WORLD BOOK DAY: Interview with Shilpi Moda Signodia, author of Innocent Wings

Author Shilpi Moda Signodia is a trained management professional who took up writing and parenting as her vocations. Her new book Innocent Wings is a tour de force uproots some aged redundancies regarding parenting in the Indian context. The unique contextual sensibility renders the book with phenomenal relevance. In the light of the recent child-abuse cases registered in Kerala, my home state, I'd say, every parent and individual with a family must read Innocent Wings and rethink the ways in which they treat their children.

            Now, friends, I get a bit greedy when it comes to books and related materials. So after perusing Innocent Wings and opening my eyes to these new possibilities in parenting and child-caring, I felt the urge to talk to the author to get some answers to questions that were welling up inside me.  The result is this short interview with the author Shilpi.

            Through this short interview, I expect to unveil the writing process of the author to my readers who also happen to be writers.  Also, this is a humble attempt to introduce an author to those regions and people who haven't read her before. I wish someone could translate Innocent Wings to Malayalam and other regional languages so that it can reach more people. However, I must admit that the language adopted by Shilpi in writing this book is easy to understand without special knowledge of English. The narration of Innocent WIngs is simple, honest, and direct. For more information on Innocent Wings, visit this link here.

 Happy World Book Day!

Anu Lal Interviews 
author Shilpi Moda Signodia

I am so honoured to have the opportunity to interview you, dear author Shilpi ji. I am very much moved by the torrent of underlying emotions in your book, Innocent Wings. Several questions welled up in my mind while reading your book. I have included the relevant ones here.

            Also as a reader, I have always been keen to look at how the writer thinks about the process of writing. So there are some questions that may seem general.

            Anu Lal: With Innocent Wings you have certainly made a mark in the Indian English          literary scene. You told a poignant story in realistic terms. The characters aren't fictional. Are they? Why did you choose to write about Dyslexia?

Author Shilpi: No, none of the characters is fictional. All are real. Why dyslexia, because we have a tendency to consider only those problems as a problem which are extremes. Like sexual harassment, too many talks on that. But, why we ignore the small small issues, from where it becomes havoc.

Dyslexia is not any disease, it is a situation which could arise with any child, genetic or not genetic. It could be situational too. The only thing that can be done ease the problem, is to talk about it, be aware and accept.  This is my own story, Rudra is no one but my son.

Anu Lal: In your acknowledgement section, you mention that the book is the result of a group effort. Indeed, there is no question about how fulfilling Innocent Wings is. What is your process of writing? a) When do you find time to write; how many words do you write every day? As a full-time mother, we completely understand that this is probably the most important of all questions anyone could ask. b) Do you work with a plot or plan in mind or are you a spontaneous writer? c) How many drafts do you write before publishing a book?

Author Shilpi: Too many questions in a question. I am just a pen lover. I don’t follow any format. Its just my fingers flow on my keyboard to narrate the music of my story. Actually, there is no process that I follow, I am just an amateur writer, there is lot more to learn.

a)      I write when my children are at school. That’s the best time. But, that also depends on the official workload, sometimes late night. It's like, a fitoor, cant be expressed, how.

b)      Plot is always there, but still its spontaneous. I flow with the flow.

c)      I just make one draft. And every time I read, changes are made. If I’ll the draft 100 times, then 100 times I will be changing it again and again. I was unable to move to chapter four because of this, then I decided not to read it until I finish.

Anu Lal: Who introduced you to the publishing industry? Do you have a godfather in the industry or friends who help you out?

Author Shilpi: No, I don’t have any Godfather or anyone who helped me. It's just I wrote my first book, Mr Google helped me in finding the list of publishers, and I selected Notion Press for my first book. Then once I stepped into this field, thanks to Social Media, I came across with other author and marketing people. And went deep into it.

Anu Lal: Could you please tell us about your experience with Kalamos Literary Services?

Author Shilpi: Kalamos Literary Services, headed by Mr. Anuj, who is a wonderful person. He will guide you and support you at every step. I really have enjoyed my author journey with this company. Truly adore this young entrepreneur, and if reads this, Thank you so much Anuj.

Anu Lal: After reading Innocent Wings, as a reader, I strongly recommend you to write a sequel to this book. Would you like to tell us in the future what happens to Rudra and others?

Author Shilpi: I don’t know how to work on the sequel of the book. It cannot be on Rudra as he is now completely out of this issue. He is doing great. But next if I would write, I would like to write about the adults who are dealing with this issue, and since it is so late that they have to spend their entire life with the problem. How things could be sorted out for dyslexic adults, what are the solutions available for them.

Anu Lal: As a writer myself, I feel that one of the most complicated phases in the process of publishing is fixing a blurb to the book. This is the same with choosing a sales copy (book description) for Amazon and other online retailers. What's your take on this? Who wrote the blurb and book description to your book?

            Author Shilpi:  The blurb, bios, synopsis, everything was done by me. It wasn’t very difficult, because I knew what this book is about.

That was wonderful! So many insights are squeezed into such a short space. Along with my readers, I thank you for taking the time from your precious schedule to answer these questions, dear author Shilpi. We are eagerly awaiting your next book.

          Dear readers, go grab copies of Shilpi Signodia's book using the links given below.

BUY Innocent Wings: HERE