Management Compass: The Interview

IfThere used to be a magazine called Competition Success Review that had a readership of aspiring to join the super competitive Civil Service Exams in India. They not only featured interviews of candidates who had been successful but had a summary of all the major headlines for the month. Not sure if that magazine exists.Meanwhile Shubhadarshini who runs Management Compass contacted me for an interview. The mag reminded me of Competition Success Review but a lot more slickly produced and with its own summary of events in the business world. Here is a transcript of what I had sent to them:

1.      What is it about the B-schools that makes it a good backdrop for a story?

An author must write about things that have a ring of authenticity. I went to a B-School and the story is therefore set in a surrounding that I am familiar with. The dilemmas of B School life make for an interesting combination for B-Schools.

2.    Campus stories is a trend started by Chetan Bhagat. Your comment.

Chetan's book was the first one to sell so many copies and so the setting became well known. But there have been stories set in campus or school settings before - just that they never became so popular.

3.      In terms of characters, how rich are the B-schools?

A character is interesting because of the way the author has written about them. There are interesting characters all around us. It is a question of writing about them in a manner that brings the character alive.

4.     What is it that can be repeated in terms of context?

My book Mediocre But Arrogant touches on so many aspects of B-School life that get repeated year after year - hostel life, bad food in the mess, crazy Professors, relationships... all of it makes for a potent plotline!

5.      What else can be provided to the readers?

The setting of the city. In my case, the story is set in the beautiful town of Jamshedpur. The life in that town is contrasted with life in the city of Delhi. That again is an opportunity to bring the nuances of the two places.

6.     How strong and prevalent is writing among B-school students?

B-Schools demand a certain proficiency of communication skills. So everyone needs to have a certain degree of skill in writing. However that writing is more around Business Writing as opposed to creative writing. Most people do pen a few lines at some stage or the other. People write when they are impacted by an event and want to express their thoughts. The trick is to just do it consistently.

7.      How did the current authors like you flourish your language?

I just wrote the way it comes naturally to me. I never thought about any specific audience or anything because it was my first novel. I was not even sure anyone would want to publish it.

8.    All the books that have been done till now have the humour element, can you visualize a different genre of books like a thriller or a suspense?

I am sure someone could write a thriller or murder mystery set in a B-School. Any story or genre is possible. Just that it needs to be written plausibly.