Iโm an accidental author. I began writing on a lark.
A few years ago, my mother kind of bullied me into โdoing something for
myself.โ It was all very well to take care of house and hearth and read my way
through the local library, but she thought I needed to expand on that
lifestyle. It was one of the rare times in life that I actually listened to
her, and my reward was a vocation that has become my passion.
I love it: writing. I love it even more than reading, and I love to read. A
book is like my fifth limb, following me everywhere.
So, Iโd found my passion and very quickly (about a year) produced a manuscript
that was good enough for an Indian publisher to offer me a contract, which I
accepted and
IT'S YOUR MOVE, WORDFREAK! became real. I was officially an
author.
And thatโs when I seriously started to understand the book business. Not just
the writing side of it, because that comes easily to me, but the publishing
side of it. And the more I tried to understand the business, the more things
started to go wrong.
Labels were everywhere: what type of writer is she? What type of books does she
write?
Ah! Sheโs an Indian writer who lives in New Yorkโher writing is too western for
India. South Asian writer who writes contemporary romanceโher writing is too
cultural for the US. Wait! Now she has a fantasy manuscript to pitch and a
womenโs fiction story? Thatโs a no-no for a newbie. Stick to one thing. Build
your platform.
I tried very hard to fit myself into a slot. I tried on all the labels
available to me, but none fit me perfectly. And I wasnโt happy. I am an Indian
writer, and most of my stories are about Indian people and the Indian culture.
Thatโs what I know. But my writing style isnโt Indian. Itโs global. Thatโs how
I write.
I was born and raised in India, have lived in Belgium, and now I live in the
US. Change is a constant in my life, and it will reflect in my writing. My
voice changes from book to book. My themes, genres, all change from book to
book. And that confuses the agents and publishers, and makes my getting
published very difficult, if not impossible.
I keep asking myself if I should write what they want or what comes naturally
to me? Does anything other than a good story matter to a reader? Should it?
Ultimately, Iโve realized I want toโฆneed toโฆmust write for myself. And that my
story should please me first and foremost, or my reader will know me for a
fraud.
Write the right book and the right audience will follow.
Falguni Kothari is a New York-based hybrid author, and an amateur Latin
and Ballroom dance silver medalist with a semi-professional background in
Indian Classical dance. She writes in a variety of genres sewn together by the
colorful and cultural threads of her South Asian heritage and expat
experiences. She's published in India in contemporary fiction with global e-
book availability, and will launch her mythic fantasy series, The Age of Kali,
in November of 2015. When not writing or dancing or being house-wifey, she
fools around on all manner of social media, and loves to connect with readers.
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Fight fate, or succumb to destiny?
In the dark Age of Kali, the Soul Warrior alone stands guard over the Human
Realm, protecting its denizens from evil-willed asuras or demons. When a trick
of fate appoints him guru to a motley crew of godlings, he agrees to train them
as demon hunters against his better judgment. Suddenly, Lord Karna is not only
battling the usual asuras with sinister agendas, but also rebellious students
and a fault-ridden past.
Spanning the cosmic realms of mythic India, here is a tale of a band of
supernatural warriors who come together over a singular purpose: the salvation
of Karnaโs secret child.
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