Mayaa SH recently won the Sri Aurobindo Indian Literary Award, 2022 for her excellent contribution to literature. Cherry book awards believes she is amongst the contemporary stars of Indian literature. We caught up with her for an exclusive interview. Here it is:
What inspires you to keep inspiring people through your literary creations?
Inspiration represents the reasons for people’s actions, desires and needs. It can also be defined as the direction to behave. A motive prompts any author to develop an inclination for specific writings and building relationships in various aspects of life.Most of my writings are finely aimed at social situations and events. In this way, those deep insights help illuminate on the subjects close to topics specific to contemporary literature and nonfiction, it also helps elevate many and endeavours to bring change in the society through writing. Creativity is the primary motivation of all arts.
Share about your published books.
Sindoori , Sankalp and Soch are three solo books aimed at highlighting that Motivation is more and more influenced by the driver or stimulus. As a result, the person can moves towards success.Motivation is a psycho-physical and internal process. Soch and Sindoori are dedicated to women who can keep the books handy as guide books of quotations and self help books that can uplift the the mental and emotional condition (as of enthusiasm, confidence, or loyalty) of women or a group of women with regard to the function or tasks at hand of anybody who has lost hope in life and tries to identify with the energy that is to be awakened from within.Sankalp hughlights on the strength of our thoughts and the conscious or unconscious affective action factor which drives the behavior of any person towards some purpose in life is the key to arise , awake and stop not till the goal is achieved !
What are the qualities of a good author?
An author is a person who writes articles using his or her ideas, words, styles and techniques. Every single word is very important for any author as it definitely creates an impact. The author is such that he or she creates a story, poem, novel, drama, editorial, report with his or her art, which the readers are satisfied by through the medium of reading .Authors usually consider the basic steps that include prewriting, drafting, revision, editing, and publication. A good author learns something continuously and is hard working. There is a lot to learn from the books published by other authors as well . One must pay attention to one’s all activities which are necessary for creation. Besides , the language in which we are told to write should also be good in that language. Especially there should be no error in grammar and selection of words. The language should be in the understanding of the reader. Be interesting in the language and also be effective. Language itself attracts the reader. After writing the article, a good author pays attention to the mistakes (if any )made in it and rectifies it. When we express our thoughts, feelings by writing, it is called writing skill or written expression. Writing includes writing well and in good characters. Expression of emotion by writing through simple words is called written expression and a good author should be aware of this fact .
Share some of your major literary achievements.
It would be very unfair to praise oneself extravagantly to speak on literary accolades , but to give it a holistic approach , I would say that my biggest achievement – something that is accomplished with great effort or skill is when I attempt to highlight on various to reflect the true nature of her class, caste and gender pain, going beyond the physical pain of the woman? Feminist movement is a political movement which favors social, economic, political and personal freedom of women. Women’s emancipation is not a question of emancipation of women alone, but it is an essential condition of the emancipation of entire humanity. Actually it is a fight for identity. History has also proved that revolutions cannot be successful without the participation of half the population.Most of my writings are directed towards when I am able to engage with the topics of social and ethical issues of classic and contemporary writings and explore different perspectives on a range of social issues such as free speech, poverty and homelessness, mental illness, capital punishment and racial and gender inequality, feminism, Trans Reform etc. through my writer’s craft .
What is your advice to young and budding writers who want to publish their debut books?
The best recommendation is to focus on a simple fact as to what is the purpose of writing any article ,poem etc. New writers should not be in a hurry.Spelling errors should not be neglected. After writing the composition, at least a week later, it should be read again and seen. Friends and knowledgeable people should give that work to read for any genuine recommendation. Do not create excessive amounts. Readers’ suggestions should be followed.Special attention should be paid to grammatical errors. A new author should not write in excessive enthusiasm, due to which mistakes are made, every word should be written very carefully, which word will come out with what meaning.Your one wrong word can ruin the meaning in your writing art, if you are new then it is natural that mistakes will happen, then to correct those mistakes, learn from your peers who are already trying their hand in writing art from you. Learn from mistakes.Creation should not be in direct words but should be an emotional expression.Efforts should be made to convey the message through the compositions.In the initial attempts, the compositions should not be too long.
What kind of books do you love to read? Name any three books apart from your books that you would recommend to all.
Reading is essential and serves as a basic building block for learning. Romance novels are perhaps the most popular genre in terms of book sales. An endless array of genres in both fiction and nonfiction is what I look for .all types of books from Action and Adventure to Classics ,Detective and Mystery and even Comic Books in leisure hours of the week .Contemporary Fiction that relish the focus on realism is also a good read .
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- India: From Midnight to the Millennium by Shashi Tharoor
- How to Love Your Life by Ruskin Bond
As an author, is it important to write in simple or high end language, and why?
There are two elements to writing development: composition and transcription. Structure can be considered the ‘writer’s role’, as it involves knowing who will read the writing (its reader) and, along with, choosing the language style to be used, generating and organizing ideas. What achievement (its purpose) will be achieved.It is important to know whom we are writing for and the communication has to high impact which is when the sender and the receiver of the message is able to understand the context . There is no such thumb rule to write in simple or high end language , it entirely depends upon as to what is an author trying to cummunicate via the medium of his or her book .Books like You Can Win : A Step By Step Tool For Top Achievers is divided into eleven chapters and written in simple English .It is an international best seller self-help book by motivational speaker Shiv Khera.
In your opinion, how can the decreasing readership trend, especially in India can be stopped from further decline?
Whatever the level of reading skills that anybody harbours, it is a good practice to give them daily opportunities to experience enjoyable reading. It is important that anybody is motivated by a genuine desire or need to read. Here are five main things one can do:
- Highlight on aspects of importance of effective communication and that you are a reader yourself. Talk about what you like to read and share some suitable examples with them.
- Emphasis to create a reading environment in home, office hours etc. by creating a book corner or reading a book even in cafeteria as well.
- Time to be spared to read aloud, not just for the sake of language skills and tests, but just for enhancing one’s ideas as well.
- Talk on aspects of likes and dislikes in reading.
- Time to be found at least a half an hour for quiet and independent reading.
- Reading aloud helps all practice their pronunciation and builds confidence in their use of any language. Silent reading is a very advanced skill for anybody, whether they are studying in their first language or a second language.
The habit of reading makes us aware, intelligent and complete person. Anyway, it is essential to incorporate the habit of reading authentic and quality books, newspapers, magazines as your source of knowledge than to get incomplete knowledge through Fake News and Whatsapp.From memoirs to autobiographies and motivational, fiction and non-fiction books keep us swamped with new information and joys. A sound reading Habit is free from any health hazards. Besides, it is better to be friends with books than to keep eyes on mobile for hours. Books can be our best friend. From science to literature and poetry, from nomadic and memoirs to autobiographies and motivational, fiction and non-fiction books fill us with new information and joy.
