Banker and popular thriller writer Ravi Subramanian is an anxious man. For the first time in his career as a bestselling author, he is writing for women. From the world of high-flying bankers, white collar crimes, closed-door power meetings and corporate murders, which he says were meant mostly for the urban male reader, he has decided to dwell on matters of the heart. And that, in his opinion, is a space dominated by the urban women readers.
His intention? To seek answers to some epic questions: Can a man be in love with two women at the same time? And can a storyteller be effective in a genre that is new to him?
Subramanian, who makes his debut as a writer of a romantic intrigue – The Bestseller She Wrote – has also managed to achieve the near-impossible. He has signed up with two different publishing houses for his two avatars. The affable banker talks about how and why he decided to challenge himself and his readers with his new book. Excerpts:
You are publishing two very different books – a thriller and a romance – with two very different publishers: Penguin RandomHouse and Westland. How did this happen?
I always wanted to write in different genres. An author who boxes himself in any one genre is not doing justice to his craft. I started writing banking stories based on my personal experience. It was a lazy way of writing because you don’t need research, you know what’s going on and your thoughts go faster than you write.
Besides, the thriller market in India has only five or so authors who sell large numbers. So there were two ways for me to expand my reader base.
The first option is to write in a way no one does. But there is a problem with this – story-telling in India and elsewhere in the world are very different. Here we pack a lot into our plots. But globally it is relatively uncomplicated, with a simple plot which moves around fewer characters. The language can be fixed with a good editor.
But there is always a bit of a difference in what Indian writers write and what the global audiences read. Each of my books has three or four plots running parallel till at the end it all comes together. To change this will take time and I am working on it.
The second option is more about self-development. The urge to reach out to a larger audience and experiment with form and content. I had been talking to Penguin for two years. I tried to convince them that I wanted to try something different, something I can handle. This is a different space, no doubt. If it succeeds, great! If not, at least I would have tried.
The main issue there was, when you start something afresh in a different space, you need a different approach towards it – right from the cover design to marketing. A romantic intrigue has to be different from a thriller.
Whatever Penguin did with the book had the thriller hangover. Besides, one needs the team to be convinced that the book will sell. And there I faced bit of a challenge.
Was it a huge leap of faith for Penguin?
Yes, it was. They had invested in me as a thriller writer. They had
paid me a large advance as a thriller writer. They could not just let me vacate that space. That’s when I decided that the best way to do this would be to publish the non-thriller titles with someone else who was probably eager to work with me as an author and put in that much effort to sell this book.
Meanwhile, Penguin has decided to engage an international editor from UK for my next thriller. We have discussed an interesting topic. This would be a heist. A howdunnit as opposed to a whodunnit. It should be out next year.
Was your manuscript ready when you pitched the idea of a romantic thriller to Penguin?
Initially I discussed the idea with Chiki (Sarkar). On her way out she did read the book and give me invaluable inputs. I incorporated every single one of them.
You see, essentially the issue was plain and simple focus.
Focus? Could you explain?
Today if Penguin did the book because Ravi Subramanian asked them, it’s not the same as doing it because they want to do it.
I have invested a lot into this book from my standpoint. I need to know that people will read any good story that I write, irrespective of the genre. And I don’t want anybody to work on this book with only half the focus. My brief to Westland was to go all out. I am happy to supplement promotional budgets, but I want them to put their best foot forward.
Eighty per cent of romances are read by women. Men pick up my thrillers at the airport. I am getting into unchartered territory, with readers who may or may not know me. And I needed a completely different approach.
It was a difficult call. I have a good relationship with Penguin. They were not happy with the decision but eventually they saw reason.
Business strategy apart, what was your big challenge as an author while writing a romantic intrigue for the first time?
It was a huge challenge. Thrillers are largely plot driven, where characters come and go. One doesn’t need to invest too much in a character. In any case I don’t repeat characters. I just focus on the different stories. I never felt the need to do otherwise. The plot builds the character.
Romantic intrigue is just the opposite where characterisation is a lot more important. It required a 180-degree shift in my writing style.
The bigger challenge was creating relatable, convincing characters people can empathise with. Once I got over the initial hurdle, I was fine.
How many drafts did it take you to get where you wanted to be?
I am still working on it. Between the second and third drafts the story went for a complete change. It has never happened to me before.
When I write, I don’t usually have the plot before me. I start the first chapter and then just go with the flow. In this case the first chapter is taken from my experience at The Hindu litfest where I had a debate with Anita Nair over the book as a product. She said it is not a product. I asked her then why do you sell it? So the first chapter begins with a lecture at a management college…
This change or shift in the narrative and tone you are talking about – was it suggested by Chiki Sarkar?
Yes, I do credit her with the inputs.
You have a certain image as a bestselling thriller writer. Given that your audience this time is so different, how do you intend to project yourself?
