Interview with Author Neha Sharma
Neha Sharma, author of Wedding Pickle, has an unabashed passion towards writing, this passion stems from the fact that she is an avid reader. Neha hails from Bangalore, the garden city of India, and was born in New Delhi. She is a defense kid; having traveled nearly the whole of India. She holds a Master’s degree in HR and International Business.
Neha moved to Norway in 2010 after her wedding and has been there since. She is a mother to a three-year-old. She loves to sit for hours weaving stories about people from different walks of life. She loves to give life to different characters and tell stories to people that can bring out a message or just touch their hearts. Her friends call her a day dreamer as she likes being lost in her own world of imagination where nearly everything seems possible.
Neha has a blog – www.inkedemotions.com which consists of short stories, they mostly speak of the strength of the women in our country.
What made you come across this theme of wedding, what is your advice to those embarking on this journey?
I felt that a lot of us go through a series of dilemma during this phase of deciding, which often clouds our judgement on who to get married to, when to get married, to wait a little longer or not.
I felt I should write about it, put forth characters that go through situations a lot of us go through in this phase of our lives.
Marriage is one of the biggest decision one makes in their life, let it be your and only your decision to make, let not anybody influence your thought process in any way. It’s also very important to not make any decision in haste. It’s also very important to be mentally ready to embark on this journey, if not don’t get into it yet. Marriage is about two personalities making a promise to spend the rest of their lives with each other, hence it’s very important that both of them respect the contrasts in their personalities and work around them.
You also have a blog; can you elaborate more on that?
Yes, I do have a blog, www.inkedemotions.com. It comprises of short stories about the strength of the women from different walks of life. I wanted to bring forth those women who have commendable tolerance, courage. I want to speak about their ability to stand against any calamity owing to their sheer grit and determination.
What are your favorite books?
There are many, to name a few –
Little women – by Louisa May Alcott
Kite runner – by Salman Rushdie
A thousand splendid suns – by Salman Rushdie
Memoirs of a Geisha – by Arthur Golden
Shantaram – by Gregory David Robert (though it took me forever to complete it)
Notebook – by Nicholas Sparks
Last but not the least, I have been in love with the Harry Potter series since I was in 7th grade, it’s hard to get over a love that old, it still remains undoubtedly the only books that take me right back to my childhood.
What is your process of writing a book?
I have to first pick a story that appeals to me. I love writing about the nitty-gritties of various relationships people share. I center my stories around these characters and the dynamics of their relationship. I have a very clear thought process on what message I want the reader to take away with them when they read the book, I keep that message alive in every page and go forward with my story. I give a certain personality to each of the characters, live their story in front of my eyes, and them put them out on the paper and hope each of my characters leave a lasting resonance in the mind of my readers.
What are your future projects?
I am writing my second book at the moment, chalking my characters out. I won’t be able to reveal much about it as of now, I however have a poetic series on Birth of a Meera on my Instagram.