A Chat With Satyarth Nayak

Name of the Book :The Emperor's Riddles

Author:Satyarth Nayak

Publisher: Amaryllis


Read the Review of The Emperor's Riddle Here. 

1. First of all congratulations on coming up with such a complicated, well scripted story. How was the concept born?

My book is a freak act of nature. One fine evening after re-reading one of Dan Brown’s novels, I had this sudden curiosity to know if we have any similar esoteric mysteries or secrets in our Indian history and culture. It was a random search on the Net during which I stumbled across this beautiful story associated with one of our most iconic Indian Emperors. The man’s vision mesmerized me. The more I read about the Emperor’s fascinating deed thousands of years ago, the more I knew that I had to tell this story. That’s how this journey began. 

2. That's cool Satyarth! What kind of research went behind this novel? The secrets of the Masons is not a subject many Indian authors have dealt with. Though I know you beg to differ. But I am going to point out the similiarities there. Was really hooked by them in your book. What fascinated you to touch this subject? 

When you write a historical thriller, research becomes a vital part of your process. The fact that the legend of the Emperor was full of details made my job a lot easier. But a lot of research went into faithfully recreating the ancient era since the track of the Emperor’s evolution runs parallel to the main track of the murder intrigue. Besides elements of sci-fi, history, forensics and myths, the book also deals with Buddhist philosophy and iconography and that demanded solid research.

3. Yes. True. Your knowledge on Buddhism surprised me. Especially the way it was woven around your story.I am very curious about how you plotted this story. Did you plan each sequence out or was it follow your instinct kind?

I totally planned each move before I started writing. I cannot write instinctively. I need to have my sequence in place before I begin. My book’s a thriller and thrillers are primarily plot driven which is why I need to have a skeletal structure before I start filling in the meat. I always had a bird’s eye view of my story and knew exactly when my next riddle would come or the next twist would appear.  

4. Seems like your strategy worked! The clues of the robots were very well thought of.  Who is your inspiration and why?

Thanks. I have been getting compliments that the riddles are the real stars of my book and my readers have had a lot of fun trying to crack them. The inspiration was the ‘things’ that the riddles point at. It was great researching about those ‘things’ and creating riddles around them. Perhaps I was also paying an tribute to writers like Dan Brown, Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. 

5. Rapid fire. Be ready Satyarth ...:P

a) Penning a novel or marketing a novel- what is more difficult? 

Both actually but marketing goes up by a single notch. 

b) Next novel coming up in ?

Watch this space! (Not fair !!)

c) If Satyarth was not a novelist then Satyarth would be?

Film Director.(Fingers Crossed. God Willing)

d)Antagonist or Protagonist- who gave you a tough time while creating them? 

 The riddles….they gave me the toughest time…and creating them was the most fun part. (If the toughest part was done so well, the writer need not worry about a thing :))

Thanks a ton Satyarth. For taking the time to chat. Wish you many more successes in the future. :)