“Writing this book together was like a culmination of a longer journey for the two of us,” shared Aditi Mediratta and Michaela Talwar, co-authors of Naked (published by Om Books International), a mystery thriller. The friends-turned-co-authors spoke about their book with Khushi Rungta, founder of Kolkata Bookworms, at the Storyteller Bookstore (in VIP Bazar) on December 12.
“She’s the first person to read everything I write, as I feel our thoughts are always in sync. Even for this book, she’s the first person I shared the idea with,” said Talwar about Mediratta, with the former describing the latter as her “foremost editor and critic”. “I’ve always been a fan of her work. I usually just give her feedback on her work and not interfere with it. However, this one really resonated with me,” added Talwar. Upon receiving a page on the story of Naked from Mediratta, Talwar was immediately drawn in and started adding her thoughts. Bit by bit, it became more of a collaborative work. Eventually, what started off as an idea for a short story turned into a full-blown book. “The book demanded to be written and it chose us,” said Talwar.
‘We agreed on the characters, the stories and the writing, but could never agree on the structure of a sentence’
‘Naked’, published by Om Books International, started off as a short story before transforming into a full-fledged novel
When asked about the challenges they faced co-authoring the book, Talwar jokingly answered: “Grammar! That was our biggest problem. We agreed on the characters, the stories and the writing, but could never agree on the structure of a sentence.” Mediratta chimed in: “She’s very strict about grammar, and I’m more of a stream-of-consciousness person. So, when I write something, it makes sense to me but not necessarily to her… I feel you can take liberties with grammar.”
Both Talwar and Mediratta agreed that they had a wonderful time working together, especially because one of the two was always at it, which meant that “the book never slept”. “What made it such an enjoyable experience was the fact that both of us were open to discussions and alternative plot points,” explained Mediratta. Since the book spans across 10 years (in terms of the plot), it was crucial to keep track of the details associated with the timeline. “Writing is all fun and creative, but one needs to be logical about it. We also wanted to portray Mumbai correctly in the story. In thrillers, it’s important to hold on to some details only to reveal them at the end, which can get overwhelming [during writing],” admitted Talwar, who felt it was “liberating” to have Mediratta with her because she got the space to grow and expand her style of work: “Aditi’s storytelling is very strong and my visual sense is very strong, and I think that’s what made us a perfect mix.”
‘Reading is the most important thing a writer can do… write about what you know’
Mediratta and Talwar became friends and critics of each other’s work long before they teamed up to co-author ‘Naked’
“Mumbai is my muse,” said Mediratta, before adding: “I’m in love with Mumbai and I always want to portray it as a central character in my work.” Besides wanting to write about what they know, Talwar supplemented this observation with her take on how Mumbai had to be portrayed in the book as a real place with real stories, and not as a whacky setting taken over by tropes. Besides showing Mumbai as an individual character, the other characters in the book were developed meticulously. According to Mediratta: “We sat down and talked about the characters before we started writing. We felt like the characters were residing within us, and as we started writing, they just came out on the page.” Talwar concurred: “Some of the characters were just there [in our heads] and the more we wrote, the clearer our idea of them became. For example, we knew that one of the characters stood for Mumbai, but as we wrote, we realised that she stood for the weirdness of Mumbai. We even got to incorporate some of things that had happened with us in our lives into the lives of the characters we were writing.”
Both Talwar and Mediratta share a love for magic and how it can be found in everyday life. It is this belief that led them to deploy spiritual and queer themes in the book. Having characters who believe in spiritual things allowed the storyline to become richer. On the aspect of queer representation, Mediratta said: “We wanted to show love for what it is and nothing more. The queer characters that we have weren’t included for representation’s sake, but because we wanted to treat it as a normal love plotline.”
The conversation came to an end with both authors sharing a piece of advice for budding writers. “Reading is the most important thing a writer can do. The more you read, the better your writing will be and the more you’ll be able to take inspiration from the world around you and your experiences,” explained Mediratta, while Talwar suggested: “Don’t get bogged down by the rules. Write things the way they make sense to you. Most importantly, have confidence in yourself and write about what you know.”
