A Candid Author Interview With Yajat Sharma

Hi Friends,

Allow me to introduce Yajat Sharma, a young and talented author. When most of the children’s world are revolving around coping up the study schedules, watching funny stuff and sometimes reading popular literature, Yajat pen down a trilogy!

Born on 30th May 2006, has been an avid reader since the age of three. His passion for reading inspired this book through which he gave life to his creative imagination. Typing skills gained at an early age of five helped him in being a published author at the young age of 12 years. It is a remarkable achievement indeed. Yajat lives in Delhi with parents Dr. Ritu Dwivedi and Anish Prasad and sister Jagriti.

We are fortunate to read all three of his books. Here are quick links to our book reviews for the same:

• Quest For The Arcane Crown
• The Skull Warrior
• The Pages of Destiny

Yajat and his father are very humble and during our conversation they privileged us to share a sneak peek into this book, the first chapter of the same. You read it / listen to it at:

• Sneak Peek Into The Pages of Destiny

Reading the books intrigued us to know more about Yajat, and what could have been a better option than having a Q/A session with him? Fortunately, the things worked out positively and here we share the author interview with him.

We are glad to have a conversation with you. Thank you for sparing some time to have a Q/A session with us. Your books in “The Four Elementals” series are quite an interesting read.

Please tell us more about yourself, your background, and your passions.

I am Yajat Sharma born on 30-May-2006 currently a student of Class – XI at Delhi Public School, RK Puram, New Delhi.

I was fortunate to be born in a lovely, caring family. My mother Dr. Ritu Dwivedi is a Gynecologist and my father Mr. Anish Prasad is an IIT graduate currently serving in the Indian Police Service. My younger sister Jagriti is in class-IX at Delhi Public School, RK Puram, New Delhi. I love to be with my family and occasionally hang around with my friends.

Due to the education and learning environment in my house, I love academics especially the science subjects. I was passionate about writing my Trilogy. However, currently, solving maths and physics problems is what excites me the most.

Can you tell us how the idea of writing “The Four Elementals” was conceived? And, ultimately writing the same.

When I was 10 years old, I and my sister challenged each other on a creative writing competition among ourselves. At first I started writing on a page, but soon switched to typing on my laptop. I had learnt computer typing at the age of 3-4 years.

One day my father saw me typing, and was surprised to see that I had almost typed about two hundred pages. He started reading those pages and was positively surprised by the idea. He prodded me to complete the story as he envisioned a book out of this. Feeling encouraged by my parents and sister, I continued typing every day and completed my first book. By the time, I reached the climax of the first book, I was already having ideas about two more books and that’s how I thought of the Trilogy. The cliff hanger, at the end of the first book is a door to the second book.

I was in class-8 that time and the idea of a Trilogy seemed daunting. But my parents have always taught me that if you do anything with focus and sincerity, you can achieve anything. I just did that and the result is before everyone.

It is a long story and you articulated it in three books nicely. Was there entire story in your mind since the beginning or you kept writing and story kept moving ahead?

As I mentioned in the previous question, initially I was focused only on the first book. I didn’t even have the title in the mind. But as I reached climax of the first book, I was having lots of ideas that this could be a FOUR ELEMENTAL trilogy. The ideas were all very fluid in my mind but as I kept typing the books, these ideas starting taking shape. So, yes, I just kept writing and the story kept moving ahead.

The book cover plays an important role in bookselling, were you involved in the book cover designing process? How much?

My entire family was involved in how the cover should be. My sister kept drawing rough sketches after I discussed the concept with the family. I was sort of nagging at times but finally was satisfied with the wonderful book covers.

Can you tell us more about your writing regime?

I used to come from school and soon after lunch, I used to open the laptop and start typing. This went on for a few months before I got distracted with some friends in the colony. At that time, I was writing my first book. It took some persuasion from my parents who used to nudge me in completing the first book. There were times I didn’t write a single page for days together. Then suddenly I used to type several pages. This inconsistency led to break in the flow and added to my efforts that I feel could have been avoided had those distractions weren’t there. However, while writing or typing the second and the third book, I was much more consistent as compared to that of the first one. The distractions were less. Especially while typing the third book, I was with my father at Agartala, Tripura due to the lockdown and there were no disturbances or distractions.

Of course, there will be positive reactions for your this endeavour by your friends, classmates, teachers and relatives. Can you share anything specific from the same?

I was invited to various schools at Delhi-NCR, Ranchi and Vizag. The feedback and comments that I received motivated and encouraged me a lot. At the time of the launch of my first book- THE QUEST FOR THE ARCANE CROWN- at the India International Centre, New Delhi in July-2018, many of my friends and classmates scribbled down their thoughts on a memory board placed at the venue. I still feel good reading those comments.

Have you been asked to give your autograph? Can you share that overwhelming experience?

