Novelist Anuja Chauhan reveals how ad writing helped her become a successful novelist

‘It was hard work,’ says Anuja Chauhan. ‘Very hard work; I was quite like a convict digging a tunnel out of jail with a tin spoon.’

The 47-year-old bestselling Indian author is referring to the time she was juggling her full time job in advertising, her family and writing her first novel The Zoya Factor.

‘It was a very hectic period,’ says the former executive creative director for advertising firm JWT in Delhi. ‘I had three children under 12 at the time, a demanding job, a hectic social life and was writing this book whenever I could find some time.’

She quickly adds that she enjoyed those busy times. ‘I was digging away every day but was very happy doing it. It [writing the book] started off a bit like an experiment but I soon realised I found a lot of joy in writing. It was very liberating because there’s hope. You are digging with a spoon but you finally end up with a creation of yours – a novel,’ she says, via telephone from her home in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.

The Zoya Factor, which revolves partly around the ad world, tells the story of a girl named Zoya Singh, an ad executive, who, as part of her job, meets the Indian cricket team and ends up becoming the team’s lucky charm. ‘Writing it was super exciting. In fact, a lot of my friends wondered if I was having an affair because I had a glow on my face and appeared to be on a high,’ she laughs.

Responsible for several memorable slogans including ‘Yeh Dil Maange More!’, ‘Mera Number Kab Aayega’ and ‘Nothing official about it’ for Pepsi in India, Anuja admits that while writing for ads is ‘great fun and high adrenaline, it can be constricting. There’s a strict brief, budget constraints, strict time schedules… It’s like being in a box; very challenging.’

Penning novels, on the other hand, is totally different. ‘Writing fiction allows you to give free rein to your imagination,’ says the novelist, whose five books – The Zoya Factor, Battle For Bittora, Those Pricey Thakur Girls, The House That BJ Built and Baaz – are top sellers.

Did she enjoy her time in the ad world?

‘Yes, very much,’ she says, without a moment’s pause. ‘Ad writing is very high profile but challenging. It’s a very fruitful job to have; a very good first job. But you shouldn’t stay there all your life,’ says Anuja, with a laugh, while admitting that one can pick up a lot of lessons from ad writing that could be useful when penning a novel.

‘Ad writing is a good training ground for budding authors because you quickly learn how not to bore people. Not many people would stop to watch a commercial on TV. So what you say in those few seconds has to be really interesting. You have to cut out all the boring stuff,’ says the award-winning writer who also featured on an Indian magazine’s list of the 50 most beautiful women in India in 2011.

Another lesson advertising taught her was to look beyond what is just catchy. ‘You need to look beyond the shallow things - to something that is deeper, more insightful; something that will move people and make them want to watch the ad and take some action on it,’ says the author, who has been described as the literary pop star of our times (Vogue India).

‘The ad world also teaches you to develop a thick skin and learn how to take feedback. You might write something that you think is brilliant, but the next day someone might have a different opinion on it.’

Does that mean she has learnt to take criticism well?

‘I’m open to criticism. In fact even as I’m writing a book, I regularly share it with close friends for their feedback. If I’m sure the criticism is coming from a constructive place, I take it; if not, I don’t bother with it,’ she says.

Was she upset when some of her books were termed chick lit?

‘Of late, fewer people are using that term for my books,’ says Anuja, whose The Zoya Factor is going to be made into a movie with Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor in the lead. ‘It doesn’t bother me now because after five books I am clear that my novels are not of a certain kind.’

Labelling and typecasting is common when writers start off in their career, she moans. ‘People try to label you or pigeonhole you; it’s very upsetting. We should not do that to anyone. It’s an extremely stereotypical way of looking at things; like dumbing down a person. And it happens quite often.’

Was she pleased when she was termed the Jane Austen of India?

‘That again is a very lazy comparison,’ she laughs. ‘Someone would read the back of a book and say ‘oh look, this book is about five sisters’, and that is bound to draw parallels with Pride and Prejudice. It just proves that [the person] has read neither Jane Austen nor Anuja Chauhan. It’s not a proper assessment. That’s part of the intellectual laziness.

‘Of course, it’s fabulous to be compared to Jane Austen but I would have felt more flattered if the people who were making the comparison knew what they were talking about.’

Anuja, whose favourite authors include Joseph Heller, PG Wodehouse, Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer, says that the toughest of her five books to write was her fourth one – The House which BJ Built. ‘It was difficult because it was a sequel and I soon realised that I don’t like writing sequels. Certain characters, situations and backgrounds have already been set and I couldn’t deviate much. That was annoying.’

Anuja Chauhan will be interacting with readers at 8pm on Nov 10 at the Sharjah International Book Fair.