Fair question. Even though I am writing a romantic intrigue I am not targeting 15- or 16-year olds. Most romance writers typically target 11th-12th standard students. When I conceived this book, I had Bridges of Madison County in mind It was probably the first “middle age” romance. Young kids who like to read romances will read a Durjoy Dutta or Chetan Bhagat. Those interested in mythology will read Devdutt Pattanaik. But no one is writing for middle-aged readers who do not get to read the kind of books I want to write. My protagonist is not a 22-year-old and in love with an 18-year-old with a few sex scenes thrown in.
Here is a guy with a wife and kids, who falls in love with another woman and his universe goes for a spin. The female leads are very strong characters. And the book asks some pertinent questions about fidelity, monogamy and choices.
So the plot is important here as in your other books? Will we get to see a lot of the familiar RS?
There is. In fact that was Chiki’s feedback. And that led to a change in the plot line towards the end. The first draft was a romance throughout. She felt we could introduce some intrigue in the second. It took me a couple of months to get that right.
The book is set in the publishing industry, with a banker-author as the protagonist, and takes the readers into the world of publishing.
This is perhaps one of the first books to go right into the world of publishing, talking about how some Indian authors are calling the shots these days and how far would someone go to create a bestseller – not necessarily by having an affair with a married author! With all my books so far I have always tried to take my readers to a new place. In my last thriller, I took them to the parallel universe of bitcoins.
So essentially, other than the romantic angle, there is not much of a departure from your grain as a story teller…
There is another thing. Relationships have never been my strength. This is a feedback I often receive. Here it is different. Both relationships here are so strong that as a reader you cannot be a fence sitter. There are no murders, no police investigations – the staple diet in my books so far…
Building drama in this scenario is tough. In a thriller, whenever things get predictable, you bump off a character. I am infamous for having done away with one of the most liked female characters in Bankerupt. I got beaten up by my readers for killing her when they were least expecting it. But I like surprises.
Was writing dialogue for a romantic intrigue difficult as well?
Yes, because you have to think a lot more than you write. In thrillers, the dialogue has to be sharp. My style is dialogue-intense. Almost like a screenplay. In a romance you cannot do that. It was a struggle to think through situations… I had to put myself in the protagonist’s shoes. Who in this case are a banker and a popular writer (smiles).
What about the two female characters?
My wife will hate me when I say this. The relationship between the protagonist and his wife was easier for me to put down because when I wrote lines for her I thought about how my wife would have reacted to the same situations. At least this relationship is 20 years old and I know her.
The younger woman’s dialogue was tougher and it took me several drafts.
So your romantic intrigue features a banker-bestselling author, an incident that has happened to you and then an extramarital affair – has your wife read the book?
She is happy with the story. She said, “The author (in the book) is someone I know. But who is that girl? Are you trying to give me a message through this?” I said “Absolutely not!”
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His intention? To seek answers to some epic questions: Can a man be in love with two women at the same time? And can a storyteller be effective in a genre that is new to him?
Subramanian, who makes his debut as a writer of a romantic intrigue – The Bestseller She Wrote – has also managed to achieve the near-impossible. He has signed up with two different publishing houses for his two avatars. The affable banker talks about how and why he decided to challenge himself and his readers with his new book. Excerpts:
You are publishing two very different books – a thriller and a romance – with two very different publishers: Penguin RandomHouse and Westland. How did this happen?
I always wanted to write in different genres. An author who boxes himself in any one genre is not doing justice to his craft. I started writing banking stories based on my personal experience. It was a lazy way of writing because you don’t need research, you know what’s going on and your thoughts go faster than you write.
Besides, the thriller market in India has only five or so authors who sell large numbers. So there were two ways for me to expand my reader base.
The first option is to write in a way no one does. But there is a problem with this – story-telling in India and elsewhere in the world are very different. Here we pack a lot into our plots. But globally it is relatively uncomplicated, with a simple plot which moves around fewer characters. The language can be fixed with a good editor.
But there is always a bit of a difference in what Indian writers write and what the global audiences read. Each of my books has three or four plots running parallel till at the end it all comes together. To change this will take time and I am working on it.
The second option is more about self-development. The urge to reach out to a larger audience and experiment with form and content. I had been talking to Penguin for two years. I tried to convince them that I wanted to try something different, something I can handle. This is a different space, no doubt. If it succeeds, great! If not, at least I would have tried.
The main issue there was, when you start something afresh in a different space, you need a different approach towards it – right from the cover design to marketing. A romantic intrigue has to be different from a thriller.
Whatever Penguin did with the book had the thriller hangover. Besides, one needs the team to be convinced that the book will sell. And there I faced bit of a challenge.
Was it a huge leap of faith for Penguin?
Yes, it was. They had invested in me as a thriller writer. They had
paid me a large advance as a thriller writer. They could not just let me vacate that space. That’s when I decided that the best way to do this would be to publish the non-thriller titles with someone else who was probably eager to work with me as an author and put in that much effort to sell this book.
Meanwhile, Penguin has decided to engage an international editor from UK for my next thriller. We have discussed an interesting topic. This would be a heist. A howdunnit as opposed to a whodunnit. It should be out next year.
