A Chat With Sundari Venkatraman


Double Jeopardy by Sundari Venkatraman



The Blurb

Sanya doesn’t just have trouble, she has double trouble. Twins Arth and Ansh Sharma, are rich, sexy and sinfully handsome – what’s a girl to do?

Sanya last saw the twins when she was ten years old. Now, all grown up, she has come looking for gentle Arth, the twin she has loved ever since she can remember. But instead, she is confronted with fiery Ansh, who is hell-bent on seducing her. And what’s worse, she can’t seem to stop herself from responding to him.

As she chases Arth and is chased by Ansh, Sanya finds herself on a crazy roller coaster ride with no way of getting off. How will she deal with these two very different men in her life? Will she be able to convince one twin that she loves the other?

You can buy DOUBLE JEOPARDY on these websites






Meet the author



The Author's Thoughts

Even as a kid, she absolutely loved the ‘lived happily ever after’ syndrome as Sundari grew up reading all the fairy tales she could lay her hands on, Phantom comics, Mandrake comics and the like. It was always about good triumphing over evil and a happy end. Soon, into her teens, she switched her attention from fairy tales to Mills & Boon. While she loved reading both of these, she kept visualising what would have happened if there were similar situations happening in India; to a local hero and heroine. 

Her imagination took flight and she always lived in a rosy cocoon of romance over the years. Then came the writing – a true bolt out of the blue! She could never string two sentences together. While her spoken English had always been excellent – thanks to her Grandpa – she could not write to save her life. She was bad at writing essays in both school and college. Later, when it was time to teach her kids, she could manage everything from Science to Mathematics and History & Geography. 

When it came to writing compositions, her kids found her of no help at all. All this changed suddenly one fine day in the year 2000. She had just quit her job at a school’s office and did not know what to do with her life. She was saturated with simply reading books. That’s when she got home one evening after her walk and took some sheets of paper and began writing. It was like watching a movie that was running in her head – all those years of visualising Indian heroes and heroines needed an outlet and had to be put into words. That’s how her first novel, The Malhotra Bride, took shape. 

While she felt discouraged when publishing did not happen, it was her husband who kept encouraging her not to give up. There was no looking back after that. While publishing took a long time happening, Sundari continued to write novels and then short stories and had them published in her blogs. Her luck turned when Indireads approached her to write for them and Double Jeopardy was born.

You can stalk her @


                 

                            

Author Interview....

What inspired you to write your first book?

I am a diehard romantic at heart. I used to love reading fairytales as a kid and thoroughly enjoyed the ‘lived happily ever after’ endings. Later on, as a teen, I turned my attention to Mills & Boon romances. I am not quite sure when the interest turned and I began to imagine Indian heroes and heroines. While I have a fertile imagination, I never could string two sentences together.

I was almost 40 when I penned my first novel – The Malhotra Bride. I had quit my job and was at home, playing housewife. I felt quite useless. Suddenly, one evening, inspiration struck. I returned from my walk and sat down to write. By night, I had completed 14 pages of ruled foolscap paper. Thoroughly excited, I finished the first script of the novel (35,000 + words) in 20 days.


Do you have a specific writing style?

I don’t know about that. You will have to read the novels that I have blogged and tell me. The novels are:

1.         The Malhotra Bride
2.         Meghna
3.         Sangita’s Dilemma
4.         The Wedding Game

  
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

I simply loved Amish Tripathi’s The Shiva Trilogy, especially the first two books. Ashwin Sanghi is another favourite. His novel, The Rozabal Line, is simply amazing. I am reading The Krishna Key by the same author, while I have also read Chanakya Chants.

I enjoyed reading some of the books on Indireads. Parul Tyagi, MM George, Jazz Singh, Yamini Vijendran, Roopa Menon, Zeenat Mahal, Neelima Vinod, Sumeetha Manikandan and Sarita Varma are excellent writers. 

What are your current projects?

I am working on Simha International, a romance, of course. This is appearing as a series on my blog Cupid Strike Series. I have also created a story idea that I have submitted to Indireads. I will let you know after it has been approved. 

I also blog voraciously on various subjects such film reviews, book reviews, restaurant reviews, recipes, spirituality and health. My blog is called Flaming Sun and the link: http://sundarivenkatraman.blogspot.in/

I also write short stories under different genre. I have 17 short stories on my blog called Shimmering Sun. The link: http://shimmeringsunshortstories.blogspot.in/

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

I can’t say the exact time. I am a voracious reader since I was about three years old. I have always been fascinated with words. I used to feel envious of authors who can write so beautifully. I think this fascination drove me to writing.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

I am not at all disciplined. While my mind roves over the scenes and sequences of the novels, I keep postponing putting it down in writing – rather typing it out on my PC. This is a major hurdle. This is also the reason why I started blogging my novels as a series. This way, I have to deliver a fresh chapter each week and I have to stick to a schedule.

Do you ever experience writer's block?

I do experience it, although I would term it laziness, rather than writer’s block.

What books/authors have influenced your writing?

Jeffrey Archer is my favorite author. Then there is JK Rowling with her Harry Potter series. I used to like Ayn Rand and Sidney Sheldon. I have a number of favorites among romance authors such as Nora Roberts, Janet Dailey, Penny Jordan and Carole Mortimer.

Georgette Heyer, Julie Garwood and Judith McNaught are historical romance authors that I adore. I hope to write a historical romance soon.

I feel all these authors have an influence on my writing.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

I would not know that much about writing to give advice to other writers. Yes, to new writers I can say this: if you want to write, just keep writing, unfazed about being published or not. Blogging is a fantastic platform to practise on.

As a writer when you blog your stories, don't you feel that you are losing out on publishing your stories. That you would do more justice if you publish them, even as a self published ebook?

I am 'publishing' my books on my blog. Yes, I lose out on the royalty. There are two angles to publishing. One is being read by people across the globe and the other is money. For 13 years, I had neither. Atleast over the past 3-4 years, my work is read by a number of people. Even if I am published by the best brand, what is the guarantee that my books will be sold? Yes, it would be fantastic if I turned out to be a JK Rowling or an Amish Tripathi. So far there is no indication of that.  I just got fed up with waiting and 'published' my own work for free. I have no regrets. This way at least I write regularly and do get feedback occasionally. Then there are those page hits. Total nasha!



Blog Tour Schedule

1Jan-11 Jan 2014
(The Blog links will be live as and when the posts come up)

2nd Jan 2014
Adite Banerjie  (Spotlight)

3rd Jan 2014
Rubina Ramesh (Review/ Interview)


5th Jan 2014
Sridevi Datta (Review)

7th Jan 2014
Vishwas Byrappa (Review)

7th Jan 2014
Tales Pensieve (Interview)

7th Jan 2014
Ruchi Vasudeva(Interview)

8th Jan 2014
Sonia Rao(Interview)

9th Jan 2014
Neelesh Gajanan Inamdar (Review)

10th Jan 2014
Dola Basu Singh (Spotlight)

10th Jan 2014
Sumeetha Manikandan (Review)

11th Jan 2014

Jaibala Rao (Review/Interview)













Comments

  1. Very good Rubina. I also noticed that you've added the tagline - 'Where new writers and veterans meet -good.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Neelesh. That tagline is all what the book club is all about :)

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  2. Very interesting blog and interview, Rubina. good job. You should be so proud of your work.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Deanie.. I have been kinda out lately with the blog tours and shifting. Catching up all my reads now. :)

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  3. Interesting interview Rubina & Sundari. Keep up the good work !
    I liked-Total Nasha! :D

    ReplyDelete

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