Teen authors, Namya Gupta and Yahvi Agarwal, talk about what inspired them to write this story, their writing process, favourite character, future plans and much more.
Author interview | Namya Gupta and Yahvi Agarwal
Booksoarus: Tell us about how it all began for your book, The Wars for Magisis?
Namya/Yahvi: We began writing this book in the 4th grade during the COVID-19 lockdown. Both of us have always loved reading, and at the time, had recently read Harry Potter. We both loved it a lot. It served as a major inspiration throughout the process of writing this book.
Since we had a lot of time and nothing much to do due to the lockdown, we decided to try and write a book ourselves. We initially just had a basic idea, with a few characters.
However, as the book progressed, we included more characters and started developing our main characters more, giving them their own stories. Our plot got better as we got more mature and more in tune with our writing.
Booksoarus: What’s the book about?
Namya/Yahvi: The Wars for Magisis is a story situated in a different universe, where the planet, Magisis, is full of, yes you guessed it right, magic. But it stands divided between two powerful groups, the Freeup and the Ruleup, one battling for freedom, and the other for control.
Their rivalry turns intense, leaving the entirety of the planet facing its backlash. But beneath this chaos, there are unseen forces at work too. There are several unexpected twists, surprising alliances, heartbreaking treacheries and loads of action. At the heart of it though, this is a story about the “magic” of friendship and resilience.
Booksoarus: Who will enjoy reading it?
Namya/Yahvi: We think that this book would ideally be suited to a younger audience, around 8–11-year-olds. This is mainly because our ideas are based largely on themes of adventure and fantasy, and children around that age would enjoy the book more as these themes would appeal to them.
Additionally, as we were around the same age when we wrote this book, the storyline would definitely interest them more.
Booksoarus: Namya, this is your second book after The Reader City. How do you compare the two?
Namya I feel extremely proud of myself for completing a second book. The Reader City was a shorter book and thus, took less time to write. I got that book self-published too and hence, it came out faster even though I started writing that book after this one.
In contrast, we went through the whole editing and publication process for The Wars For Magisis. It is difficult for me to compare the two, as I was able to take Yahvi’s help and ideas while writing this book, but I also like the ideas I was able to pen down for my other book. I love both my books and feel satisfied at having found a medium to my ideas and thoughts in my own way.
Booksoarus: Yahvi, how does it feel to have your first book published?
Yahvi: While writing the book, I wasn’t thinking too far into the future; I was just enjoying the time I spent writing and plotting the story, along with my best friend. But as we started typing our ideas out, I realised that it would be nice to have the book published.
Even then, it didn’t truly hit me. It was just me and Namya, sharing our ideas and spending the best time together. Now that it’s actually happened, I feel extremely happy and proud of myself for coming so far. Before, it was just a dream, now it’s true. It’s a little overwhelming and hard to believe, but I couldn’t be more overjoyed.
Booksoarus: What was the process you followed in writing? How much time did it take?
Namya/Yahvi: We initially stuck to the basic plotline that we had come up with before beginning to write our book. However, as we built on our idea, we started tweaking the original storyline a little. Soon, we were making a lot of changes at every plot twist.
Whenever we did not agree with each other, we would have a discussion and eventually come out with an idea better than what either of us was originally thinking. This is the process we followed throughout the book.
As we were constantly changing the plot and learning how to write well, we took a lot of time to write it. It took us around two years to write this book, from 4th to 6th grade.
Booksoarus: The book imagines a different planet full of magic. What was your inspiration for doing the world-building?
Namya/Yahvi: While imagining the magical setting for our book, we were mainly influenced by other books we had read, like Harry Potter, that contained magical elements. We then decided to make a world of our own. It wasn’t extremely hard, as we knew the elements we didn’t want to include.
Moreover, we were deeply interested in outer space while writing the book, and some research helped us develop the magical world we wanted to create into something more factually correct. We also spent a lot of time learning words from other languages, researching and discussing on what kind of powers could there be, and how could they affect our storyline.
Booksoarus: Which is your favourite character from the book?
Namya/Yahvi: We both really like the character of Nora. There are several reasons why we like her so much. Firstly, we have written her as a character with an extremely tragic backstory which gives her more incentive to fight back. We liked this fiery personality and determination.
Another thing we both liked about her was that even though she had been through so much, she still stayed true to her values and never lost hope or faith in herself or her allies. Her resilient qualities and character development are what appeal to us.
Booksoarus: What’s next for you two?
Yahvi: After the publication of this book, I felt really glad about how it turned out and extremely proud. Now that my writing style has developed more over the past few years since we first wrote this book, I feel like continuing writing. The thought is extremely alluring, and I’m eager to explore more.
Namya: I am very motivated by having published this book. As I have already published two books, I feel confident that I can follow them up with another, and more! I feel like my writing style has developed and changed a lot over the years, and I am more confident and comfortable in the way I write.
I want to write more and explore my creativity in other types of genres aside from fantasy books. I feel like while Yahvi will likely continue exploring her creativity, it is unlikely for us to write a sequel as we want to concentrate on our different tastes and ideas.
The Wars of Magisis is available on Amazon.
