NIKITA SINGH

(Letters to My Ex, Every Time It Rains, Like a Love Song)

Not forcing sex

My books are about relationships between people, romantic and otherwise. And sex is a part of romantic relationships, so it is sometimes vital to include in the story in order to provide a 360 degree view of the characters. But I don’t try to force it into a book if it doesn’t fit. For example, in Every Time It Rains, the main character was a victim of abuse in the past, and her new relationship wasn’t at the point of physical intimacy when the book ended, so there was no sex in that book. I didn’t try to force a scene somewhere to sell more copies. Same with my upcoming novel, The Reason Is You.

Sensual vs. vulgar

The line between sensual and vulgar is not thin at all, so it doesn’t require active thought from me to ensure my work doesn’t read vulgar. I think vulgarity is on the opposite end of the spectrum, it takes a lot of tastelessness for a piece of writing to be seen as crude or obnoxious.

Looking down on romance

I chose a profession in which my work is seen by more people than just my boss or my team, so when those many eyes inspect every word that I write, there is bound to be difference in opinion. That said, I appreciate feedback on my work, but I don’t entertain preconceived notions about genre or an author or a book, which is to say — if someone reads my work and comments on it, I’ll pay it more attention than someone who hasn’t read a word but has strong opinions that are completely baseless. There is a difference between critics and haters and I have learned to recognise that.