Interview of Neena H. Brar, author of Tied to deceit by
A brief introduction of Mrs Neena Brar
Neena H. Brar
lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, two children, a highly energetic
German Shepherd, and a lifetime collection of her favorite books.
A hermit at heart, she's a permissive mother, a reluctant housekeeper, a superb
cook, and a hard-core reader. Tied to Deceit is her debut novel.
Website
1. Tell
me something about yourself. How does your personality affect your writing?
Answer: I was born and brought up in a small town
in Punjab and moved to Canada after marrying a second generation Canadian
Punjabi. I’ve two children: 11 and 9 and live in Edmonton, Alberta. I’ve a Masters
in Business Administration. Nature-wise, I’m more of a feeler and that enables
me to put myself in characters’ head and do the thinking. Also, as a feeler, I can easily grasp the
context of big picture without being aware of its various details. That helped
me work out various details in the plot more efficiently to some extent.
2. When
did you decide to write? What was the inspiration?
Answer: During holidays of summer of 2015. My
daughter was going to start school full time that fall. I knew I would have a few hours free during
days. The idea of writing a novel was brewing in my mind for some time. But it
was my husband who initially put that idea in my mind. He was aware of my
childhood dream of becoming an author.
He had read a few of my book reviews and thought I had a natural flair
for writing.
3. How
long it took to write the book?
Answer: It
took 18 months for me to finish my first draft and then another year to
complete the edits and get the final copy in my hands.
4. You
are a home maker. How do you schedule your time for writing? Do you have
specific time of the day or write whenever you get time?
Answer: Looking back, I cannot see myself
finishing Tied to Deceit ever. It was extremely hard, the first 18 months when
I wrote the first draft. We had just moved to a new city, a new house, and the
kids’ new school in the area was under construction. I had to drive 2 hours
every day back and forth to take them to the school, and then, there were other
chores. I mostly wrote during the days, but once the story started to take
shape I started carrying my laptop everywhere to write: to kids’ swimming
lessons, dance and other classes, school pick ups etc.
5. Tell
us something about your writing process. Is it disciplined or you have creative
bursts of energy in between dull periods?
Answer: Discipline is just not for me: any kind of
routine makes me feel tied up, suffocated. I never followed any specific
routine. There were days when I wrote like maniac and at other times, I
wouldn’t touch the manuscript for weeks.
6. What
kind of books you like to read. Your favourite books, authors and genres.
Ans: I’m a versatile reader. I read everything except
for romance, horror, and erotica.
Mystery is my favourite genre. I read 10-12
mysteries in a row, and then it will be an epic, a literary fiction or a
classic.
It’s difficult to name my favourite books but I
will try: Anna Karenina, War and Peace, My cousin Rachel, The Valley of Horse,
The Cider House Rules, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Say You’re One of Them,
Mists of Avalon, The Moving Finger, The Book Thief, Jane Eyre.
My
favourite authors are Leo Tolstoy, John Irving, Daphne Du Maurier, Agatha
Christie, Ruth Rendell, Colin Dexter, P. D. James, Wilkie Colins, Mary Oliver,
Shiv Kumar Batalvi, and Charlotte Bronte. I’ve read almost all of their books.
7. What
else do you do as hobby (besides reading and writing)?
Ans: Any free time I get, I read. I’m a hard-core
reader and carry a book with me everywhere. Reading is constant for me, but my
other interests keep changing; sometimes it’s baking and cooking that I get
engrossed in; at other times, quilting or hand-crafts take over; shopping spree
is something that swallows me whole at times and stays for months until my
husband starts to notice credit card bills and brings me back to reality. I
love browsing books in our local Chapters/Indigo and thrift books stores as
well.
8. Is
writing therapeutic/ energising/ enervating/ meditative/ frustrating or all of
these?
Ans: With
two elementary school going kids and a German Shepherd pup, writing was tiring
mostly. But every time I finished a scene, a chapter, it gave me a sense of
achievement.
9. What
is your advice to budding/ aspiring writers?
Answer: Keep writing and read. More you read, the
better you will get at writing.
10. How
important is editing? How many drafts and rewrite it took to make your book
perfect? How did you choose your editor?
Answer: Editing is the most crucial part of
writing. Writing your first draft, though, looks hard, it’s only a baby step in
the direction of completing your book. If you’ve not willing to put efforts in
editing later, you shouldn’t bring your book out in the world.
I have 18 edited drafts of Tied to Deceit sitting
on my hard drive. After that, I sent it for structural editing because I got
tired of never finding it perfect and worked on my editor’s suggestions.
Afterwards, I worked with two more editors, did a few more readings, and a line
editing to get the final copy.
