12-yr-old Chandigarh boy pens adventure novel

School Web Desk

Chandigarh, November 8

Mystery, murder, aliens, super heroes... well these are the fantasies of most tweens and teenagers as stories of adventure always fascinate kids. But conceptualising, visualising and writing down an original adventure story is not everyone’s cup of tea. This is what sets 12-year-old Jaiveer Singh Katial from Chandigarh apart as he has written a 238-page adventure novel for kids.

This Class VI Student of St John’s School in Chandigarh’s book The Double Force and The Fallen Kingdom was released on Saturday by Ms Kavita Das, Principal St John's School, in association with Chandigarh Literary Society and St John's Old Boys' Association (SJOBA).

The young author had started writing this story at the age of 9 three years ago and worked diligently for all these years to finish it. Talking about his inspiration Jaiveer says he was inspired by his favourite authors like JK Rowling, Enid Blyton and others as also from the events happening around him and movies. “I started to write the story as innumerable ideas kept coming in my mind all the time," said Jaiveer.

Taking the task of writing with the maturity of a pro Jaiveer used a weekly regimen to write his book."I used to make it a point to keep at least an hour every day for my writing and on weekeends this time would be around two hours", says the young writer.  After writing each chapter, he'd share it with close friends and family, and get their feedback and suggestions as he went along. Soon 10,000 words became 20,000, and eventually, he compiled over 40,000 words for his first novel.

 He is a voracious reader and his love for reading and writing was nurtured by his parents from early years as they would read out stories to him much before he could read himself. "I used to make comic strips earlier and even tried my hand at some short stories but it was developing a much longer story with a complicated plot and adding a dash of adventure, science fiction and mystery that gave me immense pleasure and has lead to this novel", he shares.

Ask him about his favourite subject and Jaiveer cheerily adds science to the obvious English literature. "Science is my favourite subject and I also use a number of scientific concepts in my writing too", he adds. He has also won laurels in Olympiads and NSTSE exams besides winning state-level writing competition. But in spite of his love for writing and reading Jaiveer is not a proverbial bookworm as he loves the outdoors and is a member of his school's cricket team. 

With plans for two or three more books in the The Double Force... series already in place, Jaiveer is confident of finishing his second book by next year as online classes due to the pandemic closure of schools has given him more time to concentrate on his writing. 

His tips for other youngsters planning to take up writing are pithy and practical. "If you have good imagination then start writing because if you don't pen down your thoughts then some brilliant ideas and stories are going to remain untold and go waste. So make a schedule and put aside sometime each day for writing your experiences, ideas and fantasies and who knows  a whole novel will be there soon". 

Showering praise and extending support to young Jaiveer on the release of his first book  were members of Chandigarh Literary Society and authors Khuswant Singh, Neel Kamal Puri and Vivek Attray. Sandeep Sahni and Naresh Nanda, SJOBA representatives, wished Jaiveer well for his accomplishment. "It's amazing to see such talented students getting nurtured in a proper environment. Jaiveer has proved that no dream is small or big, if one dedicates himself or herself to achieve. He will definitely take the best out of this experience to pen down his bright future," said St John School Principal Kavita Das.

About the book

The Double Force and The Fallen Kingdom, published by Notionpress.com, illustrated by Supreet Kaur, is a story about twins John and Jeremy who are always looking for an adventure but just can’t find one. However, this spring, a robber starts causing chaos in their peaceful city and things start getting tense when a murder occurs, revealing to the police some unearthly evidences.

This was the perfect chance for the twins to prove themselves. As they embark on their 'expedition', they accidentally enter a parallel world inhabited by a powerful sub-group of humans, formed a long time ago. As the plot unfolds the brothers go through a series of adventures and misadventures on their mission to fight the malevolent powers.

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