- What made you decide to write a young adult novel for your second book?
It was on my mind for some time. I used to tell my young children impromptu stories. When they reached their teens, I saw that they veered toward fantasy and rarely read any realistic fiction, and even if they did, it wasn’t set in an Indian context. I already had the kernel of the story, and so I decided to write it down.
- Where did the idea for writing this book come from?
The idea for the book came after I researched for a story on the RTE Act. All schools were to open admissions for children from vulnerable backgrounds and in many states, they are chosen via a lottery. I imagined how it would be, for a child to enter a school where children come from a vastly different background then theirs, and how they may interact.
- Could you tell us about the publishing route for this book?
I have self-published this book. It’s a lot of work!
- What are some of the lessons you learned after writing this book?
Oh my! A lot of things. One of them is that there is a very limited opportunity for someone writing for children in their early teens. It’s a very niche audience, and it also depends on what a child wants to read. I also feel that there is a gap between what the teen experiences and what we write about. We may feel we give it legitimacy by writing about drugs, religion, dating, or gaming, but these are important parts of a teenager’s life.
- How is writing for young adults different from writing for adults?
It’s much tougher! It takes a lot to get into their minds. And I also learned that their lingo changes every couple of years, so by the time I got to know a couple of Gen Z terms, Gen Alpha is now bringing in completely new words!
- How long did it take you to write this book?
I can’t exactly say. The basic plot was written in four months, but the editing process took quite some time. I changed some portions of the book in the second draft as well.
- Which are some of your favorite young adult authors/novels?
See, I think as an adult, we experience Young Adult books differently, sort of like Gulliver. When I was young, it was Enid Blyton and then it was straight to Agatha Christie. I don’t remember having read Young Adult as a young adult. Archies was perhaps the closest.
My choices may still come from an adult perspective, which is the problem we see in many young adult books. With that caveat, I loved the Mayil Series. “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo is one of my favourite books. Of course, who can forget Harry Potter?
- Tell us some memorable anecdotes that come to mind about the writing of this book.
Writing is a solitary pursuit, so I am hard pressed to find anecdotes during its writing! It’s mostly stuff that goes on in my mind! One thing I remember is that I was desperate to get my son’s input on the Minecraft sections where Aanveshika plays the game and my son tried to negotiate increased gaming time if he were to help me!
- What are your observations on the reading habits among teenagers?
They don’t read too much, but consume much more content that we ever used to.
- What are your plans for your future writing projects?
I have an anthology of my short stories that I’m putting together now.
