About me

I never imagined that I would write books someday. I loved reading from a young age, but it was done for pleasure. The focus was on academics. I grew up in an atmosphere where doing well at school and college was important. So, I did my Master's in Mathematics. Soon after, I took up a sought-after position in a bank.

Next came marriage to a wonderful partner. And the birth of a son.  My son revived my love for storytelling; I had always loved making up stories for younger cousins.

My son was an eager--and demanding--listener. He demanded stories in different genres: adventure stories, fairy tales, magic, and school stories. When my son was ten and reading on his own, he asked me to write down the stories I used to tell him. That was when I wrote my first story. I was thirty-six.

The story was a disaster. What had been vivid in the telling came out insipid, like a two-dimensional image of a living thing. I wrote more stories, and though the plots were interesting, the results were flat.

I was working at that time. The job was demanding, with long hours of daily commute. The sensible thing would have been to give up writing. But I was bitten by the writing bug, which, incidentally, is not proverbial but real, and quite fatal.

An English professor set me on a learning curve. He reviewed my work and pointed out what was wrong and gave tips for improvement. For the next fourteen years, I worked on my craft.

In 2011, I quit my job to become a full-time author. I published my first book, a short chapter book, Dearie, in 2012. Now, I have over forty published titles, with books for children and for adults.

Why I write in different genres

Writing for children was a natural progression from my storytelling sessions. However, most of those stories were built on the reactions I received from my listeners. Children do not fake responses and are the best sounding boards.

With my son grown up and no other children to inspire new tales, I started writing short stories for adults. These were mostly women-centric and set in India. I wrote my historical fiction when I chanced upon an article about how Charles Dickens treated his wife and children. Catherine’s story preyed on my mind for a long time, and finally, I gave her a voice in Outside the Magic Circle.

I wrote a novella, A Tapestry of Tears, about female infanticide in the nineteenth century. It was an emotionally draining experience. To recover, I started re-reading my favorite regency romances by Georgette Heyer. And wondered if I should try my hand at writing a short story set in that period. The short story grew into a novel, and the novel developed into a series. I wrote seven novels under the pen name Jessica Spencer. They are now republished under my own name.

My writing process

An idea can come from anywhere, though not all ideas live up to their promise. Sometimes, a long-forgotten memory gives birth to a story. Sometimes it is a conscious attempt on my part. And on rare occasions, a complete book arrives in a flash, and all I have to do is write it. 

Once I get an idea for a story, I start thinking about the characters. I like to understand my characters well so that they take on a life of their own. Next comes research. Then the first draft, and finally, the most challenging of all: editing multiple times.

I find writing fiction to be an act of discovery. Though I start with a plot and well-defined characters, the story reveals itself fully as different fragments fall into place. The most exciting thing about writing is the act itself. Getting the idea and seeing where it will take you. I may think up an ending, but the characters may want it to happen differently because they have acquired a life of their own and will not listen.

My Illustrations

I have illustrated three of my seven picture books. Again, it was unplanned. For my second picture book, The Ant Thief, I doodled an image and liked it, but realized that painting on paper and using photos of the painting might not look good. So, I downloaded a digital art app. My initial efforts to draw were not encouraging, but with practice, I improved and illustrated the entire book. In the following years, I illustrated two more picture books: Hop and Chomp and The Bird that Learned to Swim.