The love-making scene of the gay couple was a challenge, says Isha Inamdar

It was when she was constantly hopping on and off Mumbai’s local trains that Isha Inamdar decided to jot down the premise of her first novel, True Liars, in her diary. From a rough idea, the 28-year-old financial services professional, turned it into a full-fledged romance fiction novel. The book revolves around NJ, an aspiring DJ, who falls head over heels with her pretend-boyfriend’s brother, Rudea. When Rudra visits her in the city, he finds that NJ is missing. In a quick chat, Isha talks to us about the same. Excerpts: 

Even as your personal scribbles turned into a book, when did the idea for it germinate? 
It was always meant to be a book. It was always the dream story that would get my name on book cover. Whether it was when I started writing in the ninth grade, or whether now when I began writing it once again, the scribbling had always been for a book!

 

You have dabbled with journalism, art direction and even banking. How did you realise that you interest lay in writing?
Writing was always my interest. Seeing my name on the book cover has been my dream since before I knew what it meant. Dabbling with journalism and art direction were both subconscious decisions that I am glad I took because these both have helped me to write better. Journalism helped me understand people and their triggers. And art direction polished my creativity. It helped me visualise a scene with details of the surroundings, helping me to add the pinch of actuality.

What are the challenges you faced while writing the book? 
Writing the love-making scene between a gay couple was quite challenging. However, I had been mentally prepared for this challenge. What I hadn’t expected was just how difficult it would be to write about the pre-wedding functions. 

Did you set deadlines for each essay/chapter? 
I never could have set a chapter-wise deadline because until I finished one, I never knew what my next chapter was going to be about. I didn’t know how many chapters were going to be in the book. My deadlines were always on a per day basis. 

Writer’s block? 
I either have been lucky to have not experienced a huge block or I have just dealt well with it! Because every time when I would get the feeling that the words weren’t flowing, I would tell  continue writing.