By: Vinod Balan
How it began
The first book that I had published was a self-help book. The second one that I wrote had mysterious elements in it, but still, it conveys a message towards the end. Almost every article and blog post that I have written are message-oriented. It made me wonder if I would be labeled as a particular genre writer.
When this thought cropped up in my mind, I made the decision to write a book which would be completely different from the ones that I had written before. And that’s how the seeds were sown for my third book titled, When You Start Seeing It, a collection of eight supernatural thriller short stories.
What worked for me
Usually, an idea pops up in my mind, and I try to develop that into a full-fledged story. This is what I have been doing so far. For the first time, I deviated from this and wrote a book without a plotline in mind. I wrote it only because I wanted to see if I am capable of writing something different which is not my zone.
This is not something that I would suggest to other writers as you must never write something trying to prove a point to yourself or others. However, in my case, it worked well due to certain reasons.
First, I chose a genre that has always been my favorite. I have grown up watching many supernatural thriller movies across different languages and have always been fascinated by this genre. I had also read a few books based on this genre.
Second, lockdown had been enforced again in my country in May, and my work on the professional front had been hit badly. I wanted to utilize the time effectively and decided to write this book.
At times, when you are upset and depressed about something, you feel like escaping from the real world for some time. And that’s why I chose to write supernatural thriller stories. None of the stories have any kind of message or teaching, and it helped me escape from the harsh real world for a few days; something that couldn’t have been possible had I written something message-oriented as preachy subjects are grounded in reality.
The inspiration
Inspiration is important for every writer whenever he decides to write something. That sets the tone for his writing piece.
While I have enjoyed a lot of horror movies during my childhood days and teenage years, I became very choosy after a certain point in time.
Most horror movies or stories follow a similar pattern. Almost all of them rely on jump-scare sequences and follow the regular template. I wanted to deviate from the regular template and try something different. That’s when I looked up to a few movies for inspiration. Movies like The Sixth Sense, The Others, and A Quiet Place became my reference point while developing the stories for my book. The plot of the stories is in no way related to these movies. It’s just the template that I tried to follow.
The movies that I mentioned had a different storyline and unexpected twists. These movies did not rely much on loud music and jump scare tricks to scare the audience. The real strength of these movies was the content, and the same cannot be said about other horror movies which have an age-old storyline.
I decided to write the stories in such a way that the focus would always be on the storyline and not much on the scary elements. I wanted to write stories that my audience found to be interesting, different, and engaging. And it was okay for me if it didn’t scare them much. The moment you hear the term “supernatural,” you expect it to be horror. But my stories are more thrillers. That’s why I describe my book as “Thrillers blended with supernatural elements.”
Being honest and being prepared
As a writer, you always need to be honest with your readers while promoting your book. I was told to mention the term “horror” while promoting the book to grab attention, but I went against it and termed the book as a “thriller” because I am completely against the concept of clickbait.
While there are many spooky elements in this book, I would still call it a supernatural thriller and refrain from using the term horror. So far, the response has been good from the ones who have read it. And I hope everyone who reads it likes it. But I am always prepared for criticism as it helps you to learn and grow.
The writing benefits of lockdown
As I had mentioned earlier, I wrote this book when the second complete lockdown was going on in my country during the month of May 2021. I had the option of crying and being frustrated about the lockdown impact, or I had the option of realizing that such things are beyond an individual’s control, and he/she just needs to understand that and figure out what needs to be done next. I chose the second option.
Life always gives us multiple choices in tough times, but we fail to notice them. Also, the storyline of my previous two books was developed during the lockdown of the previous year.
The time that I utilized during the lockdowns may have not given me instant results, but it definitely helped me in many ways. It gave me an understanding of what I want to do in my life going forward. It helped me understand my passion for writing, something which may have remained hidden deep inside me had it not been for the lockdown.
Though the lockdown period helped me in many ways, it wouldn’t be right on my part to say that the lockdown was something good that happened in my life. And this is because of the number of lives that have been lost and the havoc that COVID-19 has created across the globe.
The only positive learning that I would like to take from this is that every difficult time is an opportunity to bring out the best in us. It gives us the opportunity to recognize our hidden talent.
About the author
Vinod Balan is the author of three self-published ebooks.
The first book titled Play2Discover: Improving Lives through Sports was self-published on January 9th, 2021. This book is an anthology of short stories. It comprises ten fictional stories which focus on connecting certain aspects of sports with real-life scenarios.
The second book titled The Wheel Breaker was self-published on March 19, 2021. This book falls under the mystery drama genre and contains a single storyline.
The third book titled When You Start Seeing It was self-published on June 29, 2021. This book is a collection of eight supernatural thriller short stories.
Balan is also a freelance writer and co-founder of a sports-based NGO (Non-profit organization) named Play2Discover. Through our NGO, we have been supporting underprivileged kids, helping them to excel in their sporting activities.
Balan has created a blog for our NGO and has written a few posts on sports life-skill sessions. He has also written motivational articles on a few sites and free-lancing platforms focusing mainly on social and general issues.
Author links
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Cool article.. Kind of you to let the readers know of the backstory and the inspiration behind your books. 🙂