AUTHOR’S BIO:
With several books to his credit, Neil D’Silva is a known name in the Indian literary world. His unique stories have struck a chord with a wide range of readers, eliciting praise from various quarters. He has signed book deals with leading publishers such as Penguin Random House, Rupa Publications, and Hachette among others. He has also won screen adaptation deals on three of his books.He has been named as one of the Top 7 Indian horror writers to be read by UK’s DESIblitz magazine. Considered as one of the forerunners of contemporary Indian horror literature, he has been covered by publications such as Mid-day, New Indian Express, Times of India, and many others.
He is also a frequent presence on the panels of literary festivals across the country. Neil D’Silva is a member of the international Horror Writers Association.
He was a winner at the Delhi Literature Festival Short Story Competition of 2015. His book Maya’s New Husband won the title of Entertainer of the Year at the Literary Awards 2015 that was co-hosted by Authors’ Ink Publications and Inside Stories.
1. Who and what inspired you to write?
My father, Philip Neri, and Edgar Allan Poe. In that order. My father was a huge book hoarder. I don’t know if he read those books, but he always bought them and stocked them! As a child, I loved digging into his collection, and it was here that I found titles from Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, and — allow me to take this name with due respect — Edgar Allan Poe. It was Poe’s strangely gothic worlds and depraved characters that fascinated me the most. Even as a young teen when I read those stories, especially The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, and many others, all I wanted to do was to write like him, to create such bizarrely dark worlds like the horrormeister had created.
It also helped that my father worked with films. He translated movies from Hindi to English. One of his biggest clients were the Ramsay brothers. As my dad hacked away at his Remington typewriter, translating movies like Dak Bangla, Veerana, Tehkhana, and such, I sat next to him, my teen mind getting all fascinated with those dark stories of monsters in havelis and kabristans.
So, my influences came both from Western literature as well as from Hindi cinema. I have had the best of both worlds, you may say, and that’s what makes my writing what it is.
2. What challenges did you face while writing and getting published?
Writing was a wonderful experience for me. I will not demean it by saying that it challenged me, because it did not. It only provided, and continued to provide, the best to me from its bounty. I seek solace in writing. It’s the only thing I want to do and like to do, and, over time, I have gotten inspired by many literary geniuses and still been able to evolve a style that characteristically my own.
I didn’t have many issues on the publishing front either. I self-published my first book, Maya’s New Husband, on Amazon KDP. It did quite well, staying on Amazon horror top 10 for close to two years. I then used Amazon KDP and a few indie publishers for three more books. The only thing with that was the inability to connect with the larger market. This was when The Book Bakers stepped in and offered to pitch my subsequent books.
3. How did you come to know about the literary agency THE BOOK BAKERS?
Suhail Mathur, who is an avowed fan of horror fiction and has written a few horror stories himself, tracked me on social media. We connected on Facebook shortly after Maya’s New Husband was released. I still remember the day when Suhail called me up and convinced me that I could do much better in terms of publishing because he had seen a spark in my writing. That was basically how we connected. Suhail is today a very good friend of mine and my go-to person for all kinds of publishing chatter and advice.
4. How did THE BOOK BAKERS help you and what would you like to say about them ?
Though Suhail Mathur connected with me in 2015 itself, we could not sign up at that time due to certain bindings I had with another party. It was 2017 that we reconnected. I had just self-published Yakshini and had also received a major screen deal for it. I spoke to Suhail about it and Suhail successfully catapulted the book to the big league with a deal from Rupa Publications. The book is widely released and available everywhere now, and a bestseller. Close on its heels, The Book Bakers brought me another major deal, which was a commissioned project with Penguin Random House India which would tell the stories of famous paranormal investigator, Jay Alani. This book happened, and Jay and I co-authored it, and it was another whopping success. These two books brought me into the big league and it was just a matter of time before I was rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of the literary world on litfest panels, including Shimla International Literature Festival, Noida International Literature Festival, Pune International Literature Festival, and Times Litfest Bengaluru.
5. How do you see literary success for yourself?
Literary success for me only translates into one thing — my ability to write a lot of stories and get read by as many people as possible. It is an icing on the cake if the stories get critical acclaim as well, and I have been fortunate in that regard.
6. When can we expect your next book?
I have two books in the pipeline, both of them pitched by The Book Bakers.
The Spirits Talk to Me releases with Hachette India on September 25, 2020. The next book is Ghost Whispers with Rupa Publications, and is currently going through the editing process. Both these books are co-authored by me and paranormal investigator Sarbajeet Mohanty, and are commissioned deals.
7. Any message or tips for aspiring authors?
Please focus on improving your craft every day by reading a lot and continuously writing. When writing, do not think about getting it published or marketing or who would read it. When writing, just pour your soul on paper in its most undiluted self. Everything starts with a well-written book, and that is where your sole focus should be when you begin.
TITLE OF BOOKS PUBLISHED VIA THE BOOK BAKERS :
Yakshini (2019) – Rupa Publications
Haunted (2019) – co-authored with Jay Alani, Penguin Random House India
The Spirits Talk to Me (2020) – co-authored with Sarbajeet Mohanty, Hachette India
Ghost Whispers (upcoming) – co-authored with Sarbajeet Mohanty, Rupa Publications
