*** Special Feature - August 2017 ***
About the Author:
Aarti V Raman is an Amazon India bestselling romance writer who dabbles in romantic thrillers and contemporary romance. Happy Ever After are her three favorite words in the English lexicon.
Aarti graduated from Mumbai University in 2007 with a degree in Mass Media focused on Journalism which provided her the perfect background for conducting sound research on any project. But she has also worked as a copy editor, social media consultant, commercial content writer-editor while pursuing her goal.
Aarti’s ambition of honing her craft and writing stories, particularly romances that have strong characters and stronger plots that remain etched in the reader’s minds, grew when she sold her first novel WHITE KNIGHT (Leadstart Publishing), in 2012.
In 2013, her work was excerpted in the Tamil Edition of Mills and Boon novels. And in 2014, her short story “Post-Coital Cigarette” was chosen to be part of the Rupa Romance Anthology “An Atlas of Love” curated by bestselling author Anuja Chauhan. Her last novel “Kingdom Come” (Harlequin MIRA) has enjoyed a brief stay at the bestseller lists in Amazon India. Her third book “With You I Dance” (Fingerprint! Publishing) released in April 2016 and debuted on the Amazon India Romance Bestseller list.
Aarti was chosen to be part of the Goa Arts and Literary Fest 2014 in December 2014 and The Hyderabad Literary Festival in January 2015.
She is represented by Red Ink Literary Agency, India.
Connect with the Author:
Hello, Debdatta, before I begin this interview I would like
to offer my profuse thanks that someone, FINALLY stopped asking me “Where do
you get your inspiration from?” The answer, of course, is that I don’t! I wish
it were as simple as getting struck by inspiration and putting it all down on
paper. It has been a genuine pleasure to answer these hatke questions. Made me think and definitely made me chuckle. I
hope they do the same for y’all too!
Welcome to my Blog! Tell me, what is the first
book that made you fall in love?
I think the very first books I ever read were Enid Blyton,
Champak, Twinkle and Archie Comics. And I pretty much defy anyone to not read
The Faraway Tree and not fall in love with books. Moonface was probably my
first crush, back then (smiles broadly). The book that made me fall in love
with the idea of books was, as I have always maintained Nothing Lasts Forever by Sidney Sheldon, when I was 10. And, now that
I recall, mom read a ton of Danielle Steel and Perfect Stranger (Rachel and Alexander, I think are the leads) made
me fall hopelessly in love with love. Compounded by every single book I read
thereafter.
What is the first
book that made you cry?
I am not too sure, but it is a tossup between If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon and Perfect
Stranger by Danielle Steel. I might have been between 10 and 11. It was two decades ago! I also remember weeping quite copiously when Callie, Frank Hardy’s girlfriend dies in one of their novels. Then I remember thinking, ooh I could console him!
Stranger by Danielle Steel. I might have been between 10 and 11. It was two decades ago! I also remember weeping quite copiously when Callie, Frank Hardy’s girlfriend dies in one of their novels. Then I remember thinking, ooh I could console him!
What’s your favorite under-appreciated
novel?
How would you
define under-appreciated? Is it a book that did not get as much attention –
making the bestseller lists, adulation - as it deserved? There are so many of
those, written by my friends and acquaintances. A series that I felt should
have taken off in India is Leigh Bardugo’s Crows’
Duology. I wish everyone here were talking about Kaz Brekker, man. I’d have
more people to gush about him to.
What did you do with
your first check from your books?
LOL. Mom took it from me before I could do anything with it
and deposited it for me! Ok, so pretty sure, being the fiscally responsible
woman that I try to be, I immediately placed half the money in savings and felt
so, so proud that I was able to do that. And I took my folks out for dinner. I
know …I know…you should preserve your first check in Lucite. But I blew it all
up and don’t regret it for a second. J
What would you choose
as your spirit animal?
Haha! This one is a stumper. But if I had a spirit animal
and if it had me, I’d have to be a bunny rabbit. I know, dragons and unicorns
abound, but as my favorite author Lisa Kleypas writes, ‘Bunny rabbits are not
just warm, fuzzy, energetic, hoppy creatures. They are known to charge a bear
or a lion in their time when needed.’ I’d like to think, if it is ever
required, my spirit animal would give me the courage to charge a bear. And we
could both take cute, adorable naps.
Have you ever been on
a literary pilgrimage? Do you plan to?
HAHAHA! God no. It sounds too fancy for the likes of me. But
I would like to visit Middle Earth once, in New Zealand. That would be awesome.
And New York City. I’d like to visit New York and wander the Public Library to
my heart’s content. I do remember spending an entire day at Kinokuniya in
Singapore when I’d visited and wait at the checkout line with a basket full of
books. I guess that counts as much of a pilgrimage as I’d ever go on.
