Criminal Minds

Three questions for today - and such good ones too.

What’s the best question you’ve ever been asked as a writer? 

There are two, and both are asked quite frequently 

The first is this - what was your inspiration for Kaveri (the main character in my 1920s colonial Bangalore historical mystery series, The Bangalore Detectives Club)? 

I love this question because it lets me jump into one of my favorite places - Bangalore of the 1920s. Starting with the story of how Kaveri parachuted into my head one fateful day in March 2007, and demanded that I write a book about her (it took 14 years to get it done, but that's a story for a different day) - I then tell them about how Bangalore was a Princely State in British India, buffered from some of the worse excesses of colonialism by the Mysore Maharaja, who along with his wife the Maharani of Mysore, was a huge proponent of women's education and empowerment. Bangalore provides an aspect of colonial India that most readers living outside the country are not aware of - indeed, some readers still associate India with the 'black hole of Calcutta' type of books they read about, but there is so much to India that defies typecasting. Anyway, that's why I love this question so much - through a story of fiction, it allows me to draw readers into an animated discussion of history, ecology, colonialism and women's empowerment in the 1920s Golden Age.     

How do you do your research? That's a second question that people frequently ask me. When I was a beginning writer, this is one of the biggest questions I had, and I wished someone would explain it to me in detail - not just "go to the archives" or "ask a librarian" but by actually breaking it up into what I did for different parts of books, linking it to how I actually incorporated this research into my stories. I like to spend a bit of time responding to these queries, and always hope that someone taking notes in the audience will write a shelfful of historical books of their own some day.  

What's the worst? 

Hmm. I can't think of a 'worst' question really - perhaps I've been fortunate so far, and I hope it stays that way. There is one question that usually stumps me though - 'where do you find the time to keep down a busy day job and write?' I know I'm far from unique - so many writers do this, and more - and each has their own process. My own process changes from book to book, year to year, depending on what else is going on in my life beyond work and fiction writing - and again I know this is not unique. I won't call it a 'worst question' because I understand what motivates the people who ask it - people who also have really busy lives (don't we all!) and badly want to fulfil a life's dream to write alongside everything else. But it's just a difficult one to answer, because my way is not going to be anyone else's way. 

I hate it when writers freely hand out advice such as "write every day or you won't be a writer." In my life, that is not going to work - weeks go by sometimes when I've planned a complicated schedule that includes fiction writing time but someone falls ill at home, or there's a work crisis, or something else happens at home that needs my attention - and then boom! there goes my writing time, blown up in smoke. If there's one piece of advice that I can offer, it's persistence - when you fall off the horse, find the next-best time and get back on again. And second, be kind to yourself - beating yourself up for not achieving your targets never helps. It only breeds anxiety. 

And what question do you wish you were asked but nobody’s ever asked it?

I don't know, but what a lovely question this is! I'm saving this up for the next time I moderate a writer's panel at a lit fest or a writer's retreat. I'd love to see what others have to say to this - also my fellow Minds.