Children join author CG Salamander on mythical quest at SCRF

“My biggest advice to upcoming authors is to have fun with whatever you like; make sure you write about what you love and not what the market expects,” said the Netherlands-based author, editor and journalist, whose bestsellers include the comic series Maithili and the Minotaur. 

He gave children from various UAE schools an overview of mythical creatures from various countries before challenging them to come up with a story based on a mythical character. To their credit, the children in the 10-14 age group seemed well-versed with mythical characters like minotaur from Greek mythology or an Indian version of Boogeyman. He then sent them on a mythical quest where they had to create “a hero, their quest and purpose, and their interaction with the monster” and present it as a story.  

The engineer-turned-author from the Indian city of Chennai -- whose real name is Andrew Prashanth – confessed he liked the freedom of being able to write and he had taken up writing for a living in 2012 at the age of 21. His first published comic was a ‘matchbox’ one that had just five lines.

“My first book, Frank Goes to the Market, gave a magical and lovely feeling. It is about a child who gets lost in a crowded market and has to find his way back to his mother. It was inspired by my visit to an old colonial market in Chennai while moonlighting as a tour guide,” he replied to a student’s query. One from the Maithili series was also based on an incident from his childhood, when he and his cousins got lost in a forest for 10 hours, he revealed.

The young author and commissioning editor told them he was influenced by Manga comics and the Indian epic Mahabharata while his favourite books as a kid included the Tintin and Asterix comics as well as Terry Pratchett novels. He credited his co-creator and illustrator Rajiv Eipe for the success and continuity of his characters and plot. “A good story is something you take a lot of time with. The biggest takeaway is to spend a lot of time editing your story and breaking it down,” he pointed out, and mentioned the intense research that went into writing his book on 100 Indian mythical creatures From Makaras to Manticores. According to him, “a story can be made interesting by using subversion -- when you know something is certain, you make the opposite happen.”

Salamander stated that 95% of his books don’t have a structure beforehand. “I never have an outline when I write a story. It’s a lot more fun for the writer and the reader when you don’t have one,” he observed.

Taking place until May 4 at Expo Centre Sharjah, the 16th edition of SCRF promises an immersive experience under the theme “Dive into Books”. Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), this year’s agenda features 133 guests from 70 countries, and 122 Arab and international publishing houses from 22 nations.