Guest Post: on collaborating with multiple authors and throwing science at the problem

Today we have a special guest post from Srivatsan Sridharan, one of the authors of  ‘The Prophecy of Trivine‘. Please welcome him to Chapter Break.

Guest Post

It’s very unusual to come across a work of fiction that’s authored by not one, not two, but three individuals. It’s strange because fictional worlds are products of imagination, worlds where trees could fly and birds could talk, worlds where the laws of physics need not apply. When the creator has absolute creative freedom to build anything he or she likes, it is really hard for three people to come into agreement about anything at all. But 4 years after we had embarked on this collective, experimental project, The Prophecy of Trivine is now published, available in online and offline bookstores, and has been received well by the audience till now. I guess we managed it after all 🙂

But how did three of us collaborate and manage to write a coherent and hopefully, a compelling book? It’s a mystery! No, I’m just kidding. The thing is, we didn’t originally set out to write a Sci/Fi novel. Our goal, back when we were in college, was to compile a series of essays that would explore the social and moral implications of advancements in science and technology. What we planned to do with those essays was unclear. As you might’ve guessed, they pretty much were a disaster, but through that process, we had managed to build an interesting pool of ideas on topics varying from the origins of life to humanity’s worst atrocities in the name of science; from carcinogens to ethical hacking. And then a random thought struck us – “hey, we have these cool ideas floating around, why not do something awesome? Why not transform this into a novel, an exciting, fast-paced, thrilling Sci-Fi novel?” And so, in our college cafeteria, 4 years ago, over a steaming hot cup of chai, the idea of the Prophecy of Trivine was conceived. 

But before we could start writing this novel of ours, we ended up graduating and went on our different ways -Tnahsin and I joined grad school in the US and Pulkit joined an investment banking firm in India. Two of the worst professions we could pick just when we wanted loads of time to write a novel! Sigh. But we were pretty motivated about writing (special thanks to Stephen King’s On Writing and Hemingway on Writing), and told ourselves that no matter what happened, we would finish this novel, and we would get it published. And with that determination we set out to write our novel.

But there was one major problem. We didn’t know how to get started. I mean, how do authors start writing a novel anyway? Do they just sit down in front of their computers, and let the words flow? We did not know the answer. So, we did what we as engineers have been wired to do – we threw science at the problem, of course! Over numerous google hangout sessions conducted at ungodly hours of the day and night (at least in one of our timezones), we built up a massive flowchart of events on top of our existing premise. From that we meticulously constructed a chapter outline – divided our novel into 30 chapters and outlined the major themes for each of them. Through several heated debates and discussions, we defined our protagonists and created rough character sketches for them – how they’d look like, how they’d talk, how they’d behave. 

The plan was laid out very well, but the biggest problem was never solved – how do we actually start writing this? Without a clear solution in mind, the three of us took a leap of faith and started writing 10 chapters each, “assuming and pretending” that the other author(s) would’ve left the story at a particular point from where the current one could pick off. As you’re probably thinking right now, it seemed like a terrible idea, but surprisingly, it turned out to be not that bad. Our so-called first draft became an uncooked stew, where individual stories floated as separate ingredients without blending in at all. But they were the right ingredients nonetheless. 

And so, we began the daunting task of making sense of it all – countless (where countless probably means >20) rounds of editing, re-editing and bickering over plot details, which I should remind you again was all coordinated through the glories of our digital age. And as a result what could’ve potentially been achieved in a few hours of face to face talking, took weeks of planned coordination. At one point we were so fed up with reading the same lines on our brightly lit computer screens, that we started physically mailing printed drafts to each other, scribbling pencil notes on the margins as and when we read them. Sometimes, it’s nice to go old school! After a good year and a half of this cleanup process, we had on our hands a polished, exciting manuscript. After that, we did what every aspiring author does – send out the manuscript to publishers, hoping that at least one of them would pick it up. 

And the rest as they say, is history 🙂

 

 

The Prophecy of Tribine 

by Pulkit Gupta, Srivatsan Sridharan, Tnahsin Garg

Publication date: December 15, 2013

Blurb: An emissary of an advanced alien race travels to the Earth to undertake responsibility of an experiment that has gone out of control. The outcome of this fateful experiment, which was conceived millions of years ago by her species, now rests in her hands. As she prepares to deliver her final judgment, she comes across three young men in a sacred forest who change her life forever. 

These three men- a scientist, a hacker and an artist, happen to take refuge in that forest, trying to escape from the oddities of their own unfair lives. Struggling with their dreams and demons, they begin to explore the dark and paranormal behavior of the forest by forging a companionship. From the rare flora and fauna breathing alive on the ground to the deadly wide expanse of the whimsy black sky, everything they find is yet another puzzle unsolved. 

Little did they know that four of them hold in their hands the future of mankind and much beyond imagination, they are connected through an ancient Prophecy that was long lost in the sands of time.

 

 

About the Authors: 

The Prophecy of Trivine was written by three best friends from college who are now excelling in different fields. Despite being geographically separated they share the common goal of becoming successful writers. Following are brief profiles of all three authors (in alphabetical order):

Pulkit Gupta

Pulkit is a Computer Engineer who completed his Bachelors in Engineering from Thapar University, India in 2011. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper at college. He currently works as a Technology Analyst for Goldman Sachs in Bangalore, India. He devotes whatever spare time he can find to his literary pursuits. He maintains a number of blogs which are in various stages of decay, but his most recent work can be found here: http://thedreamykind.com/. 

Srivatsan Sridharan

Srivatsan completed his Bachelors in Engineering from Thapar University, India in 2010, after which he earned a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Purdue University, United States. Along with computers, he is extremely passionate about writing. He began his literary career as a Young Reporter for the Times of India, during his school days and went on to become the Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper at college. Most of his artistic ideas have taken shape in the form of short stories, speeches, travelogues, and essays. Some of them can be found in his blog. He currently pursues his dual life as a Software Engineer working at Yelp, San Francisco and as an aspiring and passionate author.

Tnahsin Garg​

Tnahsin completed his Bachelors in Engineering from India in 2010, after which he earned a Master of Science degree from United States, and is currently pursuing a PhD from Europe. When tired of his scientific pursuits, he’s often found living his artistic dreams by scribbling something unintelligible on some decayed corner of the Internet. Being engaged in writing poetry and prose since early teenage years, he has now a few creative pieces published online as well as in print. He does have a neglected blog for those who like clicking around in curiosity. 

 

Links: ‘The Prophecy of Trivine’ | Goodreads  | Twitter | Facebook . 

Purchase: Amazon US, Amazon India, Bookadda, Infibeam, Flipkart, Homeshop18

 

 

 

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