Akhila Saroha: I would like to begin by congratulating you on the publication of “Versofiction” How has the response to the book been so far?
Pausali Mukherjee: I extend my heartfelt thanks for your warm wish. Till now whatever information I could gather, from those it can be said that readers are liking VERSOFICTION.. so in that way it is a positive response.
Akhila Saroha: What led to the idea of writing “Versofiction”? Were there any events that inspired the work?
Pausali Mukherjee: Well, Versofiction is my second solo book. There is no such specific event or inspiration behind this book but yeah definitely as I decided to divide this book into three parts, so… for the second part of the book which is named as UNFINISHED FAIRYTALES—for it I have taken few real life incidents into consideration. That’s it. And for the part BIG SHORTS, few current social issues I have taken up to be focused under the light and might of my pen…😃
Akhila Saroha: How easy or difficult was it for you to write poems that held relevance for all and also remain objective about them in your collection “Versofiction”?
Pausali Mukherjee: Well, see actually what I always believe is that – there is no such thing easy or difficult in life, it’s all about our mindset and how we wish to look into the things..! And especially if you love to do something then it is always easy because then it is not a task to perform rather a passion to follow and polish..😃
So in that way definitely writing poems is not any difficulty for me as writing is what I like to do and as I always like to ponder over each and every details which I see or observe or find in the course of my daily life, in my surrounding worlds and people in them…so in that way I didn’t have to put extra effort to build and bridge of relevance in my poems in Versofiction, it came automatically..
Akhila Saroha: What are your views about present-day writing? Do you think it does complete justice in depicting human nature in the light of “Versofiction”?
Pausali Mukherjee:Writing always has its own charm, whether it is of present day or past. But yes as a student of literature I must say that recent stories or novels are more smart in their style of using language…
And well, in Versofiction also I have tried to portray different shades of human nature as we find reflecting around us…how far justice has been done that responsibility should be given to the readers…they will share their views after reading it.
Akhila Saroha: “Versofiction” shows the uniqueness of your style of writing. Are there any authors that you enjoy reading or any books which are your favorites?
Pausali Mukherjee: Thank you for your words of appreciation. 😊 Basically being a student of English literature I have studied works of various authors and poets of English, American and Indian-English literature. But when it comes for personal choice then my all time favorite author is—Satyajit Ray and then there are two special names—Bibhutibhushan Banerjee, Sharadindu Bannerjee and there are many more… in English I like to read Ruskin Bond, Oscar Wilde and I am a blind fan of Sidney Sheldon and also I adore Paulo Coelho’s writings and I don’t experiment with my personal choice of writers so these choices are constant and except these people I seldom read others…that doesn’t mean I don’t read any other writer’s work but I do it just for the sake of reading, sometime to pass time or sometimes to see the style of writing but they do not create any impression in my mind…I know it is a bad habit but I wish to keep this bad habit.
Akhila Saroha: How would you categorize “Versofiction” as its appeal seems to be to a broad audience?
Pausali Mukherjee: Yes as it has released in various platforms and globally also.. so definitely it should have a wide range of readers…so let the readers or audience–as you are saying—decide how they wish to categorize Versofiction☺☺… but yes for me, I will keep it simple and will say that Versofiction can be an any time read for a poetry lover..
Akhila Saroha: “Versofiction” has given a powerful introduction to your potential as a writer. Can the readers expect more from you in the future? Please share about your future projects.
Pausali Mukherjee:Yes definitely. Many new Anthologies are pipelined where readers can find my poetry. And as Solo Project, one novel is on the way…but it will take time to get the full formation. In between verses are also ongoing and also I am assimilating all my works written in Bengali– stories, poems..I wish to publish them now.
Akhila Saroha: What is the story behind the title of your work, “Versofiction”?
Pausali Mukherjee:It is unique indeed but a very simplified explanation is there. As the book contains both Verses (poetry) and Fictions (mini-tales) thus it happened. As a student of literature it is not a tough task for me to mix and match words to create something new… but yeah I wished to keep it as Verse-O-Fiction… but then thought to merge it together to make it unique and thus came VERSOFICTION.
Akhila Saroha: How easy or difficult was it for you to create the situations in poems and show the story from their eyes and also the eyes of a third-person narrator without hampering the readers’ perception in “Versofiction”?
Pausali Mukherjee:As I have already said earlier that for whatever I write, I take instances from my daily life and people around me I find…so when I look into them that time I not only look rather observe and ponder over what I observed and this makes my process of writing easy. Thus in time of writing I don’t have to put any extra effort to create any situation and put any realistic essence into them… it all happens naturally.
Akhila Saroha: In the present time, poems featuring people like your situations in “Versofiction” do not find much mention. What, according to you, could be the possible reason for that?
Pausali Mukherjee: Yes you are right but this is not only the present scenario, in previous ages also many such unnoticed poets, writers were discovered later who had crafted few marvellous pieces of literature but left the world without any reader, admirer or audience,… afterwards their works got the deserved honor and people came to know about them… so in that way I never think about all these things. One possible reason could be that the world of English literature is like an ocean tremendously vast and the works the writers are creating every now and then since the centuries, they are like droplets helping to form a wave of a particular genre in that ocean…so it is not possible that every wave will be counted by everyone but yes each wave must be getting noticed at least by someone in somewhere…so that is the hope.
Akhila Saroha: If you were to describe your book “Versofiction” in a few words without giving any spoilers, what would those words be?
Pausali Mukherjee:There is no space for spoiler actually in Versofiction since it is not any crime thriller or web-series 😁😁 all I will say that Versofiction has many mesmerizing poems which I have written with all my mind and soul. It has few micro tales also which can give the reader a room to recreate a story of their own…even I believe that those mini tales can be featured as short span feature films also… I hope readers will like reading Versofiction and will share and encourage their known people also to read it once.
Akhila Saroha: What advice would you give to budding writers who may be planning to write in the same genre as “Versofiction”?
Pausali Mukherjee: Not only to those who may plan to write in the same genre as Versofiction, even for those also who wish to try their hands in different genres, for all such budding authors I will say that practice makes a man perfect so if you have passion then keep penning down your words in your own style and the world will adjust and appreciate too. But yes from writing something on notepad to give it a shape of book, this is indeed a long journey and it needs patience. So dear budding authors not to lose hope if rejection or no reply is coming from one or more than one Publication Housees, always remember that one closed door opens the opportunity to knock on many other doors.
Akhila Saroha: Thank you very much for sparing your time. I look forward to reading more books from you in the future. All the best.
Pausali Mukherjee: It is my pleasure to speak my heart out about Versofiction. Thank you for your good wishes. Yes I also hope to create more pieces for my readers.
