By Shiba Aamir for TwoCircles.net
Kolkata: Now 18, Nitin Gupta decided to write a novel in 2014 when he was only 16 years old. Inspired by legends such as Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he has created an Anglo-Indian sleuth Henry Lyons in Aberration Murder Awaits (2015), the first book in the Vengeance is a Bliss trilogy, which sold more than a thousand copies on the Kindle Store.
Gupta lives in Kolkata and is currently pursuing Computer Science degree from city’s St. Xavier’s College.
He was in class eight when, being inspired by The Blue Light by Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, he wrote his first short story A Mysterious Telephone Call. His friends and teachers praised him and (as he says) the story began…
“Every writer is a reader at heart,” says the young writer, pointing that he wrote something which he, as a reader, would have liked, hoping that the people “out there” would like it as well.
His love for Agatha Christie is evident when he says that Peril at End House , the first whodunit he ever read, was the book that influenced him the most.
“My parents are fairly supportive and wants me to continue writing as a hobby but aren’t ready to allow me to take it up as a mainstream profession yet,” he says.
Besides writing, he also has interest in technology, which explains his decision to take up Computer Science for higher studies and not English Literature. There was also a tone of pragmatism of middle class when he said that considering how ‘‘unstable the writing industry’’ he could get a steady income in future by pursuing technology. Once he has enough means, he says, he would love to devote his full time in writing.
Gupta believes that researching is a very critical phase of writing a book. Describing this, he says, “I have read two books on Handwriting Analysis and one on the judicial/police system in London to make sure that there were as few factual errors as possible in my book.”
He adds, “I devoted two weeks of time researching the roads of London using Google Maps.” Upon being asked why he chose London as the location for his book, he said that that was his way to offer his tribute to Agatha Christie who was born in London, the person who inspired him to write this book.
Gupta is next working on the sequel to Aberration Murder Awaits called Benefaction Murder Betrays, and a solo crime thriller The Insomniac which will be set in Kolkata.
(The author is currently pursuing her MA in Journalism and Mass Communication at Aliah University, Kolkata)