Interview with Uday Arumilli, The Author of Paalavelli

Uday Arumilli Was born and brought up in a small village called “VENTURU” located in Andhra Pradesh, India. He is a post-graduate in Computer Science from Andhra University College of Engineering.  He is having a decade of experience with Microsoft SQL Server in designing, developing, administrating, maintaining and optimizing enterprise database systems for world-class organizations. He is having rich experience in building database applications using one of the finest platforms “SQL Server” with the lowest possible cost. He is also experienced in freelancing, blogging and consulting database solutions.  Currently, he is associated with a database architect role and architecting Microsoft SQL Server database systems with a specific focus on cloud. 

Ravi: What’s your favorite short story?

Uday Arumilli: “Amaravati Kathalu” by Sankaramanchi Satyam & “Budugu” by BAPU (Mullapudi Venkata Ramana) are my favorites

Ravi: The Best piece of writing advice?

Uday: When writing is a passion no advice is required

Ravi: Where do you write?

Uday: Mostly at home but I love to write while traveling too. I use OneNote.

Ravi: Where do you get your ideas?

Uday: By exploring places and meeting new people. Ideally News Paper is one of the best sources for new ideas. I personally experienced it.

Ravi: Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Uday: Hmm, for me writing is the stress buster. I love to do it.

Ravi: How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Uday: It depends, for example, it took 3 and a half years to complete SQL THE ONE. For “Shavukaru” I had to explore things in specific areas and people about their food habits and tradition. I traveled and meet people from remote villages to understand reality. Eventually, it took 1 and a half years. My third book “Paalavelli”, I could finish it in a year.

Ravi: If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?

Uday: I have a regret that I should have started reading “Bhagavad Gita” from my teenage. It really steers our life in the right direction. Gita is the best remedy for the problems and failure is an astonishing fact.

Ravi: What is your favorite childhood book?

Uday: “CHANDAMAAMA”

Ravi: What is your favorite literary journals?

Uday: I do follow plenty of technical journals. When it comes to literary, I merely follow “Telugu Velugu” and “Sahitya Academy”

Ravi: What one thing would you give up to become a better writer?

Uday: I can give up anything and everything other than my movie time

Ravi: What was your hardest scene to write?

Uday: I usually take a lot of time in the thought process of preparing the background for revealing a twist or suspense.

Ravi: Do you Google yourself?

Uday: Yes, I do sometimes.

Ravi: Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Uday: Certainly yes. Very few people who are close to me can find those.

Ravi: Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

Uday: Obviously, I take both good and bad as an opinion. I seriously consider constructive criticism.

Ravi: Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?

Uday: Gollapudi Maruti Rao Gari “Sayankalam Ayindi” – An emotional predictive analysis on Lives of NRI’s and their parents. “The Palace of Illusions” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Mahabharata from Draupathi’s view. It’s a magical narration

Ravi: What did you edit out of this book?

Uday: Nothing specific. Sometimes I used to rewrite a scene for a couple of times when I am not wholly satisfied.

Ravi: How many hours a day do you write?

Uday: I experienced in writing from 30 min to 16 hours a day. It really depends on the content that I write especially when it requires some research.

Ravi: How long were you a part-time writer before you became a full-time one?

Uday: I am still a part-time writer. I wish I could be a full-time writer 😊

Ravi: What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

Uday: I do research especially when I am narrating a time-bound scene. Also, when writing about specific places or people. When it comes to technology, before writing anything I do review the product references and implement them in a virtual environment.

Ravi: What’s the best way to market your books?

Uday: Fiction works in both Print and Digital. But apparently technical book readers are more interested in digital format. Amazon and other e-stores are the best platforms for marketing.

Ravi: How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

Uday: I have a few ideas and most of them are still in the thought process. I just started writing something based on true incidents. But it needs a lot of research on Indian Legal System. Obviously, it takes some time.

Ravi: How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

Uday: Well, I was really surprised to see the number of phases in publishing a book. For the very first time, one of the publishers asked me to give a presentation on “Why they publish my book?”. The agreement, manuscript submission, editing, reviewing, corrections, cover design, interior design, promotions, copyrights, printing, distributing, marketing, man I was like “WOW” and now I am wholly familiar with approaching and making deals with publishers.

Ravi: What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

Uday: I do follow some of the authors, but I don’t have any friends from the Authors group.

Ravi: Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

Uday: I always try my best to narrate scenes in such a way that readers can view/imagine the characters and places right in front of their eyes.

Ravi: What advice do you have for writers?

Uday: Do not consider advice, write it in your own way 😊

Ravi: What are the most important magazines for writers to subscribe to?

Uday: I don’t see any.

Ravi: Tell me about your recent book to our Ravi Reads Blog Readers?

Uday: My latest book is a Telugu fiction titled “Paalavelli”.

"Paalavelli" is a collection of 11 Telugu short stories. Each story revolves around the characters that you commonly find in the current society. The story of a young pilot who proved "giving-up" is not an option. Story of a Dad and Daughter with absolutely different ideologies. Story of two best friends, story of love, story of a convicted Maoist. How the financial struggles in a family made a husband take a wrong decision at the wrong time? At a certain point, all these stories relate to the combination of mythology and religious symbolism.

Thanks to Uday for agreeing to this interview! If you know of an author who’d like to be featured in an interview (or you are an author who would like to be featured), feel free to email me at the address on my contact page.