An explorer of fantasies

His books may be on the top of every bestselling list, but author Christopher C. Doyle is extremely down to earth. The novelist was in the city recently for the literature fest of BITS Pilani Hyderabad, called ‘Verba Maximus’. He spoke exclusively to DC about the kind of research that goes into his books and why he always renders his stories realistic.

Having written many historic-mythological fictions, Christopher feels that the genre is yet to be explored. Ask the author why he chose to venture into this genre and he quips, “The simplest answer to that question is that it is fascinating. But another reason why I chose to write in this genre is that no one has ventured in this direction. So I thought why not bring mythology, history and science together, but not in a mythological format. Amish (Tripathi) does bring in mythology and science together in his books, but his work is purely on mythology.”

Interestingly, Christopher believes in keeping his stories as close to the real world as possible. He explains, “Many say that Vijay, who is the protagonist in my series, has been beaten up many times. But, unlike what we are shown in the movies or read in some books, if there are 10 people put against you in a hand-to-hand fight, you may not be able to beat them all up. Similarly, when a big oragnisation kidnaps your girlfriend, which happened with Vijay in a book, you won’t be able to fight everyone and find her immediately. So I try to keep my books as close to reality as possible.”

One needs to embark upon a journey of extensive research on a given topic to write a historical-mythological thriller. Christopher says that he delves deep into scores of books to write his characters and plots. He also tests every scientific theory used in his book with a subject expert.

Talking about one such research he undertook for the vimanas (mythological flying machines) in his book, The Mahabharata Secret, Christopher says, “While researching, the question was which aspect of the vimanas should be a secret. I wanted it to be something unexpected because the story revolves around Ashoka discovering a secret — the weapon of mass destruction — of the Mahabharata time. Everyone would think that the secret is a nuclear weapon. So I started reading the Mahabharata and other holy texts. That’s when I realised that at two or three places in the epic, the flying machines become invisible, and I decided to use a vimana which can disappear.”

What’s even more interesting is that Christopher travels to many locations mentioned in his book, just to give the readers an authentic experience.

Although many are fascinated by the characters in his book, the writer agrees that some of them are inspired by the people he has met in real life. “There are quite a few of my characters that I have met. Dr Saxena, CMO of Titan pharmaceuticals, is one. Another character who is inspired by someone I met is Bheem Singh. His character is actually based on a CEO whom I met for breakfast at his place.  While sitting on the dining table, he wanted the toast to be passed to him, which was only at a hand’s distance from him. I found this apt for a maharaja’s character and sketched Bheem Singh accordingly,” narrates the author.

During the literature fest, Christopher also interacted with the students and spoke eloquently about the various conspiracy theories behind several monuments around the world. He also helped them draw a link between history and mythology and the common strings that unite different mythologies across the globe.