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Online dating and social media have given people too many options: author Nikita Singh
Author Nikita Singh talks about her latest book, an epistolary novel Letters to My Ex, her love for long emails and letters, and her views on relationships.
In the era of speed dating and short messaging service, letters have become an uncommon sight. However, the romance of long letters and handwritten texts is “kind of unmatched”, feels author Nikita Singh, who is trying to revive and romanticise the epistolary technique of novel writing in her latest book, Letters to My Ex.
“I’ve always been the kind of person who’d write long emails and text messages, so this was the perfect format for my book,” says Singh.
The 26-year-old author, who already has 11 novels to her credit, including bestsellers, says that she loves writing about relationships and life. One may wonder if her work is inspired from her own life. She says, “The letters in the book are not inspired directly from incidents of my life, but I do take inspiration from the emotions that were invoked by them. So, I work on fabricating those incidents and make things up. It gives you more scope and freedom.”
Letters to My Ex revolves around Nidhi, the protagonist, who writes letters to her ex-fiance Abhay, after their
breakup but doesn’t post them. “There are some similarities between Nidhi and me. She’s sappy like me but I’m not as sappy as her. I wouldn’t sit down and write 12 letters of 144 pages; but she does. She’s an interesting character and I wanted to get into her mind and show everyone who she really is,” says Singh.
With the rise of online dating and social media, people are more accessible and they have plenty of options, feels the author. Talking about her view on new-age relationships, Singh believes that while people still love deeply, they don’t lose self- control anymore. “I guess with online dating and social media, people have more access to more people so everyone has more options. And that’s a big change. There are deep connections but only to a certain point. People are very practical and measured, now,” she opines.
The author, who worked in New Delhi for a few years before moving to the US, makes it a point to visit the Capital every time she is in India. “Delhi is like home to me. I miss the energy and the noise when I’m away. So whenever I return, I make sure to spend a few days here and gorge on paani puri.”
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