After working for Pepsi, Hindustan Times and ACNielsen for 10 years, Zarreen Khan, decided to take a break and raise two children, who are sometimes kind enough to let her role-play as a marketing consultant. The 40-year-old lives in Delhi with her husband. Khan just unveiled her third book, My Best Friend's Son's Wedding (HarperCollins).
What is your writing schedule?
Chaos! If a story comes to me and I am in the flow of it, I find myself writing for hours and hours, shutting out any sort of background noises irrespective of the time and situation. Sometimes if I am not feeling the story, I don’t write for days.
Does writing energise or exhaust you?
I wouldn’t be doing it if it exhausted me. I absolutely love it! I feel like I am brewing magic! Even when I am struggling with a plot twist or character, I just move on and come back to it but even that struggle isn’t exhausting.
Writing advice you’d like to give your younger self?
Pay more attention to your Wren and Martin instead of doodling on it!
Your favourite books?
Harry Potter series, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, almost anything by Marian Keyes, Those Pricey Thakur Girls and Archie Comics!
Literary success vs number of copies sold?
If I absolutely had to make a choice, number of copies sold. But my measure of success is reviews – people enjoying and recommending the book, genuinely.
Favourite spot/s in Delhi you write at?
Oh wow! People have those? I have only written at home (not counting the times when I have whipped out my phone and written notes to myself about a plot that could be just about anywhere). But I’d love to find myself a JK Rowling sort of café!