Some 'mass-market' writers are co-writing books or mentoring younger writers. Done with integrity, this can be a new egalitarianism in Indian publishing
If you attend the Jaipur Literature Festival—in whatever capacity, as author, journalist or star-struck reader—you expect to pick up lots of quotable quotes: Erudite, highbrow ones, certainly, but a few ear-popping ones too. I didn’t have to venture far this year. During a session I was moderating, the words came at me from just two feet away. The other people on the panel were saying them, and most of the audience was cheering in response.
The session was titled ‘The Craft of the Bestseller’ and here are two quotes—both of which are by suave, hugely-popular fiction writers—that I thought were particularly intriguing:
“Solitude distracts me.”
This was by Ravi Subramanian, author of a successful trilogy of thrillers about bankers and banking. It was a part-response to a question I had asked: Does the new generation of ‘mass-market’ authors follow the accepted wisdom that writing is essentially a solitary profession? Or do they see it as more of a communal endeavour?
(This story appears in the Mar-Apr 2016 issue of ForbesLife India. To visit our Archives, click here.)