This happened to me almost everywhere I was invited. Children used to surround me requesting autograph and I always felt not very comfortable. I was especially overwhelmed at the Vishakhapatnam Literary Festival where I was invited as a speaker. A young reader came and took my autograph and shot a selfie with me. I didn’t know how to react. My parents say that I am media shy and actually I don’t enjoy being in limelight with all eyes focused on me.

In a typical Indian family, while working on our passions, we are wisely and rightly advised to not to lose focus from study. I guess, the case was same for you as well. Can you tell us how have you managed to follow passions of writing along with doing regular studies?

My parents have been very keen on academics. They themselves are very high achievers in academic field. Naturally, I modeled them and I am quite passionate about academics. I would like to add here that my parents never place any expectations or any kind of stress on me. I just have to ensure that I am not demanding or doing anything illegal, anti-social or immoral. I just have to take care of these three things and I am free to do anything in life and choose my life path as I wish. I feel fortunate to get such unconditional love from my parents.

Who are your favorite authors whom you love to read?

My favorite authors are Rick Riordan, J K Rowling and Dan Brown. But, I have read a plethora of books from various other authors since a very early age.

Which are the book(s) you are reading currently?

Currently, I am reading all the science books of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. I am not reading any fiction novels at this time as I am focusing on preparation of engineering entrance examination that I have to appear in 2023.

Each and every experience teaches us something important. What lessons did you learn from writing these books?

I would say that till date in my life, writing this Trilogy has been the biggest learning experience of my life that has fundamentally transformed me as a person. I learnt that being focused and committed can bring us great achievements that seem to be impossible to accomplish. I learnt the importance of family and well-wishers who keep you in good mental state while you are up against a challenging task. The pains taken by my family in getting the books published is another story on which a book can be written.

As my books started becoming popular and I got invitations from schools and literary festivals, my parents taught me to handle fame and success and how to keep myself grounded around all this maya. Unconsciously, I have modeled several of my parent’s acts and behaviors that shaped my own value system. I am convinced that no big achievement or any worthwhile task can be achieved without a close team of connected people working around you. Today they are around me. Some other day, I had to be around them in their close team, so that is how I aim to live my life moving forward.

Do you love to read traditional printed books more or EBooks?

Traditional printed books, hands down. My parents gave me a kindle but I prefer printed books.

What is your opinion about EBook readers and their impact on the generation overall?

I have no particular opinion as I feel it’s a matter of preference. Some people like reading the e-books and even listening to them (audio books) but I prefer reading printed books.

Did you grow up hearing moral and ethical stories from parents/grandparents? If yes, how it affected your persona?

All the time. Especially, my father has subtle ways to convey moral and ethical values to me. Both of my parents are always available with all their time and we keep conversing a lot. My persona has a deep impact of my parents. I feel I keep on modeling my parents all the time as they do wonderful things for their children, their parents, their friends etc.

Please share your social media/web presence, so readers can connect with you.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/authoryajat

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoryajat

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authoryajat/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authoryajat

My books are available at Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press stores.

For the next few years you will be focusing more on your studies. But, we are sure, in future you may come up with many books. In fact, The Four Elementals – series has the potential to be carried forward. Is there anything you can share about your future plans, or is it too early to say?

For the next two years, my focus is to enter a good engineering college. I want to be an Engineer before taking up another major writing endeavor. What Chetan Bhagat did, definitely crosses my mind sometimes- IIT, IIM and then author. But I am not thinking that far in future and just focusing on the next two years.

Please share anything you want to from your end.

I am humbled by the questions that you have asked. While writing the answers I felt happy and nostalgic while re-living the entire journey of the Trilogy in my memory. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.

It was really fantastic connecting with you and having this Q/A session. We look forward to many more such interactions in future. Wishing you all the best for various aspects of your life. Thank you for giving us time and sharing your thoughts.

Thanks for the encouraging words. The pleasure was all mine.

Quick Purchase Links For The First Book In The Series:

• Buy – Quest For The Arcane Crown By Yajat Sharma – Paperback – Amazon India
• Buy – Quest For The Arcane Crown By Yajat Sharma – Kindle Ebook – Amazon India
• Buy – The Quest For The Arcane Crown By Yajat Sharma – Paperback – Amazon US
• Buy – Quest For The Arcane Crown By Yajat Sharma – Kindle Ebook – Amazon US

Over To You:

I hope you have enjoyed the Q/A session with him. And many of your questions might be already answered. Let us know that what do you think about this Interview session? Do you want us to ask anything else to heron your behalf? Do let us know. Also, let us know which other authors you like us to interview? Do let us know your thoughts and remarks via comments below. Do not forget to share this article with your friends over various social networks via Twitter, Facebook and others. And yes, you may like to subscribe to our RSS feeds and follow us on various Social networks to get latest updates for the site to land right in your mailbox.