It should not read like a research report - that’s boring. How do you put that research but make it come across in an easy, relaxed way? That’s the key thing.

Having said that, a common misstep that some writers take is to show off their research. I don’t have to “do research” for writing the books, I just keep doing research for the heck of it because I enjoy it. I like reading and travelling and when I travel, I like to know local cultures and learn a bit from them. I love reading, and often I might not even have an end goal with the research I do. The part I actually enjoy most is research. What kind of research went into the book? There is a lot of talk of science, technology and engineering apart from philosophy. This book has a lot of prep for the war and eventually the war itself. You can read the fifth book as an epilogue, and that will be the book that will finally connect the Ram Chandra series and the Shiva Trilogy. For most people, this book ends with the traditional drama and there is a sense of conclusion. Yes, but it will be released many years later. Luckily for me, my readers enjoy complex stories. It was really complicated - to have three parallel stories, sometimes writing the same incident from three perspectives and to see that their dialogues match but also for them to make sense from their perspective. The challenge - it’s a cool way to write, but a very complicated story structure. To me, it was a great way to make the reader understand the story in a much deeper manner.

I thought it would be a cool idea to have three multilinear parallel narratives and to chronicle their stories from their births to the incident which brings them all together which is the kidnapping of Goddess Sita. The three main characters who drive the Ram Chandra series are Lord Ram, Goddess Sita and Raavan. Only when you understand each of the characters well, do you understand the stories well, because then you understand what their motivations are behind what they are doing and why are they behaving the way they are behaving. What is exciting about this format, and what is the most challenging aspect?Ī story rides on the shoulders of its characters. You have used a multilinear narrative for the Ram Chandra series. In a candid chat, he revealed why he took a multilinear narrative approach to the books and the series adaptation of the Shiva trilogy. Considered one of the fastest-selling authors in India, Tripathi took some time but finally, the fourth book in the series – War of Lanka – is out. It’s been three years since Amish Tripathi’s Raavan: Enemy of Ayravarta was published, and ever since, fans of the Ram Chandra series have been clamouring for the next.

The rise of meluha