BENGALURU: Sadiqa Peerbhoy is an advertising professional who has worked on many Indian and global brands. She took to writing a column for several newspapers and has also penned many short stories. The Bengaluru-based author has to her credit six books of fiction as well, making Mayurkhund her seventh. Excerpts from an interview:
What was your trigger for writing Mayurkhund?
The trigger to any book is either a character I have come across or an incident. In the case of Mayurkhund, I had heard about the heir apparent of Jodhpur, Shivraj Singh, having had a tragic fall from a horse and suffered brain damage.That was the trigger point and a whole story grew around it, about love and loss, intrigue, kidnapping, murder and old love and old loyalties. It had to be based in Rajasthan where I feel people live life larger and more intensely, giving full play to their emotions.
Have any of your books been inspired by vernacular books?
I have never read a vernacular book, just some wonderful translations. But that is a different genre altogether.
Do you go back to your old writings? How does it feel to re-read what you had written years back?
When I re-read my writing, which is often, I find passages where I could have done better. Perhaps added more emotion or fine honed a character. But some books surprise me and I wonder did I really write that? I must have been inspired or so much in the flow that I do not remember writing a certain passage or a sentence. I guess it happens with most writers.
Have you always seen yourself as a writer? What has been your inspiration as a writer?
My inspiration is always people and life and how life shapes our ends. I can look at a person and write an entire life script about him or her in my mind. Life itself is so wonderful in its diversity and complexities. I recall my reading class at age six in St Josephs convent.
Our teacher used to hand out story books and then take them back when the bell went off. Deep in a story, I would hate to part with the book. So I told her,“You know that cupboard where you lock up the books? One day my books will be in there.” Years later Miss D’Cruz reminded me of my determination. I always wanted to be a writer and have been writing all my life –advertising, scripts, ads,serials, short stories, columns and only recently—full-length books of fiction.
What is the process you undergo while writing?
I’ve have never had a writer’s block, just bouts of sheer laziness. I write from 9.30am to 12.30pm every day — a habit from long years of getting ready and going to office. I usually start with a rough draft and then edit forever. The rough first draft takes less than a month with one chapter a day. The most tiresome part is correcting the spellings and the best part of writing a book is the final editing on a clean manuscript.
With the digitisation of books, have you moved to reading books on screen or do you prefer the old-fashioned books?
I prefer the look, smell and feel of a real book in my hands but do read on Kindle late at night or when I am travelling.
How difficult or easy is it to get published? Have you had to modify or change the content of any of your books for it to get published?
I’ve had publishers telling me to add more sex to my books because sex sells. Initially, it was difficult finding a good publisher. Some had editors who would hack away at my writing till my voice was lost and I had to pull my book out. Others would promise to print it in three years or more. Right now I have great publisher who is as enthusiastic about his writers as the writers themselves.
Who’s your first reader? And who are your biggest critics?
My first reader and worst critic is me. That is why I try not to read what I have written immediately. I go back to it later when my critical faculties are not so subjectively involved.
Do you think marketing has played an integral role in the success of your books?
Marketing is an activity that writers are ill equipped to handle but more and more publishers insist on writers handling part of their own marketing. Because the competition is so intense you have to be active in the digital and mainline media, use blogs and social media to promote the book. It’s a necessary evil.