Ask the Author: Sonali Dev
Answered Questions (17)
Sonali Dev
Hi Megan! I'm so thrilled that you love the Rajes. I love them too. (Enough that I preemptively fear for the day when I won't be writing them anymore). And yes, writing the many many ways in which women, especially brown women, display strength and resilience every day is one of my favorite things to do. As for the next book, I always envisioned this series as four books, each one paying homage to one of my four favorite Jane Austen novels. The next is, indeed, Yash's story, and it's inspired by Sense and Sensibility. Thanks so much for your question.
Love,
Sonali
Love,
Sonali
Sonali Dev
Thanks, Kylee!! I'm so thrilled that you adored (I love that word) Recipe for Persuasion. Yay! And yes, I always envisioned this series as four books, each one paying homage to one of my four favorite Jane Austen novels. The next is, indeed, Yash's story, and it's inspired by Sense and Sensibility. Thanks so much for your question.
Love,
Sonali
Love,
Sonali
Sonali Dev
"He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
Sonali Dev
Hi! Thank you so much for your note!
The unanswered questions will definitely be answered in A DISTANT HEART which comes out in December 2017. It's Rahul and Kimi's story and we see a little more of Nic and Niki.
The unanswered questions will definitely be answered in A DISTANT HEART which comes out in December 2017. It's Rahul and Kimi's story and we see a little more of Nic and Niki.
Sonali Dev
Hi! That's an amazingly astute observation. I am very fascinated by the disconnect between our inner selves and our outer selves, our public selves and our private selves. Who we are and what people see us as is such a combination of factors (their perspectives and prejudices, plus our own). Ria's entire story was about reconciling those two parts. So to answer your question she was not at all hard for me to write in terms of who she was, but she was hard to make 'likeable' because readers (like people we meet in life) judge us by our actions rather than our thoughts. And her actions (or the lack there of) at the beginning come from a place of fear.
As for how Jess sees her, Jess comes with her own prejudices that come from her own darker, less fortunate experiences and circumstances. It's not so much that Ria is cold and spoiled, but that she's protective of Nikhil. Jess has to grow past some of her darkness to see past Ria's darkness.
Basically I love both women and it was a joy to explore this mess of perception with them.
As for how Jess sees her, Jess comes with her own prejudices that come from her own darker, less fortunate experiences and circumstances. It's not so much that Ria is cold and spoiled, but that she's protective of Nikhil. Jess has to grow past some of her darkness to see past Ria's darkness.
Basically I love both women and it was a joy to explore this mess of perception with them.
Sonali Dev
Hi Leyla,
All my characters do have traditional names. But it's common for Indian families to shorten names to nicknames, and that's how I think of the characters in my head. Funnily enough, as soon as I feel close to someone my mind automatically shortens their name in my head.
What's your favorite traditional Indian name?
Thanks for your note and hugs,
Sonali
All my characters do have traditional names. But it's common for Indian families to shorten names to nicknames, and that's how I think of the characters in my head. Funnily enough, as soon as I feel close to someone my mind automatically shortens their name in my head.
What's your favorite traditional Indian name?
Thanks for your note and hugs,
Sonali
Sonali Dev
Thank you so much, Aishah! I'm so glad A Change of Heart touched you. Nik and Nikki are so very dear to my hear that hearing this makes me want to dance.
I'm actually working on Rahul and Kimi's story and not only are they Indian characters the book is set in Mumbai. It's called A Distant Heart and it comes out December 26 2017.
Thanks again and hugs,
Sonali
I'm actually working on Rahul and Kimi's story and not only are they Indian characters the book is set in Mumbai. It's called A Distant Heart and it comes out December 26 2017.
Thanks again and hugs,
Sonali
Sonali Dev
I have actually written for as long as I can remember. It's possibly one of my earliest memories. I always had a lot to say and writing was my way to keep on talking after everyone had stopped listening to my stories and opinions.
As for being inspired to be a writer, one of my uncles was a Marathi writer and a poet and he always encouraged my writing, but warned me about the unpredictability of writing as a source of income. Instead of being turned off by the warnings, that just taught me that you wrote because you had to write, and everything else followed or didn't.
The authors whose writing inspired me to write are:
Jane Austen, first and foremost, because she is the mother of Romance and because her romances poked fun at social customs and at love without ever taking either one of those lightly.
The Marathi author, P L Deshpande, who wrote humorous stories and plays that cut through social masks to pinpoint the ridiculous, the flawed, and the human with such unapologetic sharpness that as a reader there was never anywhere to hide. He actually helped me begin to understand what they mean when they say ‘Write The Truth’ (not that I really understand what that means—maybe it’s time to listen to some of his plays again?)
Vikram Seth, who wrote The Suitable Boy. Because, well, he wrote The Suitable Boy.
As for being inspired to be a writer, one of my uncles was a Marathi writer and a poet and he always encouraged my writing, but warned me about the unpredictability of writing as a source of income. Instead of being turned off by the warnings, that just taught me that you wrote because you had to write, and everything else followed or didn't.
The authors whose writing inspired me to write are:
Jane Austen, first and foremost, because she is the mother of Romance and because her romances poked fun at social customs and at love without ever taking either one of those lightly.
