“Young Adult fiction readers and writers are very vocal about what they want. That rubs some people the wrong way”: Tanvi Berwah | Books and Literature News,The Indian Express

Debut novelist Tanvi Berwah, out now with her fantasy-dystopia Monsters Born and Made, on the stigma against Young Adult fiction, and how the real world intrudes on her stories

“I started with plagiarising Harry Potter and Eragon in my teens and then moved on to writing original stories,” she says with a laugh. “It sounds clichéd but I have wanted to be a writer forever. My whole life has been building up to it,” she adds.

The cliche can be forgiven, though, given the lifelong ambition fuelling it. It is that ambition that has led her to a story very unlike the ones she heard on that rooftop or those she respun in her teens: a 352-page saga of marine beasts, gladiatorial contests, casteist societies, and spunky teenagers. Monsters Born and Made (Rs 799, Sourcebooks Fire), released in September, is Berwah’s first published novel (and her fourth overall) after 10 years of trying to break into the industry. Featuring Koral, a 16-year-old indentured hand from a lower caste, who has to undertake the dangerous task of capturing Maristags (oceanic creatures used by the ruling classes in deadly chariot races), the story draws inspiration from books such as The Hunger Games and Fable and movies like Gladiator and Ben-Hur.

“I have been a Hunger Games stan since it came out in 2008,” says Berwah, adding, “I didn’t set out to actively use [the concept of gladiatorial contests] but all my previous books were second-world fantasies (set in non-Earth worlds). So, in 2018, when I got this idea of an island surrounded by monsters in the sea, I thought maybe I should try writing that. They always say you should write what you want to read.”

And ‘they’ gave good advice. Berwah was soon selected for a mentorship programme, Pitch Wars, that connected writers to editors, manuscript workshops, and an agent showcase. Things were going well. The story transformed massively from the first drafts to the last, having nothing in common except the protagonist’s name and the creatures she hunted. And then, the pandemic struck.

Everything got delayed. The expected timeline of the book’s release was inflated. It ultimately did come out, but in a bleak world that had lost a lot of its people. “[After the pandemic] some people need literature that is heavy, like Monsters Born and Made, to excavate those feelings, others need lighter stuff,” she says. She asserts that the dismissal of Young Adult (YA) fiction — “which is not a genre, but a marketing category” — as lowbrow literature is a way for privileged groups to keep other groups from telling their stories. “YA readers and writers are very vocal about what they want, and that rubs some people the wrong way. What YA readers want is literature that reflects themselves – I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If you’re calling them stupid, you’re calling your own future readership stupid,” she says.

https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/young-adult-fiction-readers-and-writers-are-very-vocal-about-what-they-want-that-rubs-some-people-the-wrong-way-tanvi-berwah-8261344/


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