It’s Saturday, and David and I are at our regular watering hole. We’re waiting for a special guest to arrive, and we’re also trying to satisfy the challenge put forth by Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt:
“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: ‘create.’ Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!”
This is going to be easy. “Create” is exactly what Damyanti Biswas does. Damyanti, that’s our guest, is joining us to talk about her latest creation, The Blue Monsoon.
If we were having a beer, you would be anxious for Damyanti to arrive.
“Dan, I know I’m early, but Damyanti will be here soon, right?”
“Yes, David. In fact, I think that’s her auto ricksha pulling in as we speak.”
“Pittsburgh Steeler colors? Dan, did you make these arrangements?”
“I had nothing to do with it, David. Damyanti said to look for a black and gold auto rickshaw. Of course, I approve of her choice of colors.”
“Hi Dan, hi David. It’s good to see you both again.”
“Hello Damyanti. It’s good to see you again, too. Come, join us.”
“Hi Damyanti.”
“Skippy, isn’t it? Hello.”
“Yes, Skippy. That’s what they call me. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Skippy, Do you think you can make some Masala milk-tea?”
“Oh, we certainly can. One of our cooks makes it every afternoon. I’ve tried it, it’s pretty good. Dan, David, will you be having your usual?”
“Give David his John Howell’s special, Skippy. I’m going to join Damyanti in some tea.”
“Skippy.”
“Yes David?”
“Make that three teas. I’ll have some bourbon later.”
“Damyanti, congratulations on the release of The Blue Monsoon.”
“Thanks Dan, and thanks for inviting me to join you guys to talk about it. Is there anything you want to start with?”
“There is. In one of your recent posts on social media, you indicated that you were particularly nervous about this book going live. I would think, with it being the second book in the series and with the same publisher, that you could relax a bit. What made this so stressful?”
“In traditional publishing, writing a book on contract can be very stressful because not only does the editor have a say in the sort of book you’re going to write you’re but also supposed to deliver it in a given time. It was weird not having my mindspace to myself as I drafted the novel. It was also my first sequel which meant I had to stick to certain parameters when it came to characters and setting. Since you’ve read The Blue Bar (thank you so much!) you know I didn’t make it easy to pen a follow-up after the ending I’d written.”
“That’s true, that was a hard act to follow.”
“Added to that was the fact that a sequel usually doesn’t get as much support as a debut. The publisher has certain expectations and though The Blue Bar sold very well as far as I was concerned, it might not have met my publisher’s forecast. The publisher was very supportive in terms of advance reader copies and submitting to various review journals, but unlike The Blue Bar, The Blue Monsoon was not an Amazon First Read. The Blue Monsoon has been very well reviewed, and those who have read The Blue Bar, seem to think it is better written than the first novel in the series. But all of that is moot if audiences do not find it! Recipe for major stress, if you ask me.”
“Well, I enjoyed reading both, Damyanti. I know the challenges of getting audiences to find it, but when they do, they are going to enjoy it.”
“Damyanti, I’ve read the blurb and Dan has been telling me about your new book, but what do you want me to know about the story?”
“To save his pregnant wife, a police inspector must solve murders, and castrations of men in tantric rituals, while braving Mumbai’s monsoons.”
“Is there an underlying reason for choosing these subjects? How did you get there?”
“The story came to me via an anecdote, David. Someone told me about these vendors who paid with steel utensils for naturally-shed human hair in Mumbai’s alleyways. That sent me into a rabbit hole of research and I ended up combining it with my other idea that inverted the trope of violence against women in thrillers. I’ve been exhausted by the mutilated bodies of women put on display in thrillers whether they are movies, TV series or books, so I put a case involving castration front and center of The Blue Monsoon. The addition of themes like police corruption, cult worship, and gender identities happened organically, and since I always feature a struggle against injustice in all my stories (that’s part of my writing DNA), that was threaded through The Blue Monsoon as well.
“The story took over, and it has now become a portrayal of how societal issues lead to crimes and class struggles. If all of this sounds complex, that’s because India is an incredibly diverse nation with many layers and nuances, and Mumbai is its biggest melting pot.”
“Excuse me for interrupting, but I have your tea., and our cook says you should have it with bun-muska. David, Dan, that’s a soft, sweet bun eaten with butter. There are plenty here.”
