Meet the SHEROES - Shweta Taneja

Shweta Taneja is an accomplished novelist and journalist. She always had an urge to tell stories and eventually this shaped who she is and her career path.

Shweta has 4 published books to her credit thus far. What inspires her or gives rise to a new story? How does she create stories? Let’s hear what she has to say.

Q1. Tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in Delhi, breezing through an easy life with a loving, wholesome but restrictive family. I'd to constantly fight with them for my freedom and my way of doing things. It was the same with the city I grew up in. Delhi offers freedom but not to women so much, it can get quite harsh for a woman on the street. It taught me about aggression and stubbornness for I had to constantly negotiate with it, its people and its spaces for my freedom, to do things that I wanted to do. 

But Delhi's also given me a lot. I did my masters in literature from Delhi University as well as studied communication in NIFT in Delhi. It shaped my early work career too and I guess in many ways, remains in me, though I live in Bangalore now.

I've been a journalist and columnist for 12 years now and have written more than 250 articles and columns and 6 books in my career and aim for many more! My work has been carried in magazines like Femina, Men's Health, Time Out, Discover India; newspapers like Mint; and ezines like Scroll, HuffingtonPost, DailyO and Swarajya.

Q2. Could you give us brief details of the books you've already published?

Cult of Chaos, Book 1 of Anantya Tantrist was published in 2015. This detective fantasy is my most ambitious work of date. Anantya Tantrist is a detective, a tantric and a kickass heroine all rolled into one.She is a sassy, bad-mouthed, independent 23-year-old who walks on the streets of Delhi at night, solving supernatural crime. In Cult of Chaos, she investigates a grisly case of girl sacrifices in the city. 

'The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong is a crisp, mysterious tale, which unravels through a web of mystery, deceit, hoaxes and supernatural events.” reviews Business Standard. The ghostly thriller is set in the hills, and follows the adventures of three friends, Kartik, Opus and Tashi as they try to find out the mystery behind the haunted Iyer bungalow. 

I also did a graphic novel Krishna Defender of Dharma which is a classic retelling of Krishna’s story, this graphic novel amalgamates stories from Bhagawata Purana, Hari Vamsa, Mahabharata and folk tales of the favourite blue hero of Indian mythology. The book has become part of the CBSE’s Must Read List for schools and remains a bestseller to date. Pick this whopper up for the awe-inspiring art by Rajesh Nagulakonda.

The Skull Rosary another graphic novel comprises of five short comics, The Skull Rosary is a black and white book with retellings of dark tales from Linga Purana (older form of Shiva Purana). It was nominated in the Best Writer and Best Cover categories in Comic Con India 2013.

Q3. How did you get inspired to turn into a columnist / author?

Surprisingly, growing up, I never thought of becoming a writer. I still don't think of myself as a writer though I write every day, I write a lot and I do love it. What I do remember as a child I had a deep desire to tell stories, always. I would keep looking for kids my age, my younger cousins or even adults to tell stories to. I loved making up characters and situations and then orally telling tales. I think this love of mine, something that I took for granted, like an itch, quietly seeped into my career without my realising it. So though I didn't want to write, I became a journalist and started to write other people's stories. And then this need in me to create my own characters, make up stories, grew and grew till I could contain it no more. It burst six years ago. Since then I've written six books, four of which are published. And I'm still telling more stories! :)

Q4. What is your average work-day like?

I start most days early, with a bag full of ideas which've seeped into me while I'd been sleeping. These I note down on my whiteboard or notebook and while I'm having coffee, develop them. Post breakfast I sit and write fiction for the first half of the day. The second half I reserve for other work that I'm doing - be it writing articles, talking to people, reading materials or doing research on the topic I might be writing on. Evenings are for talking a walk, a swim or playing badminton. And in the night, I let my mind wander so it's fresh to think of new ideas. I either read something completely different from what I'm reading or watch a movie or have intense conversations with friends.  

Q5. In the literary world, what are the top 3 things that help one succeed?

Never, ever, ever give up: Determination and perseverance are most effective for you to succeed. Not only in the literary world, but anywhere really. Never, ever, ever give up on what you want. Be dogged about it, stubborn even, mindlessly focused on it and you'll get there

Travel and experience: The idea of travel is not only to leave the city you're based in, but travel bring with it the idea of ‘new’. Experience newness, be it speaking to a new person everyday, or going through a lane you thought was unsafe or reading an author you've never read before or trying a new food. Take new transport in your city while going to work, talk to a new person in your office, outside your home, wear something that you've never worn before. Experiencing ‘new’ is essential to writing great stories. 

Seek out help and build relationships: Unlike what most of the outsiders believe, authors and publishers and editors and agents are actually quite helpful. They're kind, encouraging and can help you out. Don't hesitate to ask someone to guide you, don't think twice about sending an email, a call out for help. Being an alone task, writing a book can be daunting and a few encouraging words from an author you respect, can go a long way.   

Q6. What future plans in terms of work / profession do you have?

I don't plan too hard. Right now, I want to write more stories and I'm thankful that ideas are coming to me which can turn into lovely stories. So I'm penning them down and trying to see if publishers would find them interesting. The only future plan I have is to travel around, experience the world and meet people with different mind-sets and from different cultures. 

Q7. Where or from whom do you draw your daily inspiration from?

Stories. Of all kinds. Factual stories that come out in newspapers, oral stories which I collect while travelling and speaking to people, experienced in architect, history, dance, culture and things. Stories written in novels, plays, played out in dramas, in serials, in movies, and in dance forms.

Ideas are like minuscule chocolate pieces and we writers are constantly hungry for them. But what's more important to get to a book or any kind of a finished creative product is to push the idea. Read certain books, research on certain topics. It’s like groping in the dark, in a cave full of skeletons and rotting flesh. You have no idea what might touch your fingertips.

For example with Cult of Chaos, which is a tantrik detective mystery, I read up a lot of books on occult, tantrism and dark magic. I decided to set it in Delhi for the city has layers of history and modernity and both interact with each other in a fascinating way. But I didn’t know the characters as I was writing. They came from NatGeo’s television shows, bits from history books I was reading, movies I was seeing, real news I was reading. 

I also feel, there’s nothing better than daily news to give you ideas. It has enough horror, disgust, hatred, violence, evil in its pages to keep your creativity flowing. There were so many scenes in the book that have been inspired by real incidents, things that I’ve read in the news. Not only about superstition or witch hunting, but also something that a crass politician would’ve said when yet another woman got raped. Everyday domestic violence, which is reported in a single paragraph, taken verbatim from police notes or crimes of caste and religion which are all about power. There’s no dearth of inspiration in our country, especially when one is writing a horror thriller.

Q8. What inspirational words would you share with our readers?

If you are lucky enough to have found what you need in your life, never give up on that goal. Failure is if you refuse to get up after falling. The fall itself is not failure. If you get up, that's just part of the journey to your goal. Keep at it, girls!