Meet Nayanika Dey: The Fabulous Writer of Erotica On YourQuote
Our writer Sudhir Bhadra interviewed Nayanika Dey, one of the best erotica writers on YourQuote and unravelled what goes behind writing those beautiful poems.
Thank you for giving your time for the interview. Describe yourself in 1200 characters (250 words) — Imagine writing a tiny autobiography.
Do I really need to describe myself? I think I am already a montage of different perceptions that different persons hold about me. But still for the purpose of this interview, I shall unfold myself. I am Nayanika Dey. I hail from Durgapur, West Bengal. I am an Accounts graduate and pursuing Master’s degree in Mathematics and Economics. I started penning down my thoughts and imaginations when I was 17. My works got published and featured in The Criterion: An International Journal In English, Galaxy: Multidisciplinary Research Journal, Indie Affair, atunispoetry.com. I am a contributing writer in Feathers (Hall Of Poets), Oh My Sweetest Love- A Timeless Treasure by Vishwabharati Research Centre in association with Sahitya Anand and Grafitti Wall for Poets, being some of them. I love reading John Keats. The word cinephile and philatelist aptly describes me. I am a word hoarder and a pianist in leisure.
When it comes to erotica, you are one of the best writers in YourQuote. As very few people write in this genre I would like to know, when and how did you start writing erotica? Have you ever faced any hindrance about it?
My writing took a major hike when I joined Twitter on 2013. The writing community over there is very supportive and versatile. They have inspired me all through the way and in exploring different poetic genres, erotica, the taboo genre being one of them. This is how I started writing erotica.
Obviously I faced a lot of hindrances in it. That is why I mentioned erotica as a taboo genre. There are people who confuse erotica with skin flick and pornography. They are unaware of the fact that there are numerous poets and writers who have portrayed erotica in the most beautiful and artistic way possible. So, at the end of the day all I do is brush off all the ill comments with a smile.
Well, that’s commendable. Wish every other writer thinks like you. In your bio I read that you are a cinephile. Which movie inspired you the most? How?
I am a diehard fan of Hugh Grant and John Cusack. I mostly prefer watching retro movies. Movies do inspire a lot to write as they are after all a story and a situation or a plot in all, but I don’t know which had inspired me the most. May be I derive inspirations from various scenes from various movies and join them together to create something new all anew.
How has your career/study impacted your writing style?
Not to mention, career and studies always have had a drastic impact. I am a student of Economics and Mathematics, so it is like trestling a bridge between the two antipodes.
Antipodes, ha ha. Moving on, where do you get your story ideas from?
I don’t know if I should call it a tough question or an easy one. My story ideas basically come from the situation or atmosphere that I am surrounded by and which I season with the salt and pepper of my imaginations.
Unlike others in YourQuote you don’t have a pen name. Have you ever considered for giving one?
Yes, I do not have a pen name. But my blog and my profile on Instagram and Twitter are named as Aegean Vespers.
I am a lover of sea/ ocean, a thalassophile in short, or “vesper of the paralian” in poesy. Aegean is an embayment of Mediterranean Sea and Vesper means evening. I feel the sea in an alcazar of life, tales and secrets. It seems as if the ebbs and flows narrate the history of future and the decaying present.
Well as a research scholar in Oceanography, I love oceans too. So for me this is the best blog name I have ever known. Moving on to the next question, Do you believe in writer’s block? Have you ever gotten it?
An unseen lethargy is often a reflection of the eternal urge to sleep amidst the race of life — Nayanika Dey
Does writer’s block even really exist? Monotony is a part of life and I think the phrase “writer’s block” is only an excuse to take a break when monotony and lethargy takes hold. Any person has the ultimate capability to imagine and writers are a bit extra capable to let their ink flow through the dead veins of the imaginations to give them a life. So personally I don’t believe in writer’s block.
Wow, these words changed my perception of writing. In your bio you said you are a word Hoarder and that’s clearly visible in all of your poems. So let me ask, how important is the accessibility of meaning? Should one have to work hard to solve the poem?
“Deep feeling doesn’t make for good poetry. A way with language would be a bit of help.” ~Thom Gunn
I always abide by this rule. I don’t know if one should have to work hard to solve my poems. All I do is find the exact words that can express my feelings in the exact way. In the other way round the words that I use in my poems do exist. People do use the words, may be not everyday. Whenever I learn some new words I put that into use in my own works. In short I like working on my vocabulary.
Do you anytime put some lines in your poem that some specific people will understand?
As I already said, my poems take birth from the people and situations those I come across. “Time” makes me pen it and like everyone; I am too just a mere marionette to it. For instance I had once written a poem on an acid attack survivor, so it doesn’t really mean that only she can understand my poem.
Which book do you wish you have written?
I think I’d rather prefer writing my own than wishing someone else’s hard work to be mine.
What writer do you detest?
I shall not name anyone in particular. But I really dislike those people who boast and brag about themselves and then they don’t spare a single second to copy other’s hard works.
Who are your favourite writers in YourQuote?
I feel the word “favorite” puts a limit in everything that it carries with itself. I believe in exploring.
What has been the greatest personal discovery for you?
O’ so bumpy
The ride of life is,
The smoother
You think the road,
The deeper the potholes.
~Nayanika Dey
What scares you the most?
Death. Death is something that fascinates, fantasizes and scares me, all at the same time.
If there is a novel based on your life, what would it be called?
Keepsake.
That’s an interesting name. Would love to read the novel someday. Tell one thing that you want others to know about you.
My ink is not
The ultimate tale of my life
There is an alcazar
Built in there
Where I am myself
Lost too.
~Nayanika Dey
(PS: Don’t try to assume and decode my life on the basis of what I write)
This is the last question. What is your favourite possession? Share a picture and add 3–4 lines.
Possessions! Well I possess this life and every moment of it because at the end of the day I don’t want to ask this(my quote below) question to myself.
Moments, seconds
Minutes and hours
Days, weeks
Months and years
Running ahead they all are
Leaving me behind
Wrapped in velvety grief
As I perplex with a baffled mind,
“Have I ever actually lived”?
~Nayanika Dey
Here are some of Nayanika’s best posts on YourQuote.
