Saravana Kumar Murugan goes with the pen name Someone is Special and Sarav. He is the author of the bestselling romantic novel, Coffee Date: The Real Taste of Love and the heart-warming book on father’s love, Letters to My Son. He has also written an exotic collection of short stories, Sixteen and Half, a tiny collection of poems on lost love and painful tears, Love and Honey, and a self-help book, The Writer’s Dream: From Draft to Bestseller. He is also the editor of Shades of Life series and a contributing author of several anthologies including “Uff Ye Emotions 2â€, “Timeless Loveâ€, “A Little Chorus of Loveâ€, among others. He writes under a pen name “Someone is Special†at “Few Miles– shortlisted as one of the Top 12 Creative Blogs of India in 2014â€, and the winner of more than 25 creative writing contests.
Born and raised in Chennai, Sarav lives in Bangalore, where does project management for an MNC. In nine years of IT life, he worked at a customer site in London, UK for a year and at a customer site in Hamburg, Germany for three years. Currently, he is performing the role of Windows 10 Deployment Project Manager for a farming customer. He has won Best Campus Joinee Award, Technology Innovation Spark Award for his work. He is graduated B. Tech in Information Technology. He, along with his wife Vidhya, founded indiauthor.in, connecting authors, publishers, readers and reviewers. He loves capturing life through the lens, giving life to paper with pencil, and at times, he satisfies his stomach with his own cooking.
A couple of easy questions to begin with… Why do you write? What keeps you motivated during creative slumps?
First of all, a heartfelt thanks to you, Ayushi. It’s a pleasure to be interviewed by you. I write because I love to write life. I write stories to inspire people around me and understand the importance of love in life; it can be a romance between couples, father’s love, mother’s love, friendship or just simply love. I convey a message in each of my stories for readers to take away. I try to strike the chord with readers and invite to think about it deep inside the heart.
I am a story box. I have written many short stories and books and so far, I never ran out of plots. At times, I struggle to put my thought in words. Like I mentioned in my Self-Help Book, The Writer’s Dream: From Draft to Bestseller, I read snippets of my own writing to get rid of creative slumps.
Please tell us something more about your books?
‘Letters to My Son’ is all about love. The love of a single father, Aarav who brings up his son, Nirav, protecting him against all odds, is unimaginably pure. The purity of parenthood and importance of love in life are the objective behind the book. Let me also tell you about “Coffee Reads†series and the idea behind penning down books of approximately ten thousand words. In this digital world, people are more attracted to shorter books than the traditional lengthy novels. Not to offend anyone, but the reality is we are in T-20 era and most of us are happy to spend maximum two to three hours for entertainment. Authors, publishers and sellers like Amazon have understood readers pulse well. That’s the reason Amazon and other leaders in the market started accepting books of any size. Hence the concept “Coffee Reads†…books that can be read in an hour and still has a message for readers to cherish about.
I do not think if I can be able to provide a summary of all books, but I love the list of the ones I am associated with.
Coffee Date: The Real Taste of Love – a romantic dosage of love.
Sixteen and Half: an exotic collection of short stories on various genres.
Love and Honey: a tiny collection of poems on lost love and painful tears.
The Writer’s Dream: From Draft to Bestseller – a self-help book.
Shade of Life book series (Editor): Anthology series of short stories and poems.
Contributing author of several anthologies including “Uff Ye Emotions 2â€, “Timeless Loveâ€, “A Little Chorus of Loveâ€, among others.
Out of all the books you’ve written, do you have a favorite?
It’s hard to name a baby as my favorite. Be it Coffee Date- my debut novel, Sixteen and Half, love and honey, The Writer’s Dream: From Draft to Bestseller or Letters To My Son, all the books are my favorites. If I have to pick one that’s very dear to my heart, it is undoubtedly Letters To My Son. It’s because I’ve a beautiful and much needed message in a short read- Coffee Reads.
Is there anything you are currently working on that may intrigue the interest of your readers?
Of course! Not just one… you can expect three books (Coffee Reads) in the month of June and July. I am supposed to complete the book “Are You Game†on a controversial topic by the end of April/May. However, due to professional commitments, I was not able to complete the book. I am working on it and I am hoping to get it published soon. It’s of the genre “Social Cause†and “Romanceâ€. The other books I am working falls under the genre Self Help titled The Writer’s Dream: The Lifeline. (Book 2 of Writing Series) and the other is of genre “Romance†titled “Yet Another Love Storyâ€.
You are given two choices in life you can either live in a solitude place where you can write or you can live with everything but should not write. What will you choose?
Without any second thoughts, I’d opt for option 1. I’ll be happy to live in a solitude place and write. Thanks for asking this question, I am just validating the practically of this. And, I’ll be happy if I get such a choice in my life.
What does your writing/reading space look like?
My bed. I write/read sitting on my bed. I usually keep my writing pad, laptop and book-to-read to the right side of my pillow. Look at the picture: you can see all of it along with a couple of wires in the background connected to speakers. I listen to songs (my playlist) before I go to bed. And that antique-type music player is a gift from my best friend ten years ago.
What are your top three favourite books of all time?
On any given day, I can read “The Notebook by Nicholas Sparksâ€. Such is the love for the book. Bourne Trilogy and Harry Potter series come next!
If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?
I’d rather have it with me. I’m happy with what I love and have.
How did you feel when the publisher accepted your draft for the first time?
More than the acceptance, I’d rather talk about rejections. Because rejections taught me life lessons that I did not learn in my school days. It also inflicted confidence in me. I became a better person. A better writer!
Any advice you would like to give to aspiring writers?
Write, read and rewrite, because only practice can make you perfect. When you write, do listen to your heart, as it will help you write heart-touching stories instead of mere bestsellers.
I would like you to share something about yourself with the readers. Something that does not go in the about the author section something that is the real you?
Ah! That’s a nice one. I love Mathematics. I can do calculations faster and developed algorithm to reach solutions faster and in an easier way. Unfortunately, I had to pursue B. Tech in Information Technology instead of B. Sc in Mathematics. All is well for a good reason. I am a happy IT Professional.
Here are some of links via you can contact Saravana-
Write to him at sarav@iamsarav.com
