Interview with the author- Ritu Lalit, who has penned two books: "A bowful of Butterflies" and upcoming- "Hilawi".
1. When your first book- A Bowful of Butterflies came out, what was the reaction of people around you- Parents, children, friends, neighbours, relatives etc?
A lot of them were not as surprised as I was. Apparently as a kid, I had told people that I would write my own novel. An uncle said, “You are a voracious reader, so it was just a matter of time that you would write your own book.”
2. What exactly your latest book- Hilawi is all about? Because the title of the book is itself a strange word for many of us?
HILAWI is a word I coined. “Jo hila kar rakh de”. As the book trailer explains, at the time of the churning of the ocean, a young slave girl, barely fourteen, tries to flee the warring gods and demons. Inadvertently she takes a magical object churned out of the ocean. This object had to be given a name … so I coined the word HILAWI
3. How much long did it take to write this book from the moment you started developing the story to start writing it till completing it finally with editing and all?
Actually writing a story does not take more than three to four months for me. But then my editing takes over. I revise, edit, discard a lot, add a lot. That takes a huge amount of time. In the flow of writing I do not like to stop and think – I just keep developing events and scenes, many of which I chop off later. “A Bowlful of Butterflies” was written in 50 days, the final shape came together after 7 months. Hilawi took longer, roughly about ten months to come together.
4. when do you write as you are not a Full Time Writer and its not easy to find time after coming back at home in evening?
I do not sleep much … and the night is very peaceful and conducive to writing.
5. What exactly do you want to spread in society as a Writer?
I am not much of an advise giver or prone to giving motivational speeches. So I have no message to give, apart from one. I am a woman, and hence all my women characters are strong, passionate and real. They are not sex objects or sacrificial goats. So I guess that is my message …
6. As Indian authors are accused for degrading the quality of English and not giving a chance for readers to learn something new, can we expect some Good vocabulary, idioms, phrases, one-word substitutions etc from you ?
I do not like using weak grammar and it irritates me to read a poorly spelled word or a badly worded sentence. It is possible to write a simple story with easy words. In fact simplicity is beautiful, and I want my story to be read by all so I try to use simple words. I am a writer and not an English teacher, but hope I can not be clubbed with writers who degrade the quality of English.
7. Indian Publishing is too hard to deal with, was it easy for you to get a Publisher or did u wait for a long time to get your work published (Regarding your first book)?
I guess I was lucky. I had submitted my book (A Bowlful of Butterflies) to an agent who rejected it outright. It annoyed me a lot. In a spirit of “How dare he” I sent it to Rupa & Co. directly. But the rejection bothered me so I worked harder on the manuscript and polished it. Rupa accepted it in three months, and I was on tenterhooks, because the original manuscript had been changed! So I talked to the editor who laughed and said, “No problem, we’ll publish your latest version”. So I guess it worked out for me.
8. What are the Promotional strategies that you and your publisher have applied to promote/market your book- Hilawi?
Not many, just the usual. I have made a trailer which I am promoting through Youtube and my blog. I am giving interviews like this one. The publisher on their part is sending out press releases. I do hope people like the book and write reviews.
9. After seeing the success of Five Point Someone, that it was adapted as a Blockbuster movie later on, did you ever feel as if your books can also achieve this feat or are you working on building some contacts to get your books turned into visual format?
I really don’t know. I have not seen that far ahead. I am just concentrating on writing quality books. If someone approaches me, I may consider. But I am a blogger and writer – not a movie maker. So I will concentrate on doing what I know.
10. What exactly is your target from your Books- 1. Getting most copies sold out, 2. Getting the love of readers or 3. You just wrote it because you wanted to write a book once in your life, hence you have no targets?
Oh I am a drama queen. I want it all, love of the readers, being on the best seller list, getting fame and fortune! And why not? One only lives one life eh?
11. In the end, tell us in 5-7 lines, what speech will you give if you win a Major Award for the Best Indian Author for your books?
This is a message I would like to give my readers irrespective of the fact that I may or may not win any major award …
Thank you all for loving me so much! You have encouraged me and so I am going to go back to the key board and dream up more stories for you.
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