Last week I had the pleasure of attending an authors talk and book signing in Cambridge, held by the Cambridge Public Library. I met and heard @thealkajoshi, the author of the The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris discuss her latest book, Six Days in Bombay.

During the discussion she described her writing process. While doing research for new books, she creates story boards filled with pictures, scraps of fabric, maps and her own personal memories of visits to the places she is writing about. She scowers the internet for pictures of ppl who look like the images in her head of her characters. A picture of Emma Thompson in a nursing cap for example became her Sona. Additionally Alka spoke about how she wants to be able to describe with great detail, the sights and sounds the readers would experience if "in" her books. The potholes in the road for example, that Sona would navigate with her bike, between the hospital and her home each night. The houses and buildings she would pass; the smells emanating from the bakery that would be open starting to prepare their wares. She spends weeks and maybe months travelling. Walking the streets, riding on bikes, and sitting in taxies making notes of all she sees, smells and experiences; to better be able to best describe and fully emerse the readers in the settings of her characters.

Once she has all her research done and story boards created she sets off to write in her office, her bedroom! No fancy desk she writes best in her bed, computer on her lap, propped up with pillows and cushions all around her, her dog by her side. Each new book requires two new pairs of her favorite pajamas, her uniform, (she did mention where she purchases them but I've forgotten). If she attends a yoga class first thing in the morning, she is a devout yogi, she has a quick shower after arriving home, puts on her "writing uniform" and climbs into bed to work.

All Alka's books include very strong female characters. From Lakshmi and her sister Radha through the Jaipur Trilogy, to Mira and Sona in Six Days in Bombay, Alka spoke about how her female characters are based on her mother and the strength she remembers and witnessed in her. While her women often have limited options at times, and those are discussed at length in each book, they find avenues in which to advance, gain strength and proceed with their individual missions and contributions to the world they find themselves in.

Having now met the author of these four great novels I have a new appreciation and understanding for both her characters, and the place strong females have in the worlds she creates. Alka's mission in writing is to support women who refuse to be silent

Have you read any of her books? If you've read her latest, Six Days in Bombay, let us know what you thought.

@thealkajoshi

Happy Reading!