Let’s hear from Kiran Manral who published her first book, The Reluctant Detective in 2011. Since then, she has published eight books across genres till date. Her books include romance and chicklit with Once Upon A Crush (2014), All Aboard (2015), Saving Maya (2017); horror with The Face at the Window (2016) and nonfiction with Karmic Kids (2015), A Boy’s Guide to Growing Up (2016) and True Love Stories (2017).
Her short stories have been published on Juggernaut, in magazines like Verve and Cosmopolitan, and have been part of anthologies like Chicken Soup for the Soul, Have a Safe Journey (2017) and Boo (2017). Her articles and columns have appeared in the Times of India, Tehelka, DNA, Yowoto, Shethepeople, TheDailyO, Scroll, Buzzfee, New Woman, Femina, Verve, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Conde Nast Traveller, DB Post, The Telegraph, the Asian Age, iDiva, People, Sakal Times and more. She was shortlisted for the Femina Women Awards 2017 for Literary Contribution. She is a TEDx speaker and a mentor with Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk 2017.
You have been a journalist. What inspired you to become a writer?
Well, a journalist is a writer, the form changes, non fiction to fiction. I think I was always writing stories from the time I was a young girl, and life took over as I grew up and older. Work, marriage, child, everything took precedence over writing until one fine day I realised I was about to hit 40 and had nothing to show for it. And two dear friends and my mom were constantly heckling me to write a book. So I did.
Do you plan your writing time? Or do you go with the flow of family to-do’s and work out your writing in between? What are some of the challenges you face while writing?
I’m at my desk every morning 7.30 am to end of day, unless I have an event or am out of town. I write in bits and pieces, between bread and butter work but writing is still a passion and an indulgence and doesn’t really pay the bills for me. The challenges I face I think are the challenges most work from home women face, your work time isn’t taken seriously by the rest of the home and interruptions galore which really affect writing. But the positives are that there is much more time available to work, and one can also be constantly around for one’s kid.
Tell us something about your book – “Karmic Kids, The story of Parenting nobody told you”?
Karmic Kids began as a blog about my parenting journey, it became very popular and was among the top parenting blogs in India many years running. I finally shut it down when my son turned 10, and then reworked it into a book, going year wise, as a chapter. It is a book that has been very well received, because it is the other side of motherhood, there’s no glorification of motherhood, there’s no pretty little pedestal I put us mothers on, its funny, emotional, harsh and poignant. And yes, completely unfiltered. It did go on to become one of the top five books on parenting by an Indian author in the year it was released.
What is your next venture in the world of literature? Can we know the theme you’ll be next exploring with?
What’s next? Well there’s the paperback of Saving Maya, which is a lovely second chance romance, due out in December. Also the sequel of The Reluctant Detective, titled The Not-So-Reluctant Detective, written all those years ago when the first book was out, will finally see the light of day as an e-book. As for the rest, I’m writing. And yes, I hope to keep exploring new genres. I’ve done humour, parenting, romance, chick lit, horror. Let’s see where I go next.