The Marathi author, P L Deshpande, who wrote humorous stories and plays that cut through social masks to pinpoint the ridiculous, the flawed, and the human with such unapologetic sharpness that as a reader there was never anywhere to hide. He actually helped me begin to understand what they mean when they say ‘Write The Truth’ (not that I really understand what that means—maybe it’s time to listen to some of his plays again?)
Vikram Seth, who wrote The Suitable Boy. Because, well, he wrote The Suitable Boy.
Sonali Dev
Undoubtedly A CHANGE OF HEART. Not only was it emotionally hard to fall into tragedy and to then convincingly and satisfyingly find my way out of it, but it was also very challenging in terms of storytelling because there are so many moving parts and stakeholders involved.
Naturally, it is also the most personally gratifying of all my books.
Naturally, it is also the most personally gratifying of all my books.
Sonali Dev
In terms of life goals, balance is something I aspire to with all my heart. It's taken me a very long time to figure this out, but the way I achieve a balance that makes me happy is basically by acknowledging the parts of my life that are most meaningful to me and then focusing primarily on those and letting everything else take second place. Right now what matters most is being a mom and writing. So I put the largest chunk of my energy into those two things, and depending on the needs of the day, one of those two things takes priority. My kids are in high school, so daily writing time isn't in conflict anymore.
The bigger struggle is separating the author tasks from writing and finding time to put the writing first.
I've also become a progressively more and more diligent list maker and goal setter. Having all I need to get done written down helps me manage my time, and gives me a fighting chance at being a better spouse and friend.
The bigger struggle is separating the author tasks from writing and finding time to put the writing first.
I've also become a progressively more and more diligent list maker and goal setter. Having all I need to get done written down helps me manage my time, and gives me a fighting chance at being a better spouse and friend.
Sonali Dev
I’m neither and I’m both. A Panty-Lotter? Basically, I know my characters really well when I start and I know the arc they must travel and the conflicts they must overcome and I know what I want to explore through the story. I also know the big scenes that the protagonists are working toward and working through. But it’s all very nebulous. Like, I know that they will be breaking each other’s hearts but I don’t always know how. I know they will be changing how they feel about something at an intrinsic level but not how. So, I know what the paradigm shifts in their inner landscape will be but not the details of how things will shift.
And then I grit my teeth and get through the first draft. The blank page terrifies me. The magic for me happens in revision when I get to develop the story and give it form.
And then I grit my teeth and get through the first draft. The blank page terrifies me. The magic for me happens in revision when I get to develop the story and give it form.
Sonali Dev
I grew up in Mumbai, which is nothing if not a hot bed of stories waiting around every corner. I mean, textures, sounds, smells, emotion, it actually thrums through the air there. And then there’s my family. A grandmother who was a doctor back when the British still ruled India and a majority of women were still illiterate, a father who spent months in a Pakistani prisoner-of-war camp, a great grandmother who was a poet and died of a broken heart, a grandmother who tucked me into her side every afternoon and waxed eloquent about ‘that Mr. Rochester’ –it was a childhood seeped in stories with many great storytellers who loved to color it all in with opinion and interpretation.
And all this was before I moved across the world and found myself surrounded by an array of characters so drastically different and yet so fundamentally similar. The short answer? The world around me is what inspires me to write.
And all this was before I moved across the world and found myself surrounded by an array of characters so drastically different and yet so fundamentally similar. The short answer? The world around me is what inspires me to write.
Sonali Dev
Write and read then write and read some more. A writer needs to do nothing more than to write and read. For me personally, finding a set of friends I trusted who could critique my work was pure gold. Also try to learn to love the revision process. I think the difference between an aspiring author and a published/read one is 1) being able to finish your work 2) being able to polish it to a point where you can't find a single way to make it better.
Sonali Dev
Write and read then write and read some more. A writer needs to do nothing more than to write and read. For me personally, finding a set of friends I trusted who could critique my work was pure gold. Also try to learn to love the revision process. I think the difference between an aspiring author and a published/read one is 1) being able to finish your work 2) being able to polish it to a point where you can't find a single way to make it better.
Sonali Dev
I feel like there are only two approaches to getting past a block. Since a block is usual symptomatic of something that is broken in your story or of not knowing your character or your world enough. So, the solution lies 1) in forcing yourself to write through the problem and analyze what is broken 2) to live with and explore your characters some more.
Sonali Dev
I love every single thing about it (except that there aren't enough hours in the day). I love the words, playing with them making them say thing better and better. But the best part is possibly living with your characters. Letting them fill you up and coloring them in and rescuing them and watching them be heroic and heartbroken and healed.
Sonali Dev
The Bollywood Bride, which comes out this month, was inspired by one of those whispered stories from your childhood that elders share when they think you aren’t listening but that you soak up. One of my father’s boss’s wives became severely mentally ill in childbirth. While doing research for the book, I figured her postpartum depression had probably triggered a severe form of psychosis that she didn’t get the right treatment for. But the story I heard as a child was how the poor lady went ‘crazy’ in childbirth and was locked up in an asylum for the rest of her life.
I never met their daughter, but I always wondered what it must be like to have been the cause of losing your mother that way. That combined with this homogenous world I grew up in, where any child outside of the norm was openly regarded as a freak was where I think The Bollywood Bride took root.
I never met their daughter, but I always wondered what it must be like to have been the cause of losing your mother that way. That combined with this homogenous world I grew up in, where any child outside of the norm was openly regarded as a freak was where I think The Bollywood Bride took root.
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Oct 13, 2020 04:05PM