Author Rahul Chak on Books, Inspiration and the Writing Process

Rahul Chak graduated from Tufts University in 2013 with a degree in International Relations. After college he took a year off to write a novel, Bison Track, which is now available worldwide on Amazon. The novel was conceived during an online creative writing course from UC Berkeley.

He’s taken writing courses at Tufts University and Indiana University, Bloomington. He’s also edited full-length manuscripts as a freelance consultant with Jacaranda Press, India’s oldest literary agency. Earlier, he served on the editorial board of literary magazines in school and college, and has written several articles for the Times of India.

Can you share a little about your background and upbringing?

I grew up in urban India. I’ve had an easy life, a wonderful life in many ways, with great friends, plenty of travel, excellent schools, luxury, comfort – and no dearth of narrative art. My mother had co-founded a literary agency in the mid-90s, I was a newspaper contributor in the 9th grade, and I’ve edited full-length manuscripts for years. So the written word has been a fairly significant feature of my life since the age of six.

Was there a defining moment in your life when you decided you wanted to become a writer?

At the age of eight. We had to write a two-page short story at a summer camp. I had an idea about a kid who steals a bag of gold and gets caught in a tsunami, and he tries negotiating with the tsunami to let him go. It was complete nonsense, of course, but I enjoyed every second of the pen on the page, of creating a world out of nothing, no matter how nonsensical. I’ve known since then.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your writing?

From a mix of real life experiences, movies, novels, and history. I grew up on Hollywood films and Cartoon Network. Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Lion King, Air Force One, and Dante’s Peak were some of the first movies I ever watched. I was absolutely enthralled by cartoons: The Mask, Swat Kats, Batman, Extreme Ghostbusters, Secret Squirrel, The Jetsons, Dexter’s Lab. After school, I would rush to the TV with my sandwich and apple and sit there gawking at the screen for hours and hours, until my parents would drag me away, fearing for my eyesight.

I read lots of superhero comics, but the first non-picture books I ever read were The Defender by Nicholas Kalashnikoff and Amazon Adventure by Willard Price. “The classics” came later, in my teens, though I read plenty of Great Illustrated Classics with those black-and-white pictures. These days, I read thrillers, watch films and documentaries, and read lots of history. So the engine is always well-oiled.

Have there been any challenges you’ve had to overcome on your path to becoming a writer, and how have you evolved as a writer?

My evolution has been pretty simple: I always enjoyed stories, but could never construct a coherent plot. My work tended to be all over the place, though I was always quite good at creating atmosphere and tension. A UCLA course in screenwriting in 2016 introduced me to the pristine world of three-act structure, and I’ve never been the same writer since then. That was the major challenge: devising a plot that made perfect sense from top to bottom.

Tell me a little about your first book and the type of readers it would appeal to?

My first book, Bison Track, finished in 2015 and published in late 2016, revolves around a new teacher at a mountain boarding school in India, dealing with a student who’s a bit of a sociopath. There’s betrayal, romance, a pet dog, and a murder. Some readers remarked that the book feels very cinematic. Many were in fact eager for a sequel. Overall, anyone looking for three-dimensional characters, dramatic tension, and an evocative setting will have a good time reading it.

Can you share some information on how you got published?

A few traditional publishers had been interested in Bison Track, but they wanted it to be rewritten as Hindu mythology. I didn’t think it made any sense to rewrite the book since the story was, apart from a not quite perfect plot, thoroughly complete. So I just went ahead and self-published it through Notion Press.

Can yake us through your writing process?

Of course. For longer prose, I first think about what I want to say, what my message is. I picture the ending, then I write towards it for the first draft. I write as fast as I can, to make sure the inner critic keeps his mouth shut and just goes along with my will. Then I edit, a process that can be very amusing when you come across glaring errors of continuity. For short stories, I tend to be done in one draft, particularly if minor corrections follow, but with a short story, particularly if you’re going for something like an O. Henry tale, the whole edifice builds up to the twist. That’s the whole point of an O. Henry-style story: the twist.

For novels and novellas, I make liberal use of the 8-Sequence approach, which divides a story not into three acts, but eight sequences. Paul Gulino has written an invaluable book describing this method, and I recommend it without reserve to every student of the craft. I do my best writing in a quiet space with no one around; I’ve never understood the literary allure of bustling coffee shops and plazas!

What’s your thoughts on imposter syndrome which seems to disproportionately affect writers more than anyone else and how might you overcome it?

It’s good to be humble even after multiple publications, but guilt could be quite damaging if you don’t remind yourself of the good stuff you’ve done. I think the best way to overcome imposter syndrome would be to synthesize pride and humility, to recognize that you’re good at your work, but that you can do even better no matter how far you go.

Discuss your current writing projects and any future projects you have in the pipeline.

I’m doing a time-loop novel set in the Bermuda Triangle. Recently I’ve been gravitating towards short novels of around 50-60,000 words. They seem to integrate the best of both worlds: the unity of impression one usually associates with a short story, and the meatiness of a long novel. In a very real sense, they’re like screenplays, but far more enjoyable to write, since you’re free to wield your pen as elegantly as you wish rather than plod through the strict confines of a screenplay.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned as a writer that you’d like to share with new writers?

If you haven’t studied screenwriting, do it as soon as you can; you become a good prose writer by reading widely, of course, but you can become a deft plotter by studying the craft. Apart from that, watch as many movies as you can, read as many books as you can – if this feels like a strenuous obligation, it means you’re in the wrong field!

Connect with Rahul

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