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Delving into dark fiction (View Comments)
Unnati Narang
Posted On Monday, June 14, 2010 at 12:51:51 PM
Mithun Mukherjee, author of the novel ‘Cold Feet’ describes himself as one who ‘started off as a dot, before being wheeled into a comma...’ A dark fiction writer, Mithun finds inspiration in everything ordinary as he artfully spins it into an extraordinary piece of writing. How did the dark within him find new wings to see the light of the day? Let’s ask this budding author himself
Most writers start young. So is the case with Mithun Mukherjee. In his seventh grade in school, he won the Albert Barrow Memorial all India creative writing competition for his short story. Fiction is Mithun’s first love. He started blogging at the age of 22 and slowly, most of his writing got streamlined into dark fiction. Mithun explains, “Initially my writings on my blog ‘De-Scribe’ were varied and haywire. Slowly, I started focusing on what I enjoyed most – fiction. An avid reader of Stephen King, I had always been inclined towards dark fiction. The blog gave me a new platform and a large reader base.”
In spite of studying Science in school, Mithun chose to study Literature in his undergraduation and thereafter, a Masters in Journalism, “I never knew I would be writing professionally but I always wanted to. Thankfully, my family was supportive of the choices I made. Studying Literature opened up my mind to fiction and also gave me a good taste in books. It has helped develop my own style of writing.”
Fears and misconceptions
When Mithun started writing dark fiction, he had his apprehensions about how readers would receive it but one and a half years down the line, he is more than happy with the response. “In these few years, I have had fourteen thousand hits on my blog and my book has been published with Serene Woods, later reviews by Hindustan Times. It points to a trend that readers are open to accepting dark fiction as a genre. I have come across many misconceptions about dark fiction. People feel that it is about either ghosts or blood and gore. Instead, dark fiction is about exploring the darker recessed of the human mind; it need not be brutal or supernatural. It could be simple experiences such as getting into the elevator alone, taking a walk all by yourself at midnight and such things. It is fiction based on dark themes and not dark matter.”
Most of Mithun’s writing comes from his personal life. He nurtures his tendency to modify and adapt his life into stories. The situations and places in his book are adaptations of things that have happened in his life. Mithun has had varied experiences of working, from a producer at Radio One to a journalist at a leading publication. He now plans to work on graphic novels.
A typical day
Mithun does not have hours allocated to writing but every day, he finds time, steals a few moments to write, “During the day, I write anytime I feel the urge. It sparks from spurts of creativity. It is how a guitarist would feel. Until and unless I have written down about the thing that’s compelling me to write, the writer in me wouldn’t settle down.”
An ardent rock music fan, Mithun spends a lot of time listening to good music. At other times, you can find him with his head buried in a good book, lost in characters and situations created by many imaginative writers such as himself. Mithun’s daily life, just like his style of writing is full of new things. Experimental, innovative and following peculiar structures, there is just no way to compartmentalise either his day or his works!
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