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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 1:06

Let's talk Paranormal - Riksundar Banerjee on Writing 'Haunted Places of India'

article image placeholderUploaded by @Ramya
And Riksundar as I said, is joining me today as we talk about his book, on writing about unexplained things and the dark places that he has covered in this book. Hi, Riksundar, Welcome to swell. I will start off with the very obvious question - what set you off on the journey that culminated in your book Haunted Places of India and how did you go about curating the places that made the final cut?

#askanauthor #horror #paranormal #unexplained #authorinterview

@riksundar2023
Riksundar Banerjee
@riksundar2023 · 1:11
Thank you, Ramya. Thank you, the listeners. I am very grateful for taking me here. The term haunted was very much heard from my childhood. The abundant houses, forest sides, some ponds. From my childhood I heard that these are haunted places. After that, I experienced that these type of places exist in all over the world. Just go and google. But you can find lots of places. Haunted places all over the world. Some facts, some histories made this place popular
@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:37
Thank you so much for that. That was very interesting. Writing horror can be particularly challenging as sometimes the story in the writer's mind might not exactly translate into written brilliance and the reader might sometimes not be able to perceive it. So how do you manage to bring about the desired impact of fear and and foreboarding in the reader when you write about paranormal occurrences? Also, any tips that you could share for aspiring writers in this genre?
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@riksundar2023
Riksundar Banerjee
@riksundar2023 · 1:28
Yeah, look, fear is a basic emotion. Every person's subconscious mind is unique and everybody reacts differently. In fearful situation writing, horror is a challenge where writers convince the readers that the illusion is true. Ghosts exist or don't exist. That is a debate it. But there is ghostliness. The ghostliness is the main thing in horror writing. Writers need to build up ambience which suits for the environment of ghostliness. Whoever is going to write a horror story should focus on the buildup
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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:24
My next question is about all the research that went behind your book. I'm sure that writing about each of these places and the associated stories would have involved a ton of research into cultural, popular, and literary history of the place. So can you tell me a little bit about how you went about doing all the research while you were writing this book?
@riksundar2023
Riksundar Banerjee
@riksundar2023 · 1:41

@Ramya

The research was based on the historical facts local people's experience in some cases the particular incidents which take place in that place or house you can find here in this book like Lonely Mansion and somewhere you can find Coal Mine Area. So the diversity is there in this book also in somewhere. I got very much help from the local police who helped me a lot. The news reporters helped me with giving several stories about the places and some rumors of the places
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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:24
More recently, I think horror has evolved into newer subgenres and it's great to see that it is being used to tell psychological horror stories. Stories about social evils that shock and are bizarre and dystopian horror stories as well. So what's your take on how horror as a genre has evolved over the years?
@riksundar2023
Riksundar Banerjee
@riksundar2023 · 1:46

@Ramya

From village without electricity to Glamorous shopping mall all the time we can find the type of horror or the characters of horror stories are saying some unsaid words from the deep down of the society. In horror stories we can find that host oftenly come to tell us the social oppression, the unsaid words of that host living time. The unsaid torture from society towards him or her when there are so much tortures for dowry system. We found stories on this plot
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@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 0:51

Limited-time deal: Haunted Places of India https://amzn.eu/d/3MIzXXB

For those of you listening in, and for all the horror buffs in the swell community, I have shared the Amazon link to Haunted Places of India in my description, so please do check the book out. And if you have any questions for Rick Riksundar, please feel free to leave a reply in this thread and I'm sure Rick Sundar would be happy to take some of them on. And once again, thank you so much for listening in and being a part of Conversation Chairs
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