BY Vani IN

Author Vani wanted to appeal to the popular reader base with her debut novel: India Today

Sitting in her 8×12 room, the conversation centers around technique, not craft. There are excited responses about character building, story twists, timing, plot interplay and marketing techniques, making one wonder if geometrical precision can answer questions of emotional arithmetic that a collage of delicate words wrapped in a hard-bound are meant to unravel. But Panchkula-based author Vani, whose maiden novel The Recession Groom went into reprint just after 15 days of its release, could not have asked for more. “I am glad that the targeted reader base, which comprises mostly youngsters, is responding well,” says the 36-year-old author, who took two years to complete the book.

The novel, released in February this year, revolves around Parshuraman Joshi, 27, a handsome IT professional settled in Canada, earning a high salary. This naturally makes him ‘hot’ on the Indian matrimony market. Suddenly, recession hits the global economy and the little world he’s created for himself begins to shatter. Will he be able to pull himself together to face the challenges posed by a tough economy? More importantly, will he be able to find the ‘perfect partner’?

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Vani, an MBA degree holder from Kingston University, London was in England when recession struck. “I experienced it first-hand and saw graduates from top colleges unable to find jobs. That is when I knew that I had to write about it. Considering the fact that recession is a dry subject, I inserted the arranged marriage angle in the story to catch the readers’ fancy,” she says.

The writer clarifies she has not borrowed anything from her own life while writing the book, as she did not want to limit the protagonist’s experiences. “The central character is an IT professional. When I started writing, I did not even know the difference between a browser and an operating system,” says Vani.

Vani, who sent her manuscript to several international publication houses but did not receive a positive response from them, finally got published in India, which was her last choice. “I had no idea that finding a publisher could be so exhausting,” she says, admitting that books by many young, contemporary Indian writers never see the light of day despite the fact that several offer newer themes. “We are just not ready to rope in professional editors who can guide us. Seeing the boom in number of young Indian writers, many are typing away on their computers. But their chances of getting published would surely increase if they were less self-assured of their talents,” she says.

Vani, who is currently writing the sequel, strongly feels that platforms like e-books will go a long way in bringing forward new writers. “Distributors are just not interested in pushing your book if you are a new author and don’t have a solid publisher behind you. This is where platforms like Kindle come in which kill the intermediary and connect you straight with the reader. The Recession Groom is in fact finding newer readership across the world including Europe and Central Asia, all thanks to Kindle,” she says.

Believing that a writer’s role increases after the book is on the stands, Vani agrees that post-recession, most publishing houses have stopped supporting first-time authors. “They are just not willing to market your product if you are new,” laments the writer, who draws her influences from different genres including thrillers, mysteries and mythology.

Vani, whose list of favourite Indian writers in English include Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss), Ashwin Sanghi (Chanakya’s Chant), thinks that all the effort she has been investing in to promote her book will help her when the sequel hits the market sometime this year. “I have already held book launch sessions for my first book in Chandigarh, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. Cities such as Kolkata, Surat, Kochi and Visakhapatnam are next on the list. These visits help me connect with the readers and also gauge what they are looking for in a book. Not to mention, these are excellent opportunities for networking and word of mouth publicity for the book,” adds Vani, who plans to write thrillers and fantasy in future. She does not mind that she hasn’t done a creative writing course. “I am someone who wants to learn on the job,” she says.

On the walls of her 8×12 room, there is a time table that shouts when she should get up, write, read, eat and rest. Discipline, she says, is paramount.

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