Hello Everyone,
Today we have a very wonderful writer, Neha Kabra. She is a 23-year-old biotechnologist from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. She loves travelling and is indulged in abstract photography. She is a trained singer and also well versed with five different instruments and now is trying to conquer guitar strings. She loves mandala art. Writing is her creative passion and believes that writing is her another world.
Here is our conversation with her:
Q: Why the pseudonym _stardustandfire?
I’ve changed a lot of Instagram handles before I finally decided to settle on _stardustandfire. This pseudonym is very special because someone very close to me once told me that I’m whatever stars and the darkness are made up of. I believe we all have a bit of stardust inside us which is moulded by the fire we carry in our souls making us into who we are today.
Q: What motivated you to become a writer? Tell us the story behind Neha Kabra.
As a child, it didn’t take me very long to get immersed in the world that books create and somewhere inside I wanted to create a world of my own with others feeling the same way. At the age of thirteen, since I had a lot of free time, I penned the rough draft of my very first novel and the sense of fulfilment that it gave just fuelled the creative fire in me even more. However, balancing studies and passion became difficult as I entered college and eventually writing became limited to a few random thoughts once every few months. Life continued with that pace until two years ago where I had a fallout with a friend and writing helped me rant at that time. I was new to Instagram and decided to share my work there, and since then, there has been no looking back. Writing has become an integral part of my life as well as the person that I am.
Q: Who are what are your inspirations?
For me, it’s not a person or an experience that inspires me to write. It’s the feeling that surges through me in the moment that I’m writing about. I’ve always believed in expressing my feelings and I don’t think pent up emotions do much good to anyone. I have experienced a lot of moments where I thought happiness can’t get better than this and I’ve fallen into a lot of situations where sadness guides the way out. So in a way, I never run out of inspiration, because my inspiration is within me, within my moments.
Q: Do you think you have a particular type of writing? For example a memoirist
I do like to pen down couplets at times as well as free verse poetry but I think memoirist is the perfect term for me since all my written pieces define moments and stories from my life. A lot of people have asked me whether what I write is fiction or real, and I think I’ll finally admit it’s all real, most of them are stories from my life and some are from people that I felt needed a voice.
Q: If you had to promote yourself, what would be those four lines?
I am a dilemma, a paradox. My ink runs deeper in me than the blood in my veins. I am a soul damaged by the cruelty of this human existence. I am a phoenix who’ll rise every time I burn.
Q: Can you describe the major themes that the readers would get to explore in your works and how they, individually, have affected your life?
My readers would agree that almost all of my work would fall into the category of romantic tragedy and unfortunately, that is one genre that everyone can connect with very easily and as a writer, what readers can relate to is an important factor to be considered when penning something down. I am a hopeless romantic at heart and have had my fair share of experience with what we call love and therefore experience is my ink. You will also find a hint of feminism in some of the pieces related to emotional empowerment of women since it is misunderstood that females are the weaker sex when it comes to feelings.
Q: Do you think choosing to be a professional writer is a conventional or unconventional profession?
As of today, I would consider becoming a professional writer to be a conventional profession because I think our society has progressed quite a bit in the latter part of the current decade and hence we have learnt to open our minds to many fields as career options, which were previously ignored due to lack of support and understanding. Also, people have learned to be more vocal about their emotions and social media has helped all of us to express ourselves to the masses through spoken and written word. Writers are now gaining the respect they have long deserved and moreover, it is a profession open to everyone. You do not need a degree to be a writer, but just be in touch with yourself.
Q: Which Literary Genre would be number one on your preference list and why?
My go to the literary genre has been and always will be a crime thriller. There is just something enticing about the unknown and the mystery and action involved.
Q: Can you mention a few quotes that played a significant role in shaping your life?
“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.” – Marcel Pagnol
This is very relevant for all of us today because we need to learn that we can’t shape our future based on how we wished our past to be. Happiness is truly short lived and to spend what little time we’ve been blessed with by figuring out how happy we could have been instead of how happy we already are is quite literally a waste of time. It took a great personal loss for me to realise this and this quote is now stuck on my bedroom wall so hopefully I don’t fall back into questioning what ifs and should haves.
Q: Do you fear to be mediocre? How do you manage not to fall in the rut?
I fear to be repetitive with my work more than anything else because we are limited to the words that consist a language and I do find myself using similar expressions in more than one piece of work. Falling in the rut with regards to the choice of genre is actually something that’s very difficult because there are just so many things to write about that you can never really get bored or run short of ideas. The important thing to remember is just because one piece of work turned out to be exceptional does not mean that you have to live up to a standard every time and that every piece of work has to be better than the last. Mediocrity is only a problem when you are unsure of yourself and as a writer; I believe no one judges my work harsher than I do and therefore, what may be exceptional to some may be mediocre to me. So I think mediocrity is something very relative to our own mindset and no, I do not fear it. How can one survive if they fear their own thoughts?
Q: Mention a few characteristics about your all time favourite author and how did he/ she influence your life?
My all time favourite author would have to be Carolyn Keene, author of the Nancy Drew series, which was incidentally the first series of books I read as a child. What I learned from Ms Keene was the simplicity of language and the ease with which stories can be woven and how the characters are developed with every chapter. My love for reading as well as writing stemmed from this series and I still go back to reading Carolyn Keene whenever I get a chance. Ever since I’ve started using social media for the purpose of writing, I’ve come across many writers, some aspiring and some established and all of them influence my writing in the manner of style, genre or even vocabulary.
Q: What should the young Indian authors inculcate in their works that can change the perspective of the Indian audience towards Literature? Make them understand its importance more.
As I’ve said before, romantic tragedy is something that everyone relates to therefore it’s the most widely written about the genre as well. I’d recommend our young authors to write about something other than just the pain they hold inside. A little experimenting would perhaps help them discover new fortes as well as give our readers something new to peruse. Every new writer I’ve come across seems to be writing about the same thing and I believe if we continue to follow this trend then writing will soon end up in stagnation. The Indian audience is perceptive and they are broadening their minds and I believe as writers, we owe them something more challenging than just the woes of being in love. My attempt at feminism in my work is just a small personal step away from the dormancy.
Q: What do you think of Instagram, Facebook, Mirakee, WordPress etc as a platform for artists and writers? Which site or app is your favourite?
I think any social media platform is just another form of encouragement for artists and writers because most of us are hesitant since we have never really been supported in this area, and the reviews received there to give us the much-needed push in the direction of improvement and confidence. It’s also a great way to connect with other artists and discover art in its rawest form. For those of us that have absolutely no support from our families, it’s a good way to share work and yet remain anonymous. As a writer, currently, I use only
Instagram and WordPress to showcase my work and have not yet felt the need to extend myself onto other platforms and I’d have to say Instagram is my favourite due to the ease of sharing work Instagram:ing with the audience through this app.
NEHA KABRA
Instagram : _stardustandfire and nkabra10
Compiled By : Devanshi Doshi ( Instagram: blogbydee__ )