The Storyteller: Nev March
Hi and welcome to Issue #16 of The Storyteller!
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Today's guest is Nev March whose debut novel, Murder in Old Bombay (published by Minotaur Books, Macmillan in November 2020) won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. Take it away, Nev!
Anu: I’m interested in your journey as a reader and as a writer. I know you left a long career in business analysis in 2015 to throw yourself back into writing, and that you now also teach creative writing at Rutgers-Osher Institute. Could you talk us through how you got to where you are today?
Nev: I’d long dreamed of being a full-time writer, but could not afford to take the time off to learn the skill needed for it. When I was laid off after 22 years in business analysis, I did some serious self-assessment. Life is too short to keep postponing what gives us joy! So, I took some time off to attend to my parents’ medical needs and then turned to writing full time.
Now I balance the different aspects of this writing life: writing, teaching, honing my craft and marketing my first book Murder in Old Bombay. It keeps me energized and focused each day. I also read a wide array of genres and love it!
Anu: Congratulations on winning the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award in 2019 for Murder in Old Bombay. What was the hardest and the most joyful part about writing your first novel?
Nev: The hard part was believing in myself. Even though I had written four historical manuscripts before this mystery, I worried that I didn’t have the skill to pull it off. The scenes were so vivid in my mind, I’d struggle with trying to capture that intensity in words.
Writing the draft was so absorbing—but I worried, what if readers didn’t feel it? It gave me hope when my critique partners were riveted by the chapters and kept demanding more. Sometimes they’d get so caught up and emotional in their remarks, it astonished me. It was such a treat to share it bit by bit, to watch their faces as the story unfolded.
The most joyful part was writing the first draft, living inside the book, with the chapters spooling before my eyes, like a movie that kept repeating until I wrote it down. When I got down a good chapter, I’d be dancing inside for a week!
Anu: Is there anything that surprised you?
Nev: I was surprised at the long lead-time—from the time we signed the contract to getting the book in bookstores was about 18 months. I’m still learning about the publishing and promotion process. The team at MacMillan has been great, coaching me through the different phases of bringing this book out. Their design team was phenomenal—came up with the joyful ‘sunny’ cover and accommodated my requests with great patience. I feel very fortunate.
Anu: What was the writing process like? How do you work with an idea from start to finish? (Does the plot come first or the characters, are you a minute plot planner or prefer to work on it as you go along…)
Nev: I’m a plotter—but my outline is flexible. I write in 5 phases: The concept stage is when I do a lot of journaling as I think about the pieces that caught my interest. They build upon each other, and I imagine characters who can help tell the story. Then I start to build the outline, working through a lot of research books, websites, other novels set in or written in that time, and I rework the outline dozens of times.
In the draft phase I write all the time, working alternately between the outline and the scene I’m writing. I constantly modify the outline as the characters influence the story, and add in more twists and turns to expand it. During revisions and edits, I take multiple passes through the novel to improve various aspects and fix plot holes. I tweak quite a lot—hoping I’ll get better at editing so I don’t keep tweaking future books.
Anu: What does a writing day look like for you?
Nev: After a call or two to India, since that time is evening for my family there, I attend to business, completing essays and promotional commitments, preparing for the classes I teach. Next, I focus on my writing phase--write the draft chapter or revise (which means finding plot holes, sequence problems and how to handle them) or editing (ramping up the language, making it compact). In between I’ll take an hour to catch up with readers on social media, answer texts, or attend webinars on something I want to learn. I break off for dinner, play piano for a bit, or watch TV with the family.
Most days, I return to my PC to complete out something I’m working on before bed. I journal a bit before bed (strange, since I’ve been writing all day!) and capture ideas I want to work on tomorrow. Sometimes I write bit at night as well, just a page or para to catch an elusive thought.
Anu: What was your experience like with finding an agent and then getting the manuscript picked up? Any advice you wish you had had back then whether with that or during the time you were working on the book?
Nev: It was grueling—not just pitching 90 agents, doing it full time for months, but getting rejection after rejection. That was painful. Finally, two agents asked to see the full manuscript and Jill Grosjean, my superstar agent agreed to represent me.
Advice, hmm. Each writer’s journey is so different! Rule number one: Finish the book! If you do the work of learning and using your craft, you will catch an agent’s attention. If the manuscript does not attract an agent, at some point a writer should work on the next piece. Who knows, that could be the one to launch your career!
Anu: Why historical mysteries? What draws you to write the stories that you do? Any obvious inspirations or influences?
Nev: I’m fascinated by history, the people that lived during times of turmoil. Tales of ordinary people attract me the most. Historical mysteries are fascinating because they shed light on how something could have happened, as though we are living it as we read. It brings to life emotions and mistakes and struggles of the time.
I write mysteries because of the hidden aspect—why isn’t the answer or solution apparent? What emotion caused that crisis? With historical mysteries the answer is often embedded in what’s happening in that country at that time. That’s why that story can’t have happened in any other place or time. The setting and the era are very present on each page—impacting aspects of every character.
Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and M. M. Kaye’s Far Pavilions certainly influenced my writing, both in their sweeping landscapes, and the ambitious, haunting stories. Growing up I was deeply impressed with Bapsy Sidhwa’s Cracking India and Raj by Gita Mehta. While you can’t miss the nod to Conan-Doyle in my novel, you may also detect the subtle tribute to Bronte’s Jane Eyre!
Anu: Murder in Old Bombay is based on a true story. Why were you inspired by this particular story? Was it difficult writing something based on a real occurrence? How did you go about the research for it as well as the time period?
