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Jaishree shifts focus of her fiction

Sarju Kaul

It’s a major change of direction from semi-autobiographical first book to writing "commercial" popular fiction full of glamourous women and Jaishree Misra is enjoying every minute of it.

This change in writing direction came with her new agent who, she says, shoved her in the right direction. Her first book, Ancient Promises, tended towards literary genre, she says, adding that she was straddling two stools at that point. Her natural tendency is to write popular fiction, she admits.

Her fifth novel, Secrets and Lies, a story about friendship, as Jaishree describes it, has four successful women as its protagonists with a tragic mystery in their past and is set in Delhi and London.

Her first agent, David Godwin, had slotted her writing as close to that of contemporary writers Joanna Trollope and Maeve Binchy and Jaishree says she identifies with their writing style the most.

"I try and write about heavy themes and tackle thought-provoking aspe-cts in a light manner," she says, trying to explain her genre of writing. Making it clear that she does not see herself as a chicklit writer, Jaishree says her new book is "more thought-provoking and deeper".

"I don’t find writing comedy easy," Jaishree says and adds that "comedy is an integral feature of popular fiction aimed towards women."

Her book will be launched in India in mid-August and Jaishree, who is married and has one daughter, is moving back to India at the same time after a long stint in London.

Looking forward to shifting back to India, Jaishree is not sure as yet whether she will settle down in Delhi, where she was born, or in Kerala where her mother lives. She has already started writing her next novel and has managed to convince her publishers that moving to India will not affect her writing.

Having lived all over India with her Air Force officer father, her reading and writing skills in Malayalam are rusty. She can read and write, but not Malayali literature or poetry. She is related to famous Malayalam writer and Jnanpith award winner Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.

Jaishree says she started quite late as a writer as Ancient Promises came when she was in her late 30s. After writing a semi-autobiography, she wrote a comedy, Accidents Like Love & Marriage, followed by Afterwards and a non-fiction title called Little Book of Romance. "I have even written a children’s book for a Malayali publisher," she says.

Her historical novel on Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi became controversial after it was banned in Uttar Pradesh last year. Bewildered by negative emotion against the book, Jaishree says she wouldn’t mind writing another historical novel, but not before Indians understand the genre of historical fiction.

Happy with the three-book deal she signed with romance and women’s fiction publisher Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, Jaishree is looking forward to becoming a full-time writer.

After working with special needs children, as a BBC radio journalist and a film classifier at the British Board of Film Classification, she is now ready to tackle writing full-time, while juggling her roles as a wife and mother of a child with severe learning disability. "I have a CV of a writer," she says, explaining her varied jobs over the years.

However, the pressures of a commercial fiction writer can be difficult to handle too, she says. Publishers in Britain are quite demanding, they want a book every year, Jaishree says, but admits at the same time that it has a nice side as they are always at you to write more. "A very crazy way to be creative," she laughs, clearly enjoying her crazy writing schedule.

Her publishers wanted glamour in her book and British aspects and British characters to ensure a crossover appeal and Jaishree has ensured that.

Her characters, are mostly based in London and are rich, smart and glamourous — one is a billionaire’s wife, other a top BBC journalist and third a Bollywood filmstar.

Jaishree says she is an odd writer out in the huge commercial fiction market in Britain. There is an enormous market out there of British Asian women, but they are largely invisible in publishing world here, she says.

"I am an oddity as most people here expect Indian writers to opt for literary genre, whose books will win Booker. No one knows what to make of me, an Indian author writing contemporary fiction."

Jaishree, who has sold film rights of both Rani and Accidents Like Love And Marrriage, is not too sure if her new book can be has potential to become a film.