An Interview with Shobana Gomes, Author of Where the Rain Falls

Shobana Gomes is a poet and writer from Malaysia who has gained a prominent place in the literary world through her published works on Amazon. Her storytelling prowess can be read in stories like An Author of the Past, Where the Rain Falls, The Goddess of the Himavan, and other books published under the ancient and classical literature category. The Goddess of the Himavan and Where the Rain Falls have reached the No.1 best-seller list on Kindle’s new releases.

Shobana also crafts poetic memorabilia, gifts and cards for special occasions, shobanagomes.com.

You can buy Where the Rain Falls here.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I started by writing a poem when my youngest brother died tragically in 2007. I was devastated as I was abroad at that time and couldn’t attend his funeral. Friends and family loved the poem and I joined Blogit, an international writing portal as a subscriber. I wanted to know if I had it in me to write poetry and if people would be receptive to my work.

The senior writers there saw something in my poems and encouraged me to move forward with my writing through their positive feedback. That was the beginning of a hidden passion that came to light and that turned my gift of writing into a dream come true.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I have held various posts throughout my working career. I worked in a bank, as a Secretary, and as a Personal Assistant to a French company, hence my love for the language, and finally before I went into writing full-time, I worked as a Human Resource Consultant. I founded the staffing agency with my sister, who passed on after succumbing to a brain tumour and cancer. That was a setback for me, yet again. After a couple of years, I ventured into a writing career and have not looked back since.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Where the Rain Falls is a very special book for me. I wasn’t aware of the drought and its ravages when I began the story. I started writing first about the lack of water in downtrodden places, and as I wrote the story, I was led by a higher hand to talk about a family stuck in a desert land, where the duststorm was rampant and the rivers dried up ever so often. Like the Sahara, only the Sahara was filled with the oasis and the mirages. I felt the poverty of a life without sufficient water, and how prosperity depended on the rainfall. I thought about why water was scarce in a poverty-ridden life. The title of the story just came to me as the story unfolded and I wrote instead of the beauty of a land of otherworldly creation. Even with the river that dried, the beauty lay in the evolving skies, dawn to dusk, sunrise to sunset, young love, and the constellations.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

That’s a tough question because there are the stars and the wilderness, the river and the duststorm, and then of course, love and its naivety. I think I will go with “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I don’t think it is a perfect fit, but it’s what came to mind.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

I hope my readers are awed by the book. It is written for the reader to envisage the sufferings of the people who lived hoping for rain. When finally the rain falls, the fallacy of hope becomes a reality. The perfect reader would be one who can imagine and understand poverty and be captured by the kindness, love and beauty found in the book.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

I hope my readers are awed by the book. It is written for the reader to envisage the sufferings of the people who lived hoping for rain. When finally the rain falls, the fallacy of hope becomes a reality. The perfect reader would be one who can imagine and understand poverty and be captured by the kindness, love and beauty found in the book. If I may add, due to climate change, drought is a very real threat to the world right now. And this book will somehow highlight the plight of those affected by drought.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

Right now I am working on a memoir of my younger days. It will be out on Amazon soon. I would like to tell the world, especially my children, the story of a life I didn’t choose. I have always felt lacking throughout my life. I have gone through many setbacks which I have overcome to be able to say that I am fulfilled now.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.