Anushka Jindal is best known in the writing community for her book, ‘The Billionaire’s Temporary Wife’. Born in Gujarat, India, she moved to Delhi when she was five years old. Her time is spent working in the IT sector as she is associated with a well-known MNC and creating art.
How long have you been writing?
I have been writing on and off close to 10 years now, if you count all the Essay Writing competitions I have won at school.
It is hard to get noticed in wattpad among the hundreds of books being updated and added daily there. How did you do it and how long did it take for you to find success on the platform?
It was a constant grind for a couple of years atleast. There are some phenomenal writers and some fantastic books on the platform with amazing plots. So, it seemed like a faraway dream that someone will actually take the time and read my book. But it happened. Frankly, I have no idea how it did. I just remember waking up one day and see my Wattpad app going crazy with all the notifications.
You’ve written multiple novels. Where do you get so many ideas from?
Hahaha, there is no fixed process for that. Ideas are like lightening to me. They strike me when I least expect them to. Like the idea of the second part of ‘The Billionaire’s Temporary Wife’ which is named as ‘The Billionaire’s Savior’, came to me when I was chopping some vegetables. You can say I was crying partly because of the onions and partly because I finally knew what to write.
What is your advice to people who are joining Wattpad now and hope to be a successful author on the platform?
As a person whose first language is not English, refining my skills worked a lot. I have heard people stop reading a really good book just because there were some grammar or spelling mistakes. Also, the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover” fails sometimes. The better your cover, the more attractive your book is. I also tried to connect with my readers by asking them small questions and telling something about myself. It worked out great as not only was I able to break the ice, I made some friends as well. Last but not the least, be always open to criticism. Your reader is your greatest friend. They help you realize plot holes you missed, a chapter not making sense, etc.
How was your experience on Dreame?
Dreame was a huge boost to my career/hobby as a writer. It gave me a really good exposure and opportunity. After joining the platform, I had seriously thought about becoming a writer full-time. The Dreame Team is amazing and I had a really nice time with them. I am forever thankful to April for introducing me to it.
What is your novel on Dreame about?
My book, ‘The Billionaire’s Temporary Wife’ was selected to be a part of Dreame. It’s a feel-good romance novel. I am a big fan of two people finding love from friendship so that is what the book follows, mixed in a little spice and danger. The book was originally going to have a The Fault In Our Stars ending of one of the main characters dying. I was actually threatened at knife-point by one of my best friends to let go of the idea.
How has the response been?
Two words. Phenomenal and unexpected. And I am so grateful for it. I consider myself to be an amateur writer so it blows my mind when someone comments or votes or even reaches out to me on social media to tell me I am doing a good job.
Why do you think readers like your works?
It’s like asking why people like Disney. Is it because of the animations? The dresses? Maybe. But it’s the plot that relates with us the most. Somewhere, we are all looking for a good ending to our stories and I guess that is why people like mine.
What else have you written?
Wattpad and Dreame are the two main platforms where I have written, but I plan to I have written some short stories for the official magazines for my mother and my father’s company.
How did you balance writing and studying and now writing and working?
School time was really something else. Would you believe if I told you that in class 11th and 12th, my phone and laptop were confiscated so I could focus more on my studies and not get distracted? I used to steal my mom’s phone from under her pillow at night and write a chapter on it in the notes section. She had this really old Nokia, you know where to type ‘S’, you had to click four times. I used to stay up till almost three in the morning to write something.
Currently also, I don’t think there is any balance per se. With this work from home scenario, we have been asked to put in extra hours. So, after staring at the screen for 10+ hours a day, there just comes a time that you just want to shut off your laptop and do something else. My weekly update schedule has really taken a hit from this.
Now, I just try to write a paragraph or two per day just to reach my personal goal of publishing a chapter every two weeks.
What do you think of the online publishing overall? Will we see you publish any of your stories outside the online world?
It is true that online publishing has many benefits. More exposure, easier, cost effective and one of my favorites: you can edit it as many times as you want. If I wanted to, I can still turn my book from a romance to a horror. But with all that, I still find charm in getting a hard copy publishing done. As a writer, it is a dream that one day I will be able to hold my book and trail my fingers over my name. I am really aiming for self-publishing at a later date, but for now, I am content with online publishing.
How many more works can we expect in the future?
Many. I try to write the books I haven’t read, and I have many, many ideas in my mind. I have been trying a lot of different genres as I am still trying to find my niche, but I aim to finish my ongoing book by the year’s end and start a fantasy one which has been on my mind since the last couple of years.