Male authors are often judged for writing romance and, so are women. The notion that only one gender can or cannot write a genre is medieval today. More men are writing love stories, and are proudly owning it. One such author is Ravinder Singh. At the Women’s Writers Fest in Delhi, Founder of SheThePeople, Shaili Chopra was in conversation with author Ravinder Singh about his romantic novels and what prompted him to write about love, loss and romance.
Men Writing Romance In India
In a candid chat, Shaili Chopra asked Singh, "The genre of romance, women are often considered handling it fine outside India. You come to the country you'd notice that it's only men who are writing them. Why do you think that happens?"
Singh expressed, "When I was asked to attend the Women’s Writers Fest I thought why do they need a male author at the forum. This exact question has been going around in the industry. In the States, some of us faced questions like how do romance novels do in India? Who are the prominent authors there? Do women authors like writing romance? And I had never thought of this from a gender perspective. So I was easily surprised when this question was raised why only men are writing romance. And, my counter question was is there a problem if they do?"
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The Story Behind His Books
It was the loss of his fiancee that had originally encouraged the writer to come out with his first book, I Too Had A Love Story. "For me, it happened very casually that I started writing romance. So why did I choose to write this particular genre? It was a catharsis, a medium to grieve. Some tragedies happened in my past that I chose this medium to write about love and loss," said the bestselling author of books like I Too Had a Love Story, Can Love Happen Twice?
"At that time I couldn't believe what was happening to me. The trauma was unbearable. So, I decided that I could bring her back to life in some other way, through my writing. That's when I started reliving the quotient of my love story by penning it down, " said Singh who runs a publishing house called The Black Ink and supports aspiring writers and publish their debut novels.
Tragedies continued to overwhelm him as in an accident, his father lost his leg. Thus, came another novel Will You Still Love Me? He further added, "I needed to share what I was feeling. What worked for me was the readers wanted to know more of me. I thought I am an IT guy, romantic plot isn't really my area. But each year passed by in various literature fests the more and more readers gave me feedback as they wanted something new. The story had to go forward. Plus, I always believed that your second walk into the creative world is whether you have more to offer, if not, just walk off. At that moment, I had some sparks in me which I didn't know of. So that's how it began. However, I would definitely like to experiment with different genres in future."
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Was Romance Always In His Blood?
Singh claimed, "I have been writing romance for a decade now and yes, it took a lot of guts to quit my eight-year-long IT career to become an author. Now, majority of my readers are female. They have often said to me that I am a romantic person. I respectfully reply, no. I am only romantic in my head. So when they approach me, I do tell them 'do not fall for the author but his work'. One has no idea how much time he has spent in crafting that magical world for the readers to believe in that completely."
"I Too Had A Love Story was a bestselling book. Now, why was I able to chronicle my love story so fluently and the readers loved it? The patriarchal society we live in has this nonsensical notion that men can’t be too emotional. But we disagree. Men say they want to cry when they grieve. Men too find it extremely difficult to move on after a tragedy."
I have been writing romance for a decade now and yes, it took a lot of guts to quit my eight-year-long IT career to become an author. Now, majority of my readers are female.
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