“Thanks Skippy. Those look delightful.”
“They do, Skippy. This reminds me of how they serve it in Mumbai.”
“Mmmm, these are good. But, back to my question, why is this story important, Damyanti?”
“Through The Blue Monsoon, I intend to take you to Mumbai, the real Mumbai, not the one we see in most commercial movies watched in the Western world, but the ceaseless city of contradictions that lives in several centuries at once.
“Despite being a very specific story of a very special city, I’d also like to think that The Blue Monsoon carries universal resonance: family, love, integrity—values that are treasured as much in the US as they are in India.”
“Damyanti, you touched on this earlier, but I’m going to ask you the same question I asked Teagan last week. Did you find it easier or harder to work with characters who already had established traits and personalities?”
“I’ll give you the answer I know David won’t like, Dan–Both.”
“Ugh, those answers do make my head spin, but I’ll be kind. What makes it easier, Damyanti?”
“Well, David. The advantage of inheriting characters from a previous book is the opportunity to show a growth curve—Tara, Arnav and Sita have all changed in various ways in this novel, and many readers have commented that reading The Blue Monsoon was like catching up with old friends made during the reading of The Blue Bar. I knew how the characters would react in any given situation.”
“That makes sense. So what made it harder?”
“Well, for a writer like me who lets character motivations dictate plot, it was incredibly challenging to come up with a story that my editor would sign off on. I couldn’t make the characters do what I wished them to in order to provide the twists and suspense needed in a commercial thriller, so I had to dig deep to find natural character growth patterns. In the end, I think that made the story stronger, but I can only let readers be the judge of that.”
“Well, this reader certainly agrees. In addition to the continuing characters, you brought us back into Mumbai. Was it hard to decide how much to share about the city and the culture given that you are seeking to engage an audience unfamiliar with India?
“Can’t lie, Dan–writing authentically about India for a genre audience unfamiliar with the country proved a challenge. Throughout the editing process, I was mindful of respecting both my characters and my audience. The Blue Monsoon is about very specific characters, in a specific situation so I wanted them to shine in their own capacity without exoticizing or exploiting them in any way. I tried to write truth as I saw it and present a multiplicity of viewpoints without judgment. To this end, I had the draft read by more than one sensitivity reader, and also readers who call Mumbai home.”
“That sounds like a good approach, but it could lead to a lot of input.”
“Yes, and I tried to respect my readers by avoiding over-explanation. My readers are far wiser than I ever can be. For those interested in the country and its culture who seek a deeper understanding of it, I added in a glossary of terms, an Author’s Note explaining basic cultural terms and my reading list during my research of The Blue Monsoon. I hope I’ve been able to share Mumbai’s monsoon vibes, its cultural and political nuances, and the spirit of its people, without sacrificing the pace required of a thriller.”
“You raise a point that I find curious, Damyanti. Can you tell us about your research? Did you work through it before, or did you find yourself chasing down details throughout the story?”
“Since The Blue Monsoon is the second in a series, David, I had quite a good idea about the setting from my research during the drafting of The Blue Bar. I knew about investigative procedures followed by the Mumbai police and had lived in Mumbai during the monsoon season. I spoke to several doctors, gynecologists, and a forensics technician to verify the medical and forensic aspects. In order to get the other parts right, I had to read a ton of nonfiction especially on the hair industry, the caste system, and India’s third gender, the kinnar. I began writing after a month of research but had to change certain aspects of the story after speaking to medical professionals.”
“You sound like a planner. This story is very well organized and presented. Were you working from an outline? Or trying to?”
“Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad that’s how it comes across because, to be honest, I was worried I’d made a mess of it.
“I wrote ninety-five thousand words in two months, then ripped those apart three times in four months. I did have to work from an outline because my editor had bought this book on a clean slate, as she didn’t like the proposal I’d sent her. So I worked on premises, my agent picked a few and presented them to the editor. The editor liked two of them, and I worked on both in order to come up with an outline.
“I usually have a very basic idea of a Beginning, Middle, and End before the first draft and then write a detailed outline before writing the second draft. The Blue Monsoon was different. It was the first time I wrote a four-thousand word outline before I began work on the first draft.”
