Crediting her creativity to her motivation striking at night, Saumya Arora has published two poetry books by her senior year. Arora’s first book came out on Aug. 17, 2021, and her second was published just two years later on Nov. 6, 2023.
Arora used writing as an escape from virtual school as an outlet of expression when writing her first book, “Because I Let My Imagination Fly,” in her freshman year. Writing poems began as a hobby, late at night when the day was over and everyone else in her house was asleep. Her creativity flowed as she wrote her poems, inspired by anything from Disney to her childhood experiences.
Her second book, “Engraved in My Soul,” was heavily inspired by the prompts given in her Honors Modern Literature and the Arts class. Arora felt that she had a story to share with the world for others to read. Publishing her books would accomplish her goal.
The Perspective sat down with Arora to discuss the release of her new book.
Dallalah: Tell me a bit about your writing process.
Arora: During the summer, I would just stay up late writing because that’s when I got all my ideas, and I felt that’s when my creativity was at its best. For me, creative writing is a gateway to my imagination. Most of the poems that I wrote were after midnight, as I had the best ideas at that time.
Dallalah: What inspires you when writing your poems?
Arora: Some inspiration came from my English class and the prompts that my teacher gave us to write about in Honors Modern Literature and the Arts. Other poems were inspired by events in my life, movies I’ve seen, and ideas I wanted to express. My poems are all based on things I like. A lot of the inspiration did come from I’ve loved Disney ever since I was little. My parents and I have gone to Disney a lot, I just love the magic behind the stories and the lessons that they teach people.
Dallalah: What led you to write your second book after publishing your first one?
Arora: I [wrote] a lot of poems in my English class from my junior year. And I wrote some more [outside of class]. I felt like I’ve grown a lot as a writer from when I published my first book. With my new poems, I wanted to compile all of them because I feel like they represent me in a different way than the ones in my first book.
Dallalah: What was the process of being published? Who gave you the idea? Or was that something you found yourself?
Arora: Originally, for my first book, it was my mom who suggested I publish one. Then when I had enough poems for a second book, I decided to publish again. For self-publishing, I used Amazon and it was pretty easy.
Dallalah: What kind of prompts were given in Honors Modern Literature?
Arora: A lot of them were picking our paintings and then writing about the painting. One of them we read a short story, and then we had to write a poem from the perspective of a scorpion in that story. That one I liked a lot. A couple were freestyle [poems] where we do what we want. One of the [freestyle] prompts was an old one which I wrote about Disney. At the end of the year, we had to do a project about a topic we were passionate about and I picked feminism which I also included in my book.
Dallalah: One of your poems is written as a letter to your younger self. What part of your childhood are you talking about?
Arora: Yeah, so relating to Disney, growing up, I loved Belle (from Beauty and the Beast). I related to her the most because I love to read. When I was younger, I always dreamed of becoming an author. I just never really imagined that that would happen to me at such a young age.
Dallalah: Your first book was published during the pandemic. How did that affect you?
Arora: I was enrolled virtually. It was easy but stressful at the same time because I couldn’t go to school and see people. I feel like writing helped me escape loneliness. It felt good.
Dallalah: How is your second book different from your first?
Arora: They are similar in the fact that it is about my life, but I feel like for the second book, a lot of the poems are from my English class. So that kind of brings a different perspective into it and I have grown as a writer, so from two years ago, I feel like my second book is much better.
Dallalah: Is there anything you’d want to tell anyone considering publishing a book themselves?
Arora: I would tell people to trust the process and have at least one person they can rely on while publishing– they could be a friend, teacher, or family member. I would also advise people to take into consideration that depending on what you’re publishing, you’re putting a part of yourself out there for the world to see.
Answers have been restructured for clarity.
Copies of Arora’s books can be found at Barnes & Noble, and on Amazon and Thriftbooks.
