Ahmed Faiyaz finds himself in his new book

“Bangalore has always been home. I have lived here all my life. Though I have been living in Dubai the past two years, I frequently come and meet people in India for my work,” says author Ahmed Faiyaz, in Bangalore to launch his second novel Another Chance.

It’s been a year since his first bestselling novel Love, Life and All That Jazz was released. This time, Faiyaz is ready with another novel about love and the spiral of emotions that revolve in typical relationships.

After the success of Love, Life And All That Jazz, he was ready to tackle a topic that was different from his first book, says the author.

While the first portrays the life of a group of friends and their coming of age in the city of Mumbai, Another Chance focuses on the journey of one woman and the struggles she faces from one point of life to another.

“Reading, writing and re-writing is what I do to create a story. Bits and pieces of information are added to it through my observation of what goes on around me. Like any writer, I study people and before I have pinned down my thoughts in writing, I already have a clear picture of what my story would be like. How you build characters is a process and it develops organically,” says Faiyaz who calls himself an “obsessive writer”.

Relaxed and waiting for the launch of his book at Crossword Bookstore on Residency Road, Faiyaz tells us something about Another Chance.

“The story is about a young woman called Ruheen Oberoi. Raised in Shimla by a doting grandfather, she has a lovely childhood. The plot takes off when she starts being stalked by an obsessive man, the son of a powerful minister,” says Faiyaz.

Oberoi is married to a man based in London; the marriage sours pretty soon. Beautiful and feisty, there are many men waiting to have another chance at making a go of a relationship with her, including Aditya and Varun, two of the most important characters from the book. Who gets a second chance with whom forms the main plot of this fast-paced novel.

“I do associate myself with the characters in my book. I have a little bit of Aditya and Varun in me,” says Faiyaz. With a strong female protagonist, he says he found it enjoyable to put himself in a woman’s shoes.

Ahmed has always admired and loved romantic novels that have an interplay of emotions.

He names Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte and Haruki Murakami amongst his favourite writers. He also compares his character Ruheen Oberoi to that of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.

“Jane Eyre and the difficult circumstances she faces in her life to finally achieve happiness and peace was definitely an inspiration for this book,” says Faiyaz.

The author is currently working on his third book, a compilation of 21 short stories called Strangers.