CHENNAI: Telling the readers that Andaleeb Wajid loves to write is an understatement. Unlike several authors who write far and few, this Bengaluru-based author doles out one book after another. Having already published 18 books by 2019, with several well-known traditional publishers, Andaleeb took to self-publishing. “No one wanted me to write and publish as much as I wanted to, and this was a serious deterrent for me. I wrote fast, and I wrote a lot. I needed a medium that would help me take my work to my readers faster and also get compensated for it.
I looked around, spoke to a couple of people who had self-published and played with doubts about whether this was the right track to take. But then my desire to bring more books to my readers overcame all my doubts and I plunged right in,” she shares. And this time, this hybrid writer — one who dabbles in both self-publishing and traditional publishing — has brought out a trilogy, the Jasmine Villa series, published by Westland.
The books in this series — One Way to Love, Loving You Twice, and Three Times Lucky — revolve around three sisters who live in their rundown home called Jasmine Villa with their father. Each book features each of the sisters, Tehzeeb, Ana and Athiya, and the way they navigate through life, their professions, and the men they fall in love with.
The stories are quite filmy and are sure to appeal to a larger audience. “I enjoy writing melodrama, having grown up in the 80s and 90s on a steady diet of Bollywood movies. I love writing dramatic and over-the-top stories because I enjoy reading them as well. I guess I just wanted to write fun stories, depicting ordinary people plunged into somewhat extraordinary circumstances,” says Andaleeb. Amid writing her next young adult horror novel for HarperCollins and other self-publishing works, Andaleeb talks to CE about her craft.
Excerpts follow.
Your books have often focussed on women, giving a sneak peek into what women want.
As a woman, it made sense for me to write about women, focussing on what we want, on issues that matter to us. Since I write love stories and books depicting relationships, it was an easy decision to write about women.
I don’t want to generalise but popular fiction in India is largely dominated by male writers who also write about women. I think it was time women owned their narratives.
For instance, the female characters in Jasmine Villa have to balance the expectations of their families with what they want from their lives. For me, writing about characters like Tehzeeb, Ana and Athiya is important because in a way they are also normalising what young women want to achieve in their lives. These women put their careers alongside their marriage, and they don’t apologise about having a career in the first place.
Also, writing about women comes naturally to me, and I think more women need to read women writers, especially stories about women who are living life on their terms, despite being inside social structures like marriage.
You have been known to dole out one book after another.
This is something I’ve learned as part of the self-publishing process. The readers who devour romance on Kindle Unlimited, love reading connected series. So it makes sense to plan the stories. Regarding Jasmine Villa, I had only the first book fully planned, as I started writing. But as the characters from the second book made their presence felt, their story started solidifying in my head as well, so it wasn’t too difficult to start the next as soon as the first was completed.
Similarly, the story for the third book became more streamlined as I wrote the second book. These days, when I plan a series, I try to plot all the books in the series beforehand but sometimes, things still get changed around a bit in the middle. The process is simple. It’s to make plans, extensive plans, and also give space to change those plans if required.
Tell us about your love for books and writing — stories that made you want to become a writer.
My family has always been into reading — my parents and my siblings as well. So the love for books came from there, and also because, at the time when we grew up, we didn’t have many avenues of entertainment other than reading. Telling stories to others is something that I’ve probably inherited from my father who would tell us fantastical made-up stories on the go. I’ve been writing since I was 20, so several books have influenced and inspired me.
Some of the books I read in the early 2000s when I was contemplating becoming a writer were Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and Madwoman of Jogare by Sohaila Abdulali. I devoured whatever books I could get, about Indians, written by Indians.
Among the characters you have written, which ones do you admire?
There are several characters I admire, simply because they possess the courage to do the things I did not. Or to live life on their terms. Or to be unapologetic about anything. Women are often expected to be as inconspicuous as possible — But some of my characters are larger than life, doing what they want to. Athiya from Three Times Lucky of the Jasmine Villa Series comes to mind immediately. She’s a foul-mouthed F-word-spewing firecracker who is not open to the idea of falling in love because she perceives it as a weakness.
Other favourites are Mariam from The Sum of All My Parts, Asmara from Asmara’s Summer, and lastly, Abir from an as-yet-unpublished YA novel I’ve written.
What inspires you? What is your favourite genre to write?
I think I’m just glad to be a writer, to live multiple lives in the same lifetime, and to have the chance to play God with my characters. The inspiration comes from life, the people I observe, the way relationships unfold, and the way my brain works. I might see something romantic on screen but my brain might interpret it with a ‘what if this was made into a scary story’ moment.
I find horror very difficult to write but also it’s enjoyable at the same time. My favourite genre to write would be contemporary Young Adult fiction with a touch of romance.