Ravi Subramanian

“While a lot of management development books try to teach you a lesson or give you a scenario of what corporate culture and work practices are about, they're theoretical and written in a sermonizing way. Most people don't get past the first chapter, and they just look nice on the bookshelf.”

“Any author gets inspired by the experiences and events that happen to him or his immediate circle. While that's where the seed or the idea germinates, by the end of the story, it accounts for hardly anything in the book.”

“A thriller needs to hold the interest of the reader from the very beginning. It needs to engage with them, hold them in rapt attention, and prevent them from putting down the book.”

“If you see in all my books, I have two key intentions. One is obviously to entertain and make sure that the reader has a good reading experience. I also try to write on subjects that nobody has dealt with before to make my works different from other page turners.”

“If you are careful about the content and writing style, readers will not feel that you are in a hurry.”

“I keep saying my books don't have superheroes. They have ordinary people in extraordinary situations.”

“After my first book, many of my readers came back to tell me that the female characters I had created were not strong enough. I have consciously rectified that in my next four books. In any case, it's true that women run the world, and men would do better to listen to them!”

“The first draft is usually junk. You have to work on it seven to eight times.”

“Given my extensive background in foreign banks, writing about them came quite naturally to me. Thankfully, God has been kind to me.”

“With thrillers, I tend to concentrate on the research and pace more than the characters.”

“An author needs to be in the market. He or she needs to come out with a new book every year. That keeps you alive in the public mind and gives a push to your older books.”

“There were many times in my initial days as a writer when I had felt the need to talk to someone, to leverage on someone's experience, to learn from someone who had written and published a book.”

“Books should be both enlightening and entertaining.”

“I look at every book as a new learning opportunity.”

“I must say that books in India are not only underpriced but are also undervalued.”

“I am not a great fan of serious, heavy writing. I prefer simple, short sentences, light on prose.”

“To make time for writing, one has to take time out from somewhere. Obviously, a fair amount of time that you spend with the family gets compromised. But my family has been very understanding and supportive.”

“A profession which is seen as intellectually glamorous is often the most misunderstood when it comes to the commerce involved.”

“Thousands of books are published every year in India, and it's becoming more difficult to stand out and get people to buy the books. The only way to get people notice the book is to create a buzz much before it's released.”

“There's a market for fiction based on financial services. People wanted me to write stories based on this sector. There's a gap in the market, and I'm trying to fill it.”