11. What
is the most difficult and easiest part of your writing process respectively?
Ans: To get into characters’ head and write their
thoughts was easy. The hardest part was to figure out the ‘how’ and ‘why’ in
the plot, the ending, and how to put everything together.
12. Does
your family support your career as a writer?
Ans: Absolutely. There were times when I had doubts
about my book and wanted to stop, but my husband was solid in his belief in my
work and urged me to go on. My mom, dad, sister, brother and everyone else were
also there for me. My dad and sister nagged me so much so that I had no other
option than to finish it in the end.
13. Sanover
is not just a town in the book. It’s a specific setting. Is it planned? Why you
chose a small town for this?
Answer: I wanted something that would spark off my
story. I live near Rockies in Canada and love the mountain weather. So, I
picked a hill town in Himachal. And I’m a small town girl: born and brought up
in a small town in Punjab. Sanover was an obvious choice.
14. Each
chapter starts with a famous quote. Does it have a relation with contents of
the chapter? If yes what is the theme?
Ans: I used each quote as a sort of foreshadow for the
happenings in the upcoming chapter.
15. Though
it is a whodunit, it does not follow the template of a typical murder mystery.
Usually the mystery is about planting as many red herrings as possible and then
do a magician’s trick in the end. There is more emphasis on developing
characters, situations and it has vivid descriptions. Why this approach for a
mystery?
Answer: There are three parts of a story: plot,
characters, and setting. For me, the characterization is the most important
part of the three. Then follows the setting: if the readers can have sense of
the place where things are happening, they are able to connect with the
happenings in the lives of characters.
16. The
two most complex characters; Dr Rudra and Devika are described in detail and as
the novel progressed it added layer to their persona. Do you have some sympathy
for these two or black/ grey characters are more interesting?
Answer: The black characters are fun to work with:
you can add layers and layers to their personality and it never gets dull.
17. There
are many married couples in the book and barring the exception of, SP
Vishwanath Sharma and his wife, all have troubled marriages. Devika and Rudra
left their spouses. Dr Bhardwaj and Gayatri were together but he is a
philanderer. Why such a grim view of marriage in the book?
Answer: I wouldn’t call it a grim view on
marriage. There are other happy couples except for Sharma and Nandini: Virat
and Neelam and all the secondary characters. As a writer, I feel the darker
aspect of relationships offers endless opportunities to work with.
18. The
policemen in the book are too gentle and well behaved. It is almost imaginary
in Indian context. SP Sharma in particular is too considerate for the feelings
so of others. Is it not an anomaly in India?
Ans: Yes, I did take some fictional liberties. The
major negative characters in the story had to have a lot of darkness to their
persona. I’m an optimist. Creating that much negativity was draining,
emotionally exhausting. SP Sharma had to be someone who represented everything
the villains lacked.
19. The
book has some great insight about human psyche in general and marriage in
particular. Is it conscious or just the way you think and write?
Ans: I don’t think one can write a complete novel
consciously. The setting, the situations are consciously created, but when it
comes to writing about feelings, emotions or people’s psyche, your personal
belief system as a person influence your writing. As a writer, you just cannot
escape that.
20. Is
there some instance in the book from your life? Are there some characters
inspired from real life?
Ans: SP Sharma has some of my husband’s
personality traits and also my dad’s. But when he thinks, he thinks like me. A
few incidents; suicide of the young girl, the divorce situation I took from
real life and gave these a fictional perspective. The readers: Nandini,
Urvashi, mentioned in the story are me again: I’m a die-hard book lover. But
mostly it’s my reading. I’ve known so many people through all the books I have
read: they have influenced my writing.
Blurb of the book:
"A remarkable whodunit that's as sharp as it
is concise." ― Kirkus Reviews
On a drizzly August morning, the inhabitants of the hill town of Sanover,
Himachal Pradesh, wake up to the shocking news of the murder of the exquisite,
secretive, malicious, and thoroughly immoral Devika Singh.
As Superintendent of Police Vishwanath Sharma begins to sift through the hidden
secrets of Devika Singh's life, it becomes evident that everyone who knew her
seems to have a clear-cut motive for killing her.
Faced with the investigation of a crime that appears to have as many suspects
as there are motives, Vishwanath Sharma probes the sinister web spun around a
tangle of lies and deception.
Praise for Tied to Deceit:
"A remarkable whodunit that's as sharp as it is concise.
Brar enhances her taut murder mystery with an engaging setting that effectively
incorporates the local culture. The smart, believable denouement will have
readers looking forward to Brar's next endeavor."
-Kirkus Reviews
"A literary mystery saga that includes far more depth and psychological
and cultural insights than your typical murder mystery's scenario."
-Midwest Book Review
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