A literary picnic, on the other hand, count me in.
If you were to turn into
a literary character for 1 day, who would it be and why?
Wow! I feel the heat turning up slowly with each question. If
I get to choose to be any literary character for just one day, I’d like to be
Princess Zoe from The Dreamkeeper.
She is perfect, poised, pretty and a powerful mage to boot, in short, the exact
opposite of me IRL. And she ends up with the Devil’s Lieutenant, the most
dangerous creature on earth. Of course, I’d like to turn into her after the
world-saving is done and the apocalypse has been averted and she and Laz are
just basically macking out.
What was one of the
most surprising things you learned while creating your books?
Everything. No kidding. Seriously, every time I sit down and
pound one of these babies out I am surprised by the sheer depth and tenacity
that is the human condition. It is vast, it is indestructible and it is full of
these little nuances that I do not think can be found in writing non-fiction.
That being said, I have never attempted to write non-fiction so I could be
talking out of my bunny butt.
Do you hide any
secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
You’ve given me something to work on, Debdatta. Maybe I
should start placing a few Easter Eggs in my upcoming books so that people read
till the very end. Like the Marvel end credits scenes.
If you could tell
your younger self anything, what would it be?
Baby, you’re enough and I love you. So, shut up and breathe.
In fact, as a former neurotic, I tell myself that every day even now.
Who do you personally
favour more and why? Krivi or Abeer?
Do I really, really HAVE to choose? :P But, gun to my head
(and pun unintended), I’d go with Abeer because he is a more sorted guy and has
his shit together and, as I turn older, I find that that appeals a lot more than
a man who has brooding down to a fine art. That being said, I would first send
Abeer to Krivi for some serious self-defense lessons (which I would happily
watch on the sidelines…all that manly sweat and grunts) so if a gun were
pointed at my head, he’d know what to do. Ok, wait. I should switch places with
Abeer and do this myself, no? (winks)
What are the most
unethical practices in the publishing industry?
Ethics is a particularly interpretive subject, Debdatta.
Like, for instance, what might be ethical by my standards might be abhorrent
for someone else with a stricter sense of duty, obligation and responsibility.
That being said, it would be nice to have a greater
transparency between the publishers and the authors and a stronger dialog between
us all. It is important to have a marketing and distribution strategy that was
streamlined throughout and properly and easily understood by nervous, creative
people. To have a standardized rating system that is not dependent on arbitrary
algorithms that can be gamed (machines are not people, people) or even more
arbitrary people. Less established authors should be able to separate the wheat
from the chaff, right along the supply chain so, you know, when you go to sleep
at night after the hundredth rejection letter that it wasn’t just blind shit
luck that this happened to you. That there is actually a method to the
madness. Or at least, I hope there will
be.
Have you ever
actually seen the printing process? Do you want to?
I can say that I have. I was in college and we’d visited Goa
on an industrial visit. I know what you’re thinking. Beach visit, more like.
And it was. But our professor did coral us all to the editorial and print
offices of one of the local papers and they showed us how the headlines were
typeset each day. I remember touching the ink on the typesetting machine and
feeling this immense sense of respect and responsibility that I carry to this
day, each time, I commit my thoughts to the written word. Being part of the
media elite, especially in today’s polarized times is serious business, even if
you’re writing frivolous romance. I, for one, do not take my frivolity lightly.
J
Once again, thank you so much for having me, Debdatta.
Till Next Time,
Xx
Writer Gal
Xx
Writer Gal
About the Book:
Meera Sagar had everything—the perfect job as a principal ballerina (for a prestigious New York ballet company) and a man who loved her as much as she loved him. But tragedy struck on the night before her biggest performance, forcing her to do the one thing she never wanted to do—come back home. To Mumbai.
Now, a year later, Meera is still trying to pick up the pieces, while
fending off marriage proposals from her well-meaning but
traditional Gujarati family, and figure life out all over again. By
starting a ballet school in Mumbai. But she has two problems. One, she doesn’t know anything about running a business. And two, she can’t dance. Not anymore.
Enter . . .
Abeer Goswami. Hotshot junior partner at a South Bombay law
firm and a man nursing a broken heart. When he meets Meera
again, the woman who left him, he tries his hardest to be her friend,to help her . . . and not let the past get in the way.
And then . . .
There is the sexy Zoya Sehgal. Meera’s only friend in the city and the woman Abeer is currently seeing. They say triangles have pointy edges, for a reason.
Will Meera find a new dream in her ballet school? Can Abeer and Meera find their way back to each other again? And, most important, has Meera danced for the last time?
No comments:
Post a Comment