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- Shabnam Minwalla: A Journey from Journalist to Children’s Writing | Saira Zariwala Is Afraid
Shabnam Minwalla has worked as a journalist with the Times of India. Presently, she writes food columns, book reviews and features for newspapers and magazines. Her first book, The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street, was critically acclaimed and won the Rivokids Parents’ and Kids’ Choice Awards. She is also the author of The Strange Haunting of Model High School, The Shy Supergirl and Lucky Girl.
We got up close and personal with the writer, whose latest novel Saira Zariwala is Afraid tells the story of a young girl whose light-hearted adventure soon turns dark and sinister.
You began your career as a serious journalist with a reputed newspaper publisher – what prompted you towards writing?
I was 10 years old when I decided that I wanted to be a writer. Like most people who want to be writers, I always dreamt of writing books – but that seemed an impractical ambition. Journalism seemed more attainable.
I was a journalist for 10 years and enjoyed it tremendously. I enjoyed meeting and understanding people and discovering the secrets and stories tucked away in the corners of my city. It was when my three daughters were born that I decided to take a break. I had always planned to return to journalism but, on a whim, I decided to try my hand at a novel. After all, this was the one time in my life that there would be no pressure or expectations. So, between mashing potatoes for the babies and dealing with wet nappies, I started writing.
What I really, really wanted to write was a book for adults – preferably a gory murder mystery. I was fairly startled when the book that popped out was a book for children – The Six Spellmakers of Dorabji Street.
Even then, I never thought of myself as a children’s writer. But then my daughters’ friends asked me to write a story set in a Mumbai school. So I did.
Next an editor asked me to write another book for younger children. So I wrote a couple.
The books kept coming. I’ve written 11 books for children and a few picture books as well – and to my great surprise I am now a full-fledged children’s writer.
Was the transition from factual writing to writing for children difficult?
The transition was surprisingly difficult. Journalism is all about sticking to the facts and obeying the rules. It’s a very structured form of writing.
Fiction – especially fiction meant for children – is all about letting your imagination somersault and about breaking the rules. It’s about turning structure on its head and its tummy and its nose.
The first book I tried my hand at read like a long and tedious news report with too many descriptions. I junked it and took a break of a few years. I guess I needed time to detox before I really started writing fiction with ease.
How is researching on a true story different from researching for a fictional story?
I tackle all research in the same way. Check my sources, check my facts, try to understand the story behind the story.
What is different is what you do with the material that you have unearthed. In journalism, you use your research in a straightforward way. It is central to your article.
In fiction, you use it as a scaffolding that helps to build your story; as a guide that tells you if your plot is plausible. Often, weeks of research may be boiled down to three paragraphs. But somehow, your new knowledge infuses your story in an imperceptible manner.
In What Maya Saw, for example, I read up a lot on the local history and architectural treasures of Mumbai. I needed this for the clue hunt that Maya and her friends undertake. I made a list of over 200 possible clues – but eventually used only 8 or 10. Still, I feel that the details and background knowledge enrich the book in a quiet way.
You’ve mastered the art of writing mystery novels and thrillers! Are you open to exploring genres such as romance?
I’m writing a young adult romance at the moment. The book is exciting and challenging for a number of reasons. I’ve never written romance before, so it’s unfamiliar territory. It’s also tricky because the book tackles the growing distance between people with different ideologies and political loyalties in the new India.
This book tracks two romances. One is a contemporary love story between a girl from a very liberal family and a boy from a right-wing background. The other is a doomed romance, told through diary entries, and played out in the 1930s.
As you can imagine, the 1930s story requires plenty of research and I am busy reading newspapers from 1935 because there are so many questions I have. Would my characters have had telephones? Would the girls be allowed to walk alone on the roads? Would they have popped into Regal Cinema for a movie? What perfume would they have used?
I’m toying with the idea of attempting science fiction next. Let’s see.
What should readers expect from your forthcoming novel Saira Zariwala is Afraid?
Saira Zariwala is Afraid is a horror book with a mystery at its heart. What I have tried to do is to keep Saira and her world very ordinary and recognizable. She is a regular Mumbai schoolgirl living in a middle-class building in crowded, busy Dadar. It is when she gets her new phone for her 15th birthday that darkness enters her mundane life. Saira keeps getting calls for someone called Akaash and, curious about his whereabouts, begins a lighthearted investigation.
Bad mistake. This is an invitation for all manner of nasties to enter her world. Disfigured dolls. A stalker who seems to know everything about Saira and her family. The inexplicable scent of strawberries that leaves her with a lingering feeling of sadness. A bunch of models, actors and glamourous individuals who have ugly secrets to hide. And a gruesome murder in a swanky apartment in Andheri.
I would describe the book as a scary whodunnit. But at the same time, it’s also a coming-of-age story about facing up to your demons and defeating them.
Is the protagonist Saira Zariwala based on anyone you know personally?
Saira is not based on any one person. The book was, however, born out of a real experience. When my eldest daughter Aaliya turned 12, she got her heart’s desire – her very own phone. But she kept getting calls for someone called Vishesh who seemed to have dozens of devoted friends and who had vanished into the blue.
We were intrigued and often wondered what could possibly have happened to the mysterious Vishesh. That was the starting point of the book.
Apart from being a bestselling writer, you are also a mother to three teenagers. Do their opinions influence your writing?
Oh yes. They are my first readers always, and my most important critics. I am careful to note their patterns of speech and their lingo. Through them I keep in touch with teenage trends – music, books, clothes. Their school anecdotes and concerns are the mainstay of my Nimmi series. So yes, my three daughters influence my writing a lot.
What are you currently working on?
I’ve just completed a murder mystery set in the lockdown. Nandini Krishnan live in Lily Apartments, and one evening notices strange goings on in Daisy Apartments across the compound. A few days later, everyone is talking about a murder in Daisy Apartments, and Nandini begins to wonder.
I’ve always wanted to write a contemporary version of Rear Window. The lockdown gave me the perfect opportunity. This book will be out in April.
And, of course, I am working full steam on my romance novel. For the rest, I am learning not to hate cooking and am raising my three girls.
If you’d like to read from Shabnam Minwalla’s latest YA horror novel, order your copy of Saira Zariwala is Afraid today!
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