‘Horses sweat, gentlemen perspire and ladies glow’. An old quote that wandered into my mind quite suddenly today. You see, I had an interesting and rather illuminating conversation with a colleague yesterday. He had just finished reading my book of short stories, and I asked him how he liked it. He chuckled and said something that made me stop short, mentally flip the pages of my book and begrudgingly, but laughingly agree with him. More on that in a minute.
When you are an unknown writer, trying to find a foothold in publishing, you lap up any kind of feedback. Most of that comes from your immediate circle of your friends and family, or perhaps the slightly wider circle of your work colleagues or distant acquaintances who have been kind enough to buy your book. I have to say, by and large, most people have been very charitable in the sort of feedback they’ve given me. Amongst the criticisms I have encountered (all true by the way) was the fact that I used language and references that were not immediately transparent to the reader. For instance, how many non Indians would know what Rooh Afza is? How many outside of Delhi would know where Khan Market is? Some of my readers had to google certain terms or words. So, maybe, the next book should have a glossary of terms? Maybe. Or maybe not.
I remember reading a book where half the page contained the story, the other half explanations of the words contained in the story. I found that terribly distracting. So, perhaps, I’ll just carry on being a pretentious (and rather lazy) writer and hope that the context will explain the content.
The second more valid criticism that came my way was that there was no central theme binding my stories together. Yes, the location is India. The stories are all quite dark. There are a few deaths and other horrific stuff, but aside of all that- what is the leitmotif of the tales?
Admittedly, I hadn’t thought this one out. Remember, this was my taster book. The one I published before I published THE ONE. Rather like the first fling before your proper boyfriend. Except that this fling’s taken on a life of it’s own.
I digress.
I wasn’t really thinking themes when I put this book together. For me, it was more of a journey. A journey to India through my characters, and their distinct personalities and situations. So, when this was pointed out to me I made a mental note that my next book would definitely contain a thread that runs through all the stories. (Yes, it is another book of short stories, and yes, I am working on it right now).
Back to my colleague then.
What was this observation of his that had me chortling? He simply said, “You do rather have an obsession with sweat, don’t you? All your characters sweat, and you describe it in such vivid detail.”
There you go. Theme found and nailed. Sweat is the central theme of my book. Never let it be said that my debut collection had no cohesive or unifying idea. All my characters sweat, whether gently or vigorously, whether literally or metaphorically.
So, if you like sweaty stories, look for ‘Parvathy’s Well & other stories‘ on Amazon worldwide. Any other incisive observations you might have post reading will be welcomed with relish!
