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Conversations with the Books on my Shelf
PRANAV SOOD-AUTHOR OF MY PSYCHO CHARACTER
Pranav is a 24-year-old engineer by degree but a storyteller by soul. Born and raised in Punjab, he discovered early on that stories aren't just meant to be written; they're meant to haunt you. He believes that when a person has stories to tell, he doesn't need anything else. To him, imagination is the greatest gift given to humans by God. Pranav finds inspiration in silence, shadows, and the thin line between reality and fiction .
Q1. When did you first realise that you wanted to become an author?
Ans: I think I always had stories inside me, but it was when I started reading books that I realised those stories had to come out.
Q2. What inspired you to write your debut novel, 'My Psycho Character'?
Ans: To be very honest, the idea of control inspired me to write this novel. I had the ending in mind, and I thought, how shocking would it be if someone came to me and told me I wasn’t in as much control or power as I believed I was?
Q3. What does your creative process typically look like, from idea to final draft?
Ans: Usually, it starts with a month or two of constant obsession with the idea, characters, and plot—until I finish what I started.
Q4. Where do your ideas for a story usually come from? Are they based on some real life events, dreams, movies or something else?
Ans: My inspirations vary. Sometimes it’s a movie, sometimes a book, or even something that happened to me that I just can’t get out of my mind.
Q5. What was the biggest challenge you faced while writing or publishing your book?
Ans: The biggest challenge was maintaining a fast-paced thriller while still going in-depth with world-building. I had to strike a perfect balance between pacing and detail so it wouldn’t disrupt the reader’s experience. I also wanted to build meaningful relationships between characters—something I feel many crime thrillers often miss.
Q6. If 'My Psycho Character' were to be made into a film or series, who would you cast in the lead roles?
Ans: If it ever gets adapted into a film or series, I’d love to see Ranveer Singh as Madhav, Sidharth Malhotra as Shivam, and Shraddha Kapoor as Rea.
Q7. Your protagonist Shivam starts off as a struggling writer simply creating a character, but Madhav refuses to stay on the page. What inspired you to cross this terrifying boundary between fiction and reality?
Ans: The unpredictability of life inspired me to cross that boundary. One moment you're living a normal life, and the next—BAM—everything is upside down, and there's no coming back. I wanted to capture that sense of losing control, where reality and imagination start to blur, and you're left questioning what's real.
Q8. Was it emotionally or psychologically intense to write scenes where Shivam begins to lose control of his story and reality?
Ans: Yes, it was quite intense to write those scenes. I often imagined myself as Shivam—what it would feel like if those things were happening to me, and how they might change me.
Q9. What does a character like Madhav mean to you? Is he just a sadistic serial killer, or is there something deeper to his character like grief or repressed rage?
Ans: Madhav is much more than just a sadistic killer. To me, he represents everything we suppress—grief, rage, trauma, and the darker parts of ourselves we refuse to face. He’s a reflection of what can happen when pain is left unchecked. There’s depth beneath his violence, and that’s what makes him truly unsettling.
Q10. Was it difficult to balance the psychological horror and the emotional core of the story, especially Shivam’s relationship with his family and girlfriend?
Ans: Yes, it was challenging because the concept itself isn’t something you usually see in traditional thrillers. Still, I wanted Shivam’s relationships to feel real and relatable. In today’s world, I think many family dynamics are like that—people can be emotionally distant even when they’re physically close. Sometimes they try to fix things, sometimes they fall short. That emotional tension was just as important to me as the horror.
Q11. Without giving away any spoilers, what do you hope readers take away from the shocking climax and the ending?
Ans: I want readers to take away a sense of life’s unpredictability. I’m a big believer in hope—it’s one of the most beautiful things we can hold on to. But hope alone isn’t enough. We have to navigate life ourselves, facing things beyond our control. How we respond to those moments is often the only power we have—and sometimes, despite everything, things may not go our way.
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