Every teenage girl, at some point of time, has picked up a Mills
& Boon novel, hoping she could sneak it away without her parents
noticing. And she would always imagine herself as the protagonist who
sweeps a tall handsome man off his feet.
Mumbai-based Shoma Narayanan, too, had a similar story. But what makes hers different is that the banking professional is now a Harlequin M&B author with one book on the store shelves and others awaiting their moment in the sun. Narayanan was recently in Delhi, living the thrill of seeing copies of her Monsoon Wedding Fever (Rs.125) in book stores. "It didn't quite seem real," Shoma says, "But the most exciting thing was when I saw the book in pavement shops, and thought, 'Oh OK, it's actually out there'."
A regular office-going person by the week who turned into a writer furiously typing away on weekends, Narayanan, the mother of two young children, was always interested in short stories.
So when she saw the ad about M&B looking for Indian writers through its 'Passions' contest, she took the leap of faith aspiring writers only dream of - she went home, sat down, wrote out her 2,000-word synopsis and submitted it.
"M&Bs have always worked as a stress-buster for me," Narayanan says. "You know you're going to be reading a story with a happy ending." You won't always find an M&B in her bag though; her favourite genre is popular science, with Jared Diamond and Richard Dawkins being her favourite writers.
The protagonist of her first book, Narayanan says, is an independent and feisty young woman who prefers keeping her emotions on a tight leash. "She is how I think woman should be," Narayanan says. The book is set in Mumbai, Kolkata and Hong Kong, and narrates the story of a confident Riya, who fell for Dhruv six year ago when they were in college, but it didn't work out as "Dhruv didn't believe in love". Now, at a common friend's wedding, sparks begin to fly.
The plot is set in the backdrop of the big fat wedding, with essential elements like the haldi ceremony and the sangeet finding due mention to give the book "an exotic Indian flavour".
When the author came to know that hers would be the first Indian M&B to go global, she had to consciously write for a wider audience.
"There have been Indian M&Bs before, but this is the first to be published abroad as well," Narayanan explains, "When I was writing about the haldi ceremony, I could have just left it at that, but with a global audience, I also had to explain what it meant. It had to be something that could be read universally without losing its Indian flavour."
For now, Narayanan has her hands full with a four-book contract and a head teeming with characters and their love stories.
Mumbai-based Shoma Narayanan, too, had a similar story. But what makes hers different is that the banking professional is now a Harlequin M&B author with one book on the store shelves and others awaiting their moment in the sun. Narayanan was recently in Delhi, living the thrill of seeing copies of her Monsoon Wedding Fever (Rs.125) in book stores. "It didn't quite seem real," Shoma says, "But the most exciting thing was when I saw the book in pavement shops, and thought, 'Oh OK, it's actually out there'."
A regular office-going person by the week who turned into a writer furiously typing away on weekends, Narayanan, the mother of two young children, was always interested in short stories.
So when she saw the ad about M&B looking for Indian writers through its 'Passions' contest, she took the leap of faith aspiring writers only dream of - she went home, sat down, wrote out her 2,000-word synopsis and submitted it.
"M&Bs have always worked as a stress-buster for me," Narayanan says. "You know you're going to be reading a story with a happy ending." You won't always find an M&B in her bag though; her favourite genre is popular science, with Jared Diamond and Richard Dawkins being her favourite writers.
The protagonist of her first book, Narayanan says, is an independent and feisty young woman who prefers keeping her emotions on a tight leash. "She is how I think woman should be," Narayanan says. The book is set in Mumbai, Kolkata and Hong Kong, and narrates the story of a confident Riya, who fell for Dhruv six year ago when they were in college, but it didn't work out as "Dhruv didn't believe in love". Now, at a common friend's wedding, sparks begin to fly.
The plot is set in the backdrop of the big fat wedding, with essential elements like the haldi ceremony and the sangeet finding due mention to give the book "an exotic Indian flavour".
When the author came to know that hers would be the first Indian M&B to go global, she had to consciously write for a wider audience.
"There have been Indian M&Bs before, but this is the first to be published abroad as well," Narayanan explains, "When I was writing about the haldi ceremony, I could have just left it at that, but with a global audience, I also had to explain what it meant. It had to be something that could be read universally without losing its Indian flavour."
For now, Narayanan has her hands full with a four-book contract and a head teeming with characters and their love stories.
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