Frontlist | Five Indian women authors share their path to getting published

Frontlist | Five Indian women authors share their path to getting published
on Mar 10, 2021

As more and more women take to writing as a career, do they still feel reminded that they are female writers? Five authors reveal the kind of comments they have received over their years of writing, relating to gender or not, and how they dealt with them. Kavya Sharma, All Seasons Alike People judge you not only for your art and the kind of profession you've gotten into, they also assume as a woman you have it easy and this presumption is what creates discord. Some people also assume that as a woman your experiences are limited which further limits your writing arena. There are these huge writing groups who favour a few over others and those same set of people keep getting seen at various events and launches. Some people said 'ahh, the privileged sex, you can of course afford to become a writer.' Some people have said 'People will only buy your book for how you look, you can get away with bad writing'. Honestly, it did initially bother me a lot as it would anyone who works hard on their art. I answered back and fought with a lot of people for such things; but as I matured I realised that none of these people matter and I cannot waste my energy trying to make them understand. The best way to fight them was to continue working on my art. Anuradha Prasad, Two Winters and 365 Days Most of the famous writers and outstanding literature in the world is created by women. Most famous best sellers are women. Women are vocal, expressive and creative. I must say women have to work ten times harder than men to create a niche for themselves in a given profession. It's more challenging, as they are not only working outside, they are working inside the homes too. Women are tugged emotionally on all levels. They are torn between their families and work places. I experienced the same struggle. I handled criticism in stride. Took it easy and improvised on the pointers levelled at me from time to time. Sometimes identified criticism as baseless work of art and moved on! Raina Singhwi Jain, The Golden Bird 2.0 As a working professional, one has to deal with criticism. It is however upto us to pay attention only to constructive criticism that can help us improve our skills. My father was the inspiration behind this book. A lot of the ideas mentioned in the book were a result of active debates with my father. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by highly supportive family and friends who enabled me to focus on the book. Don't be overwhelmed by your ambitions and goals, just take the first step and new opportunities will automatically start coming your way. Janhavi Bhat, Ashes of Desires Struggles are a part and parcel of life. Without hardships it is impossible to reach anywhere. The biggest hindrance in my journey was my failure to realise my self-worth. Often times when one chooses a different path and sees a future that's inconceivable by the majority, a sense of negativity looms over. I always keep an anchor thought as my inspiration. My anchor thought is my reason to choose writing - express with utmost authenticity and honesty.