Karma's persistent return in life has been the focus of Preeti Singh's debut book, 'Flirting with Fate'. At the book's release on Saturday at CII, Sector 31, Chandigarh, city-based writer talked about the interesting circumstances that led her to write the crime thriller.
A freelance writer for the past 15 years, Preeti says she has been fond of writing since the age of nine. Though crime shows such as CID and thriller novels such as Nancy Drew series caught her interest, Preeti claims to be a romantic at heart, who 'never dreamt in her wildest dreams that she would write a crime thriller'. "At best, I could stick with poetry," she laughs.
As fate would have it, it was a stranger on a train journey who egged her to write a thriller. "Whomsoever I met in life has been included in my book; be it Samrat Ghosh, the stranger that I met on the train; or a driver in Kashmir called Aslam bhai," shares Preeti.
In fact, her dog Amber Singh also plays an important character of a mute spectator, unlike his real self. "The characters' names are real, but because it's a fiction, their roles have been scripted according to my will. I have added a lot of subtle murders that the protagonist Anand commits. So, who to kill and who to save, was purely dependent on my imagination and mood swings," she quips.
{{/usCountry}}In fact, her dog Amber Singh also plays an important character of a mute spectator, unlike his real self. "The characters' names are real, but because it's a fiction, their roles have been scripted according to my will. I have added a lot of subtle murders that the protagonist Anand commits. So, who to kill and who to save, was purely dependent on my imagination and mood swings," she quips.
{{/usCountry}}It took Preeti five years to pen the book owing to her health problems. Another challenge for her was to understand men better because the protagonist is a male.
"I had to know men better before I could feel like them in order to write from a male's perspective. I wanted to do something different," , she says with a smile.
Preeti says her book is unique since it captures the long gone era of the '80s. "The story's based in Shimla that is bereft of laptops or mobiles. There are instead, fiat cars, landline phones and Doordarshan. This was done because firstly, I don't know much about today's gizmos, and secondly, the 35+ readers that I plan to target would enjoy this more," she offers.
The first-time writer claims a scriptwriter from Bollywood has already approached her to turn the book into a film. But Preeti would rather wait for the readers' response. "Feedback is more important for me, which people can share at 'writingnaturally@gmail.com'," Preeti announces, her second book is in the pipeline which is also a thriller.