in the publishing industry. “In that case, I’m incredibly thankful to the Jam Fruit Tree Publications for all the guidance and support they showed throughout.”
How would your story help readers or contribute to society?
Just as Vindya remembers the books she devoured as a child, and the adventures they allowed her to partake in, she hopes that every one of her readers would be able to feel that same sense of excitement. However, what she wishes for the most is that readers would find the “something” that they were looking for in the real world, between the pages of “Cideral.”
“If you don’t like rainy days, it will warm you. If you don’t like warm days, it will cool you down. But, if you are deeply down and cannot enjoy either of them, then if one sentence from this book could be a drop of rain or a ray of sun for you, as a writer, that’s all I want.”
Written by Shannel Pinidiya