Nev: As a child I’d heard of the two Parsi girls who fell from Bombay University clock tower in broad daylight. Though these were officially ruled suicides, we Parsees cited this as a cautionary tale to warn girls of danger in a big city.
When I researched their deaths, some things stood out as odd. First, that they didn’t die at the same time. I had a feeling that if this was suicide, they would have held hands for courage, and jumped together. Second, three things were missing from their bodies. It sent me scouring every account of the case I could find. The end of the 19th century saw women being educated for the first time, so I wondered whether these two privileged girls might be heroes, rather than victims.
Then I learned that the husband of one of the victims, Ardeshir Godrej, later became a famous entrepreneur and inventor. At the time of his wife and sister’s deaths, he was a 22-year-old law student. He never remarried, so I thought he must have been deeply in love with his young bride. How does a young man recover from such a blow? What sort of man would he hire as private detective? At the time, British army officers often retired to take up private employment. So, I invented a lonely young soldier, recovering from injuries and wanting a family of his own.
It was difficult writing about a real case because there were so many aspects of the case I had to discard. I combined three witnesses into one and left out some tangents.
To research the era, I read accounts written during the times, by British administrators, newspapers and Cornelia Sorabji’s adventures as Indian’s first female lawyer working for the “Court of Wards” that administered hundreds of estates and Princely States.
The places in my book are vivid because I lived in many locations mentioned. I even climbed Rajabai Tower where the two women’s deaths occurred. By poring through portraits and records of Victoria Cross, and Medal of Honor recipients I studied the battles and skirmishes of the time.
I knew Indian history well since I grew up there, yet I learned some horrific details about that era in a secret family diary! An ancestor of mine wrote an eyewitness account of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, a book that was a family secret until India’s independence in 1947. I had it translated and used elements of it in my novel.
Anu: How do you approach building characters, settings, and the plotting of the mystery in your stories?
Nev: I start with setting—researching the time and place. From this comes the characters. Some aspects I decide upon in order to facilitate the plot progression—so and so learned how to fire a weapon etc. Other aspects come from nowhere—they just emerge, and once they are part of the character’s psyche, it is near impossible to change them; they’re fully formed!
A lot of the novel is formed while building the outline. My characters tend to drive the plot, although I decide upon a cast of suspects, and work my way through them. Often, I do not know who the real antagonist is, until almost at the end! Then I need to review the entire novel for continuity, looking for missteps but also planting clues and red-herrings. The entire outline must have a strong causality.
Of course, as I begin to write the draft, a lot of this morphs and changes. Scenes emerge, surprise me, deliver abrupt switches to my poor protagonist. The novel grows organically, driven by the characters, while I beg and persuade and wrestle with them to stay on task with my outline. Writing is not gentle work!
Anu: What's in the works going forward?
Nev: I'm working on a sequel set in 1893 Chicago, where twenty-seven million Americans will visit the Columbian Exposition that summer. Captain Jim sets off to investigate a murder at the World's Fair. When he doesn't return, Diana travels into unknown terrain in search of him.
Chicago hosts the first Parliament of World Religions that summer, while at the same time, the World Convention of Anarchists has assembled. What could possibly go wrong? When this pair of young immigrants discovers a possible plot to blow up the World's Fair, the stakes rise--everything they care about is at risk, even each other.
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1. What's the last book(s) that you read that you'd recommend and why?
I’ll give you two: Sue Cox’s Man on the Washing Machine –a reluctant detective with a charming self-effacing sense of humor discovers nasty secrets, after she witnesses a murder. This Agatha Christie like mystery set in San Francisco kept me guessing until the last page.
All the Best Lies by Joanna Shaffhausen was so well paced I could not put it down! It kept building the tension between the characters and the puzzle kept growing as more details came to light—the surprise ending smacked me in the face. I loved it!
2. What's the last TV show or movie you watched that you'd recommend and why?
We binge-watched Breaking Bad, a fairly old show this December. It’s more violent than I usually like but the story is riveting. The twists and turns kept me constantly engaged, and the character’s downward spiral was terrible and fascinating, because he’s both ruthless and rational! It was a character study to learn from. Watching it together meant that my husband and I could argue about plot points and remind each other of the involved histories of the different relationships. Very gnarly plot, with a cracker ending.
3. What's the last song you listened to that you'd recommend and why?
'Sway' by Michael Bublé—it always makes me want to dance!
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Thanks Nev for the lovely chat!
As always, I've included both mine and Nev's social media links below. There are buying links as well, which include links through my own online affiliate shop for Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. I have a separate section on there titled "The Storyteller newsletter" so you can access the relevant buying links for all the authors I've had on here so far.
In Issue #16 heading your way on February 1, we have Prerna Pickett (website), an Indian-born, American-bred author of swoony but heartfelt romance novels.
If you enjoyed this and know someone who would, as well, please forward this to them! I'm also always up for a book (or general) chat so feel free to turn this into a conversation at any time by replying to the email, even if just to let me know your thoughts on an issue or if you have any feedback, but also if you must share with someone how awesome something is that you've recently read, watched, or listened to.
Thank you and until next time!
Anu
Currently reading: Rereading The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Currently watching: This is Us (season 5), Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (season 2), One Tree Hill (season 1 rewatch)
Latest writing: Still waiting on submission responses, while starting some new writing projects (more as and when I can share info), but I recently shared this old travel-personal essay of mine originally published on Litro Online in 2015. It's about favourite books, stories, destiny, and travel and you can read it here.
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