From dreamer to writer

BENGALURU: Daughter of actors Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan, Shweta Bachchan-Nanda hardly needs an introduction. She is married to businessman Nikhil Nanda and is the mother of two children. Paradise Towers is her debut novel that focuses on the lives of the residents of an apartment 
building in central Mumbai. 
Excerpts from an interview with City Express: 

What was your trigger for writing Paradise Towers?
I was a dreamer as a child and would live in my own world; 
curious but content to just observe. My book Paradise Towers is the sum total of all that: The places and people I have visited and been fascinatd by through my life.

Have you always seen yourself as a writer?
I never was very ambitious. I never really saw myself in any field, much less being a writer. But here I am.

What inspires you as a writer?
Everyday life is what inspires me the most.

Does your writing draw influence from vernacular books?
I always say I am the sum total of the people I have met, the books I have read and the movies I have watched.

With the digitisation of books, have you moved to reading books onscreen or do you prefer the old-fashioned books?
Oh, I don’t leave home without my Kindle. I also Audible a lot of books.

What is the process you undergo while writing? 
(when do you write, do you follow a particular schedule, how do you deal with writer’s block?) 
I actually don’t have a process. I open my laptop and plug on. The best advice I have gotten for writer’s block is to just write, even if it means writing rubbish. Something will take shape and eventually make 
sense.

How difficult or easy is it to get published? Have you had to modify or change the content of your book for it to get published?
Well, my agents have had to do all the hard work. They are wonderful and have made this process easy for me.

Who’s your first reader? 
And who are your biggest critics?
My mother Jaya Bachchan and my daughter Navya are my first readers. They are also my biggest critics.