I hear all those wonderful things that women are doing these days and writing is one thing that seem to draw me to them, wanting to know them closely through their books. Writing in today's world means using words in a way of expressing whats wrong with the world. And although I am no expert, except perhaps writing my side of the genre, romance in today's world is a different ball game all together. You need to think about an audience and write, the publisher would reject you on the basis of your sales report and somehow make no sense at the time but still he is going to make money out of it despite the unsold ones. Anyhow, it doesn't matter. This is all the bitterness flowing out. But the best part in India that happened are women writers who are being welcomed with open arms and almost being counted upon as the best sellers. Enough of Chetan Bhagat nonsense i guess.
Some of the writers I admire- be it in India or other countries are Mary Angelou, Diana Palmer, Judith McNaught, Jude Devereaux, Melody Anne...the list just goes on but the impact shows in my writing. Lately I have started reading Indian women writers too- Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Chitra Banerjee Devakumari, Sreemoye Kundu, Sudha Murthy, Preeti Shenoy, Usha Narayanan are all well known in the literary circle now. These I read and some I wish wrote more books like I remember reading KEEP THE CHANGE by Nirupama Subramaniam and wish she wrote more books like this one. Of course, its just my view but I miss it when writers do not follow the genre they write about. Keeping a steady flow of same kind of genre keeps a sense of security and it makes me want to go back and read again and again. However, writers like JK Rowling moving towards thriller but I can still get through it. I like her. She has been engaging teens for years now with her Harry Potter series. I love the movies and thats that.
Lately I have been seeing a lot of women writing which in itself is a big change from the usual. Aditi Mathur Kumar's SOLDIER AND SPICE has truly captured the life in army of a new bride well. Then I read Preethi Venugopala's Romance WITHOUT YOU which is a great story of an engineering student falling in love with the right man, only the wrong family.
Stories like these entertain us and we come to see so many aspect of a writer who are more like celebrities these days with thee exposure of media and you can actually speak with them, chat if you want to and read their interviews to keep yourself updated. Young readers relate a lot of books written by these writers and I for once can't wait for another book...
So true! We can know so much about a writer through her books. They feel like a friend. After I read Gilbert's Eat,Pray, Love, I started feeling that she is a friend I have never met.
ReplyDeleteA well written article Sonia on the impact of women writers :)