Husband-wife writing team, debutant author Jai Krishnamurthy and author of several books Krishna Udaysankar, have penned a new contemporary fiction together titled 'Farside', which was published by Penguin eBury Press in November 2021. 'Farside' is a gripping thriller that makes one question-- "Do we really know the people that are close to us? Because like the farside of the moon, everyone has a face that has never been seen."
Jai Krishnamurthy is an ex-finance professional turned full-time writer. On the other hand, Krishna Udaysankar has published nine books so far, including the 'Aryavarta Chronicle', '3', 'Object of Affection', 'Beast' among others.
In a candid chat with us, the life partners-turned-co-authors talk about their experience of working together, the challenges and tips for writing a good thriller, their favorite authors, and more. Excerpts from the interview:
1. Krishna and Jai, from being life partners to co-authors, how has the experience of writing a book together been for you?
It's been quite difficult, actually, because our genres are very different. So while the outcome is good, the whole process is pretty tough and can lead to fights! Recently, we were discussing some other book and we came to a point where we said 'We won't write a book together again' (laughs).
Krishna: In fact, people think we are joking when we say this but, I swear, we contemplated divorce a couple of times while writing 'Farside' (jokes). While working together, you think 'Do I even know this person? They think so differently'. But I guess working together has made our relationship better, hopefully, and we probably will write together.
2. Was there a farside of each other you discovered while writing this book?
Yes. For a creative process like this one, we realized: 'Wow! We are both so short-tempered or argumentative'. We also realized that there is persistence and creativity in our process. We both saw the best and worst of each other during this process.
Jai: She (mostly) writes fantasy fiction. I was amazed to discover that she has a different rationale when it comes to fantasy and when it comes to real life.
3. Whose idea was this story?
Jai: The idea was mine. This plot was finalized even before Krishna went on to be a published author. So I have been kind of seeking help (from her) to write a book. I pitched various plots, and this one she was happy with, and so we then started working together on the book. She wrote the entire book. My story would have had some loopholes, otherwise. She gave meaning to the characters, while I'm a plot person.
Krishna: Jai came up with the idea sometime in 2008, but we actually started working on it in 2019. And since then it has been 1 to 1.5 years of working on it.
4. What according to you are the ingredients of a good thriller?
Krishna: Plots are integral to a thriller. They are the reason the story moves ahead, you want to know what happens next. But characters are the reason why you start caring for what happens next. You need a good mix of both-- you need a solid plot, you also need interesting characters to carry forward that plot. Then the story itself becomes riveting and you want to know how it all ends.
Jai: I think these days it is very challenging to keep the reader absorbed. I myself feel my attention span has come down significantly from the first time I started reading. The audience has also matured over the years-- they are aware of the simple plots and they can easily guess. As a writer, you have to be a few steps ahead of the reader.
5. Any writing tips you would like to share?
Krishna: Tips are difficult since everyone has their own way of writing. I always say the best advice I can give you is to ignore all advice.
For thrillers, as Jai said, it is important to treat your audience as intelligent. So from making them feel "oh, I didn't see that coming" you also don't have to make them feel ambushed that "Where did that come from?"/ Earlier you could do that but not any more as your audience is reading and watching a lot more crime thrillers now and they are aware of various plots. And that is true for any book one writes.
6. Krishna, you have written books in various genres-- fantasy, fiction, thrillers, short stories, poetry, etc. Which is the toughest genre and the easiest genre for you to write and why?
Toughest is poetry. I always dreamt of writing poetry and I've done it now. As a reader and viewer, I like fantasy and sci-fi genres. But while writing the genre doesn't matter to me.
7. Who are your favorite authors of all time?
Agatha Christie, the Nordic thriller writers, John Grisham's legal thrillers, Paula Hawkins, Sarah Waters-- these authors have written some of my favorite books.
Krishna: My favorite authors are from sci-fi and fantasy fiction genres. I like the works of Neil Gaiman, Isaac Asimov-- I grew up on his works and they were my first foray into the sci-fi genre and Martha Wells.
8. As authors, do you think stories have the power to change us? And do you try to do that through your writings?
I think it would be too ambitious to claim one changes people through stories. At best it changes oneself.
At the end of the day, stories are an escape from the reality around us. I feel, in a book the writer is doing 50 percent of the job and the other 50 is done by the reader on how they visualize it, connect with it or take away from the story.
Jai: I would like to disagree. I feel some people have conveyed thought-provoking ideas through stories like Ayn Rand and George Orwell. I do not claim to convey a message (through my stories), but I feel books can really revolutionize the thought process and bring a change.
9. What are you working on next?
My upcoming book is a thriller again, a murder mystery, which I'm co-authoring with another writer. It deals with the topic of psychiatry and mental illness. I have dealt with depression and mental illness in my personal life. We kind of make a statement that chemicals play a very important role in your personality. It also touches upon drug testing in India... Krishna is working on the screenplay for its audio-visual adaptation.
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