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Dr Sonia Sharma #Indian/Fiction/AFTERLIFE/The BATTLE Ahead #article 370
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About the Author
Dr. Sonia Sharma
Discovering unexpected passions can transform our lives in profound ways. For 23 years, I pursued my childhood dream of becoming a doctor, only to realize that a piece of me remained unfulfilled. But when I delved into writing, everything changed. As an Indian author, I found my voice in contemporary and fantasy fiction, venturing into the realm of romance with an Amazon Kindle Direct debut. It's more than just another facet of myself—it's my true calling, intertwining with the person I've always been. Dive into my world of words and explore the journey of a writer, where every twist and turn leads to self-discovery. #IndianAuthor #FictionWriter #RomanceAuthor #AmazonKindle #Article370 #JammuAndKashmir
My writing roots
In the hustle of science classes and entrance exam prep, literature seemed like a distant thought. But as a teen, I scribbled a few verses, unaware of the writer within me. Fast forward to adulting—my days were filled with medical jargon, clinic notes, and parenting duties. Yet, as I helped my kids with their essays, a spark reignited. As my youngest filled out college forms, I faced the inevitable question: What next? Thus began my journey of self-discovery through writing.
From fleeting ideas to full-fledged stories, I penned down my thoughts, birthing romance and contemporary fiction. With each word, I carved my niche among the luminaries of Indian authors. The thrill of publishing my debut, "Afterlife," a captivating blend of fantasy and romance, followed by "Imperfect Lives," a compelling collection of short stories, was incomparable. The journey shortly followed with three more of Afterlife series and the story of Srishti, my protagonist who reflected her insecurities and strengths flipping the pages of social impact stories forgotten in the clauses of ARTICLE 370. My research about the history of my state of J&K was a revelation to me too.
Becoming an Indian author, particularly in romantic fiction, fulfilled a longing within me—an indulgence in Me-Time that I cherished. I still do. Join me on this literary adventure as we explore the depths of love, life, and everything in between. #RomanceAuthor #IndianAuthor #ContemporaryFiction #FantasyFiction #Afterlife #ImperfectLives #Love #Article370 #JammuAndKashmir
My style
In my blog, and now "Letters from Her", as an Indian Author, I can get experimental with my writing on a social or political issue. But, as a contemporary fiction writer or a fantasy fiction writer, I enjoy the narrative powered with a descriptive style of writing, especially when I'm authoring romance books #love or a novel that's fiction defined or a non-fictional. Otherwise, it's just the mood at that very moment. #Indian author/ #contemporary fiction writer/ #fantasy fiction writer/ #love novel writer #article 370 #j&k
Author Interview about 'The Battle ahead...?'
Can you tell something about yourself?
I’m a Cosmetic Dentist and an Implantologist as far as my professional training goes. But there is a pleasant diversion I took when I realized I could pen down more than a few lines or couplets that I wrote close to three decades earlier. Busy with my professional obligations and family responsibilities, the creative streak lay hidden for years until the day I brushed it off and started giving words to my thoughts. Trust me; it was an onslaught of emotions that paraphrased themselves into a plot, energized each character with life and before I knew it, I’d written my first novel; ‘AFTERLIFE’, the 1st of the four books of Afterlife series. Then came a book titled ‘IMPERFECT LIVES – A Collection of Short Stories’. The work that’s really close to my heart is the book titled ‘THE BATTLE AHEAD…?’, a story about Article 370, published by Invincible Publishers.
But it’s definitely work in progress. Life gives you challenges and you evolve accordingly.
How is your book different than others?
Every book that’s written so far has one thing in common; you need the complete attention of its readers. It’s the plot that varies, the quality of the language that writer writes might vary and above all, how predictable the plot is. “The Battle Ahead…?’ is an amalgamation of fiction and historical narrative that is passed down the generations since the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India. The book looks into the social impact of now abbrogated Article 370 that was accorded to the State of J & K unceremoniously. The story encompasses the agony of a young woman who refuses to be treated as a second class citizen in her own place of birth. It highlights the plight of the people living dangerously close to an active international border and Line of Control. It briefly peeks into the disenchantment of the West Pakistan Refugees and the displaced Kashmiri Pundit community. Above all, it shakes the collective conscious of a civil society that let an authoritative regime abandon and put to exile, the mighty Maharaja, who had continued to keep a religiously diverse and a strategically important Kingdom intact for a Century; something that took less than three months for a Nation as vast as India to loose forty percent of its territory. These things aren’t spoken out outrightly and if they are, they are only in biographies that many don’t find intersesting to read. I barely gave a context to the subject in a more reader friendly genre.
Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
Regarding ‘The Battle Ahead…?’, that wasn’t difficult since I, myself is a product of the same indifference being born in the State of J & K. Well, it didn’t matter earlier because I was married to one of the residents of the state. It didn’t change anything for me. But living outside of the state for over a decade now, seeing my daughter attain adulthood, it struck me, if she would be able to have the same rights as I do, in the State she was born at, if she were to marry outside. Now, that was something thought provoking. It isn’t so much about the inheritance; it is more about the dignity of the women for why they must be treated any different. That’s how the story came along.
About the ‘AFTERLIFE’ Series, they are out and out romance/relationship sagas, about the need to have the next level of maturity in our relationships that we need in our country today. With the cases of divorce, single-parenting and mental health issues increasing, its about time, we looked into the dynamics of our relationships differently, with a more proactive approach.
‘IMPERFECT LIVES’ is a collection of ten short stories about the need to accept people like they are without being judgemental about their lives.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?
There are one too many. While writing ‘The Battle Ahead…?’ when I was doing my research about the history of the conflict in the state of J & K, the most startling fact was that much of our history that we’ve known through our text books suffers from significant ommisions. But with information on your fingertips, now we can pretty much get to know different versions of the same narrative. It’s about time, the historians, who are supposed to be the custodians of a Civilization’s Social, Cultural and Political Heritage did a fair job at reactifying the gaping holes in our history
What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
It’s erratic. I possibly can’t have a disciplined appoach towards writing because I actively pursue my Clinical engagements. Writing fits in in-between whenever I can make time. Besides, writing has come at a time in my career when I was most busy juggling my professional commitments, my family duties, my children’s most demanding career years. If I look back, I feel, writing was my answer to the fatigue I felt towards making everybody’s life easier around me; be it my family or my patients. It was a rebellious act to steal some time to do something that had nothing to do with anyone else but me. It definatly has given a different perspective, a different pursuit to my life and I’m glad, I took the initiative to write those first few words, hesitatingly though.
· What do you think makes a good story?
A story that’s told from your heart. A narrative that plays in your head like a movie and touches your soul. The words when read evoke some kind of emotion in you. The plot that is less than predictable. An uninterrupted flow of events. These things sum up as a good read for me.
· What is your writing process like?
Since I’m not a student of literature, I didn’t even know, there’s a process in writing. Writing had always come naturally to me because for me it spelt just about penning down my thoughts. It’s very recently when after I published my books and interacted with fellow authors, editors or interviewers, I realized, there was something known as writing process. I tried finding mine but I guess there’s no definate name for it. You can call it spontaneous or maybe stray, where I leave my characters out there to follow what they want to, howsoever they like. It’s like a movie playing in my head where my characters converse with themselves, ask questions, find their way, meet new people, create parallel diversions in the story which weren’t predecided. So I guess, I’ll call it more of a Wandering style or like I said Stray or for a literally profound term, Spontaneous. These might not be the styles which are discussed or studied in the field of literature but I believe in creating my own path, my very own distinct style.
What advice do you have for writers?
I’m too new in the field of writing that my advice might not matter but yeah, for answering the question, I can fairly say that while writing, one must follow one’s heart. If you’re telling a story, it’s your story and it should come from what you believe and not about what the set rules are. When you read your story, it should talk back to you. If the humour in your story doesn’t make your lips stretch for a smile, if a sad or an unpleasant event doesn’t bring tears to your eyes even if you are revising it for the tenth time; you would wanna improve upon it. Especially in Fiction writing, the Emotional Quotient (EQ) is the most fundamental of the requirements.
How did this story occur to you?
Being from the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and knowing what the implications of Article 370 were, it wasn’t a story. It was a lifestyle of the people born there. It was a matter of entitlement for some and matter of prejudice for the others. Social inequalities have always existed in every society but there has always been concerted efforts made to crease these inequalities out from time to time. My book titled ‘The Battle ahead…?’is a small step in unsurfacing and bringing those grievances out in the open for the society to take corrective steps. It’s just a small initiative in voicing my opinion about it and now that with the changed equations in the administrative side of the State, it seems like work in progress.
What is the book all about?
It’s nothing but a story told through the perspective of a young girl, who is oblivious to the inequality in her system till she faces the music of it, after coming to a marrigable age. I can give you the context by the way of a dialogue in the book. ‘She'd heard about the families, which objected to their children marrying by choice for the reasons of faith, caste or social status but some damned Act of Constitution, this was a first.’ Now this is what a young, educated girl or a person will think in the given circumstances. This is all the story of Srishti, the daughter of a martyr is all about as she goes from being an uninformed teenager to a woman to reckon with. This is story of strength of a girl who took against the system trying to fight the inequality instead of taking a safe flight out of the system while she could. This is the story of the forgotten tales of Jammu and Kashmir which weren’t written down in history books but are only passed on from one generation to another. This is the Story of Jammu, the less spoken about Step-sister of Kashmir.