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Sunday, 18 May 2014

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Ishani Malhotra’s tryst with romance fiction

As the demand for romance fiction in English rises in the subcontinent where a robust English fiction readership keeps growing, new debutantes to the sphere of fiction writing are emerging with their debut novels being picked up by publishing houses as Harlequin India. Ishani Malhotra is an upcoming author from India who has worked as a correspondent with The Hindustan Times newspaper, Kolkata Edition for two years. Her tastes when it comes to reading include works of Jhumpa Lahiri, Dan Brown and Shobha De.

She is a Commerce graduate from the University of Calcutta and also holds a degree in Mass Communication. Amongst the fiction writing she has published thus far is a short story titled ‘I’ll Be There’ which was selected from a nationwide contest and featured in an anthology named ‘Uff Ye Emotions-2’. Painting, music, and social networking are interests of this merging authoress who is originally from Calcutta, but now residing in Guwahati in the North Eastern Indian state of Assam.

‘Until I met You’ is the title of Ishani’s upcoming novel to be published by Harlequin India, and in her very first interview given to a newspaper, she tells the readers of the Sunday Observer’s Montage about how the path to fiction writing all began and how she developed her craft, as well as what is at the heart of her debut novel set to be released soon.

Creative writing

Question: What made you put your hand in romance fiction writing? You have worked as a journalist. What was that experience like? Is there any connection between your work as a journo and the choice of taking up creative writing?

Answer: You can say writing happened to me totally by chance. Initially, I did not pick up writing. It picked me up. Exactly one year back, I even remember the day, it was May 13, Monday and I looked blankly at the laptop screen wanting to write something. I started writing and when it was done, it emerged as a beautiful short love story. I wrote a couple of short stories more and each time I wrote, I realised my lead characters were romancing each other.

Then I knew being already a die-hard romantic in my real life, it was romance writing that interested and excited and thrilled me. A plot struck me and I started writing a full-fledged novel.

I worked as a journalist for a leading English daily in India, Hindustan Times for two years. The experience has been very enriching. I loved my job. I loved meeting new people from different walks of life. And of course, it used to give me immense pleasure when my story reached to the masses.

While I worked there I did a lot of feature stories. I wrote about people, places, music, films, food and much more. Creativity always intrigues me. There are threads that connect me in my writing from my journalist days till today. I have taken it all, good, bad and everything in my stride and put it all together whenever I need them in writing. So, one can say, it kind of helps me.

Debut novel

Q: You recently signed your first contract to publish your upcoming romance novel with Harlequin India. How did that materialise and how is the novel developing?

A: My debut novel publishing from Harlequin is an honour in itself. For me, it’s a dream come true. I mailed my manuscript and the story synopsis to Harlequin, India.

The publishers read the whole manuscript and two weeks later I received an acknowledgement mail from them saying I am in with them and they asked me if I was ready for editing or not? I immediately said a yes. And there was no looking back. Harlequin is not only one of the finest publishers but I would add that they are the fastest in this slow-moving publishing industry. There working style is very smooth, fast and easy.

I am working with my Harlequin editor and the revised manuscript is almost ready. And believe me, the whole process has been so enriching. I learnt so much in this editing phase.

Q: With so many streams of creative writing entering the fold and being an emerging writer what in your opinion is saleable fiction in our region in today’s context of commercially driven markets that applies very much to literature as well.

A: I am first a reader and then a writer. So when I write, I think from a reader’s point of view. What a reader is looking for. First the story has to appeal. Realistic plots and realistic characters work best. The plot is the king of the book and marketing is the queen. So both works hand in hand.

Plotline

There are a lot of genres and kind of writings but every genre has its dedicated readers as well. And as far as I know, nothing sells like romance. What more, in romance you can punch a romantic thriller, a romantic comedy, a historical romance and even a romantic erotica.

So romance covers a few genres in itself. Also social media is used these days for aggressive marketing. Word of mouth is probably one of the best medium to reach out to the readers.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about the novel that is due to be published? What is the plotline like and who are the main characters?

A: Mine is a work of contemporary romantic fiction and the plot is based in one of the major cities of India. I have tried to keep the plot very simple yet pacy. My story explores that how in today’s generation the youth has to go through several hindrances in their love lives like cheatings, break-ups, taking short breaks in their relationships in a very small span of time.

But then above all, love has the power to transcend us from every complex situation that we face in life. And finally we find out that one person who we can love, trust. Who we feel protected with and the one who respects our smallest decision in life.

The story is written in first person and the voice narrating the story is of a 23 year old gorgeous, intelligent airheaded girl who is doing her Masters. She’s in love with the idea of being in love who can get clueless at times.

She has her own fixation with relationships and marriages. All I can say is her character is very realistic and almost every girl and even the boys can relate to her. It is easy to like her.

The other lead character is of a suave and charming doctor who not only happens to be a few years older than the protagonist but also happens to be her best friend’s cousin.

There are a few more important characters in the novel who have their share of ups and downs and point of views in life.

I like to keep the voice of the story young and upbeat. I use the conversational tone of the contemporary generation. The book has some genuinely laugh out loud moments as well as some scenes where the reader cringes in embarrassment right along.

And obviously it has a happy ending. Being a die-hard romantic writer, I can possibly never give my love stories a sad ending.

Inspiration

Q: How did you set about character construction? Where do you look for inspiration and structures to create your own characters? Are they from people you meet in real life or other works of fiction?

A: Precisely on August, 2013 a storyline struck me and abruptly I started writing off having no idea where it would finally end. Gradually I got myself a diary and I jotted down the characters and divided the chapters.

I set the chapter outlines which made my work easier. Working this way helped me a lot. I am disciplined as a person and as a writer.

While I was still writing the book and a few last chapters were yet to be written, I was itching to write the last chapter because I had planned to put a couple of very romantic scenes there.

The ending has a loop back to the dream in the beginning of the story and is very romantic without going overboard. Since I had already done the chapter outlines earlier, I wrote the last chapter first very easily.

My characters are my very own and very real. It can be you; it can be me or anyone.

Though the characters of my debut book are loosely based on a few people I know and have met, it is not always the case. For example, I am already halfway through my book number two and the characters in the second book are again people who we can relate to.

They are no one I have met or known but I know there are people like that who has a story inside them. And I want to plot a story against their life’s backdrop and tell the world. So my character developing is kind of a mixed bag. You can say that I want the best of best of both the worlds.

Romance novelist

Q: How do you see your path as a writer developing in the years ahead? Will you commit yourself solely to be a romance novelist or will you venture into different genres and explore new themes?

A: I think the future is bright and sunny. Though today writing and publishing is a big stiff competitive market, I still want to write and tell the world a story.

Even if I have a few dedicated readers I’ll feel I have reached somewhere. As for now, fingers double crossed.

Till one year back, I never thought that I had it in me to be a writer and a romance writer. But here I am today, writing and writing more. Writing had always been a pleasure but I never thought it was my passion until I turned a writer.

And trust me when I say that if I don’t write for a day, I feel my day is incomplete. So yes,

I’ll doing a lot of writing and as of now romance writing because I think I can write that easily and very fast.

Writing romance comes naturally to me. But I will not restrict myself to be a genre specific writer. This is just the beginning. Maybe with time and more understanding of other genres, I will pick up one at a time.

Ishani Malhotra may be contacted via Twitter: @utterlyishani

 

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