About Pallavi Chandra
Pallavi Chandra is a Data Scientist by profession. She resides in Bangalore. She is originally from Patna. She started her journey of writing by writing self-journals. She is a part-time teacher, consultant, mentor, and writer.
LiFT: Tell us about your book, the journey of writing it and its content.
Pallavi: The journey started with a conflict that kept bothering me why is the world approaching pessimism, and why empathy is often confused with weakness? This reminded me of my maternal grandmother who through her stories and tales brought optimism and hope. I wish to write something that can help children to hope for a better future. As a woman, nothing was better than bringing a hero within woman. I started writing in a small pocket diary that was gifted by one of my best friends. And there the journey of writing started. For sketching, I tried to visualize the scenes and how Tsuyoi would have reacted and accordingly sketched that. The front cover also depicts her character who is shy, introvert, and brave.
LiFT: Why you chose this title?
Pallavi: Tsuyoi means brave in Japanese. It is a story of a young girl who found herself, her strength and bravery lay within her through the journey of her life.
LiFT: When did you realize that you want to be a writer and what’s your inspiration behind it?
Pallavi: Honestly, I didn’t realize that I wish to be a writer or a poet. I just wanted a medium to express the conflict within me. My biggest inspiration is the human itself. If we observe them closely we can get so many woven perspectives of them.
LiFT: Where do you see yourself ten years down the line in the world of literature?
Pallavi: I wish to express the commotion within me as often as I can. I wish to show the world through the lens of an Indian woman. Even in the story Tsuyoi, I portrayed a simple and common girl as brave just like our mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives who are so simple and common but store the strength to light up an Agni kund.
LiFT: How much do you think marketing or quality of a book is necessary to promote a particular book and increase its readers?
Pallavi: I realized that marketing and quality are very important to any kind of product, especially with today’s system. It is an integral part of not only the writing world but any other commercial and service products as well. The product may or may not stand out but if you have done your work of expressing your thoughts honestly, people will love it.
LiFT: What is the message you want to spread among folks with your writings?
Pallavi: I just wish to spread the message that Louisa May Alcott wrote in Little Women “Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for.”
Women have their world and they love, admire, cherish, and are happy. It’s just that we as women, have humbly accepted the men-approved world for us.
LiFT: What do you do apart from writing?
Pallavi: I work as a Data Scientist which is something I am very passionate about. I am an instructor at upGrad and teach Data Science. I also do consulting where I provide my knowledge and expertise in the form of mentorship to other businesses and organizations. I also often enjoy cooking and watching movies with my husband.
LiFT: What are the activities you resort to when you face a writer’s block?
Pallavi: I never thought much of this. I think if the flow is clear. What we can do is start with the topic on which we wish to write. Then brainstorming writes the main points which will flow like a story divided into chapters. Maybe we can do small sketching as well. Also writing two consequences or two and more ways of leading the story will also help to think further.
LiFT: What if your story will be adopted as a movie? Whom would you want to work as a director or actors in it?
Pallavi: I would like it to be converted to anime. Since this is a children’s book.
LiFT: Are you working on your next book? If yes, please tell us something about it.
Pallavi: I am not working on a new book. This is a collection of short stories which are taken from bits and pieces of life that each of us sometimes or the other would have experienced it. This is also once again about hope.
LiFT: What are your suggestions to the budding writers/poets so that they could improve their writing skills?
Pallavi: Just be honest with your thoughts. Never write to sell or get fame, write to express how you see the world and what kind of world you wish to see.
Click here to order Pallavi’s Book – TSUYOI