“Damyanti, I follow you on social media, and I remember a few posts about a large number of edits coming back from your publisher. For those of us to whom that kind of interaction is foreign, can you tell us what it’s like?”
“Dan. I was fortunate enough to have two editors working with me on The Blue Monsoon. My acquiring editor gave me big-picture feedback, and the other one helped me as I made changes on the chapter and paragraph level. They gave me insights on aspects I needed help on, especially regarding the pace.”
“How many changes are we talking about as a result of these insights?”
“For the second draft, Dan. I threw out about half the novel and for the third draft I tossed out one-fourth the word-count. My brain ends up producing complex behemoths, and it doesn’t help that I began my writing life as a literary author.”
“I love the pace of this book, Damyanti. It moves along well and the pace is consistent. Is that what those edits were about?”
“In order to maintain tension and pace, I had to cut out a lot of back story and background color, as well as add more action into the scenes—and both my editors pointed out places where I could do these things.”
“I moved around about forty-thousand words in my last novel. I found that very difficult. Was that your experience?”
“Yes, Dan. All the cut-and-paste work resulted in major continuity issues, especially because the novel takes place in a very brief time period and has a huge cast of characters. My copy-editors and proofreaders help me sort through all of that, though I have to say I ended up doing much more than all of them suggested!”
“Damyanti, did you always envision writing crime dramas?”
“David, I’m in fact working on a book club fiction at the moment, but yes, I do hope to write more crime dramas. Writing about crime affords a deeper examination of a society and its people—you can peel back layers because at the moment of the commission of a crime and the investigation of it, people are tested and pushed to extremes. It is a great moment to ask questions of all kinds.”
“Damyanti, is there more to this series? Anything you can share?”
“I do have a proposal for the next one, Dan, and am waiting to hear back from the editor. It all depends on how well The Blue Monsoon sells, which is where readers come in. If there’s good feedback from readers, and the books sells well, there will be more in the series. Even a one-line review on Amazon counts, because it takes the book to more readers.”
“I am noticeably behind on my reviews, but I hope to take care of that this weekend. Damyanti, it was so good of you to take time out of your busy schedule o join us today, and to let us pry behind the scenes.”
“It was my pleasure, Dan. And Skippy, please pass along my complements to your cook—the tea and buns were delicious.”
“Um, Dan, I thought you mentioned something about a giveaway. I was hoping I could get in on that.”
“There is a giveaway—two copies of The Blue Monsoon, but the recipient will be selected randomly from people (in the US only, sorry) who comment on my blog post. And I hate to remind you, but anyone associated with the production of this post is prohibited from participating in the giveaway.”
Damyanti is currently based in Singapore. Her short fiction has been published at Smokelong, Ambit, Litro, Puerto del Sol, among others, and she’s the coeditor of The Forge literary magazine. Her popular blog Daily (w)rite, where she speaks about the writing life and interviews publishing professionals, turned 15 this year.
She’s the author of You Beneath Your Skin, an Amazon-bestselling crime novel, which has been optioned for screens by Endemol Shine. Her next crime novel, The Blue Bar was published by Thomas & Mercer USA. It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and Goodreads named it one of 2023’s Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers. The sequel, The Blue Monsoon, is out now and receiving a positive buzz from readers.
A ritual murder at a Mumbai temple exposes the city’s dark secrets and ravages the personal life of a detective in this sequel to The Blue Bar.
Amid incessant rains pounding down on Mumbai, Senior Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput is called to a shocking crime scene. A male body is found dismembered on the steps of a Kaali temple. Drawn into his flesh are symbols of a tantra cult. The desecration of a body at a Hindu place of worship puts the city on edge and divides Arnav’s priorities: stopping a fanatic from killing again and caring for his wife who’s struggling through a challenging pregnancy.
Then video footage of the murder is uploaded onto the account of a Bollywood social media influencer, triggering twists in the investigation Arnav didn’t see coming. Caste systems at war. A priest under suspicion. And an anonymous threat that puts his wife’s welfare at risk. When more bodies are found, the savagery of the city begins to surface—and Arnav fears that no one is safe from a bigger storm brewing.
Click here if you want to purchase a copy of The Blue Monsoon. I highly recommend this book.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
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