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Interview with Sandhya Menon

About the Author

Sandhya Menon is an Indian American author based in Colorado, United States. She is the author of New York Times bestseller When Dimple Met Rishi and From Twinkle, with Love.


Q: Can you tell us something about yourself that not many people know about? Like your hobbies?


A: I love taking hikes with my dog Ali, he’s kind of my muse. And I LOVE hot cocoa to an unhealthy degree so that’s a big hobby as well *giggles*. I am also a therapist. It’s not exactly my hobby, it’s my other career and what I trained in.



Q: When did you write your first story and how old were you?

A. I was probably in kindergarten when I wrote my first story. I remember I used to scribble stories on my arms and legs and even my pants! So then my parents finally bought me my first notebook. It started out with poetry, like really bad poetry *giggles*. And then graduated to stories.

Q: As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?


A. I always wanted to be a writer. That was my big dream that I wanted to pursue but I was told that writing is a really hard thing to do for a living so I ended up training as a psychotherapist. But in the back of my mind I always wanted to be a published writer.




Q: What is your favorite book from your childhood?


A. I loved the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton. All her boarding school books were amazing. So those were my favorite.


Q: How were you as a student?

A. I was pretty good in most subjects, especially in creative subjects like English or psychology and really terrible in Mathematics *giggles*. That’s why my parents’ dream of me becoming a doctor would never be realized.


Q: What do you like doing when you're not reading?


A: I like to spend a lot of time with my family because writers have deadlines and sometimes we have to work 12 to 14 hours a day on those deadlines. So when I’m not on deadlines I spend my time with my family.


Q: Where do you get your writing ideas from?


A. Everywhere! All around me. I am big day dreamer so I get a lot of my ideas from day dreaming, sometimes by staring out the window but usually I’ll be in this fog of thinking about something that happened to me and it’ll click for me that I could write a story around it.

Q: Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?


A. There’s definitely parts of me in all my characters and probably people I know or have met in my life but I wouldn’t say any character is completely one person. It’s usually an amalgamation of many different people.




Q: Which actor and actress would you like to see playing the lead characters from your books When Dimple Met Rishi and From Twinkle with Love?


A. I think I would like completely new talents as the lead characters. A fresh new talent should get a shot at playing these characters, that’d make me really happy.


Q: Is there a book that you’ve read that has influenced your life in a good way?


A. So many! I don’t even know where to start. I started reading Stephen King books long before it was age appropriate *giggles*. But I think he helped me see how to deepen a character’s motivations so I’d say Stephen King was my first awakening into characterization.


Q: If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?

A. Hmmm… That is a tough question! I think books are written by authors who are meant to write them. Like if I wrote a book that someone else has written, I don’t think it’d come out the same book. So I think how it is, is just perfect.





xx

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