Was your manuscript ready when you pitched the idea of a romantic thriller to Penguin?
Initially I discussed the idea with Chiki (Sarkar). On her way out she did read the book and give me invaluable inputs. I incorporated every single one of them.
You see, essentially the issue was plain and simple focus.
Focus? Could you explain?
Today if Penguin did the book because Ravi Subramanian asked them, it’s not the same as doing it because they want to do it.
I have invested a lot into this book from my standpoint. I need to know that people will read any good story that I write, irrespective of the genre. And I don’t want anybody to work on this book with only half the focus. My brief to Westland was to go all out. I am happy to supplement promotional budgets, but I want them to put their best foot forward.
Eighty per cent of romances are read by women. Men pick up my thrillers at the airport. I am getting into unchartered territory, with readers who may or may not know me. And I needed a completely different approach.
It was a difficult call. I have a good relationship with Penguin. They were not happy with the decision but eventually they saw reason.
Business strategy apart, what was your big challenge as an author while writing a romantic intrigue for the first time?
It was a huge challenge. Thrillers are largely plot driven, where characters come and go. One doesn’t need to invest too much in a character. In any case I don’t repeat characters. I just focus on the different stories. I never felt the need to do otherwise. The plot builds the character.
Romantic intrigue is just the opposite where characterisation is a lot more important. It required a 180-degree shift in my writing style.
The bigger challenge was creating relatable, convincing characters people can empathise with. Once I got over the initial hurdle, I was fine.
How many drafts did it take you to get where you wanted to be?
I am still working on it. Between the second and third drafts the story went for a complete change. It has never happened to me before.
When I write, I don’t usually have the plot before me. I start the first chapter and then just go with the flow. In this case the first chapter is taken from my experience at The Hindu litfest where I had a debate with Anita Nair over the book as a product. She said it is not a product. I asked her then why do you sell it? So the first chapter begins with a lecture at a management college…
This change or shift in the narrative and tone you are talking about – was it suggested by Chiki Sarkar?
Yes, I do credit her with the inputs.
You have a certain image as a bestselling thriller writer. Given that your audience this time is so different, how do you intend to project yourself?
Fair question. Even though I am writing a romantic intrigue I am not targeting 15- or 16-year olds. Most romance writers typically target 11th-12th standard students. When I conceived this book, I had Bridges of Madison County in mind It was probably the first “middle age” romance. Young kids who like to read romances will read a Durjoy Dutta or Chetan Bhagat. Those interested in mythology will read Devdutt Pattanaik. But no one is writing for middle-aged readers who do not get to read the kind of books I want to write. My protagonist is not a 22-year-old and in love with an 18-year-old with a few sex scenes thrown in.
Here is a guy with a wife and kids, who falls in love with another woman and his universe goes for a spin. The female leads are very strong characters. And the book asks some pertinent questions about fidelity, monogamy and choices.
So the plot is important here as in your other books? Will we get to see a lot of the familiar RS?
There is. In fact that was Chiki’s feedback. And that led to a change in the plot line towards the end. The first draft was a romance throughout. She felt we could introduce some intrigue in the second. It took me a couple of months to get that right.
The book is set in the publishing industry, with a banker-author as the protagonist, and takes the readers into the world of publishing.
This is perhaps one of the first books to go right into the world of publishing, talking about how some Indian authors are calling the shots these days and how far would someone go to create a bestseller – not necessarily by having an affair with a married author! With all my books so far I have always tried to take my readers to a new place. In my last thriller, I took them to the parallel universe of bitcoins.
So essentially, other than the romantic angle, there is not much of a departure from your grain as a story teller…
There is another thing. Relationships have never been my strength. This is a feedback I often receive. Here it is different. Both relationships here are so strong that as a reader you cannot be a fence sitter. There are no murders, no police investigations – the staple diet in my books so far…
Building drama in this scenario is tough. In a thriller, whenever things get predictable, you bump off a character. I am infamous for having done away with one of the most liked female characters in Bankerupt. I got beaten up by my readers for killing her when they were least expecting it. But I like surprises.
Was writing dialogue for a romantic intrigue difficult as well?
Yes, because you have to think a lot more than you write. In thrillers, the dialogue has to be sharp. My style is dialogue-intense. Almost like a screenplay. In a romance you cannot do that. It was a struggle to think through situations… I had to put myself in the protagonist’s shoes. Who in this case are a banker and a popular writer (smiles).
What about the two female characters?
My wife will hate me when I say this. The relationship between the protagonist and his wife was easier for me to put down because when I wrote lines for her I thought about how my wife would have reacted to the same situations. At least this relationship is 20 years old and I know her.
The younger woman’s dialogue was tougher and it took me several drafts.
So your romantic intrigue features a banker-bestselling author, an incident that has happened to you and then an extramarital affair – has your wife read the book?
She is happy with the story. She said, “The author (in the book) is someone I know. But who is that girl? Are you trying to give me a message through this?” I said “Absolutely not!”