Looking back, Ruchi Kokcha feels content. It was a tough journey, but she feels it was worth traversing it. As her debut novel Obsessed is out, Ruchi is hopeful and believes that all those obstacles on her path prepared her for this proud moment.
“I want people to read my book and accept it,” says the author. Her book, a romantic thriller, narrates the story Avik, an investigative journalist, who is behind a case that would either bring him glory or death. “I didn’t choose the genre. It turned out to be a romantic thriller during the making,” she says.
Ruchi started writing the book in 2011, but she had to wait till 2017 for it to see the light of day. “I completed the first draft in 2012. My friends suggested working on the narrative. I finished the second draft in 2013 and brought out the final draft in 2014,” she recalls the process.
Though she approached publishers, she received no response. She didn’t want to self-publish either. She almost gave up hopes on it. “None of the publishers asked for the manuscript; they didn’t even acknowledge my mail. I thought my book was never going to come out and started writing my second book.”
It was then the lady luck struck her through author Ravinder Singh. “He happened to read my micro poems and fictions on twitter and one day asked me why I am not writing a book. I told him about Obsessed and said I had even sent a mail to his publishing venture. He asked me to resend the synopsis and sample chapters,” she adds.
Ravinder liked her work and mentioned about it during his meeting with the CEO of Harper Collins. “The CEO liked it and asked me to send the manuscript. The project was on.” Ruchi is still surprised about the twist.
A graduate in English literature and a fan of Sylvia Plath, she says, books she read during college had influenced her writing. “It was the characters that first came to my mind.” she signs off.
