Tejaswini Bhatia was editor extraordinaire who found her passion as a literary agent a year after Naina penned her first story. After a string of rejections from well known publishing houses and literary agents, Naina had reached out to an upcoming firm, The Written Word Publishers six years ago, in a last ditch attempt at traditional publishing.
Then a fiction editor at the firm, Tej had responded enthusiastically to Naina’s first manuscript. The two women found common ground as Tej diligently helped shape the story into a bestseller. The success she found with Naina, a first time writer, inspired her to search for new talent, and she thrived in the challenge.
The Written Word soon had an in-house agent and the firm began its ascent to becoming one of the most sought after publishing houses in the country. Tej never let the powers that be forget her value in the business.
Sitting across her best friend, Naina wondered about Tej’s delay in talking about the final chapters of her current novel.
“You got to hand it to him, Nains. Nothing says I love you louder than a library full of books as an anniversary gift.” Tej stared at the wall to wall book shelf lined with First editions, rare manuscripts, classics, and signed copies of Novels by Naina’s favorite authors.
Naina smiled, remembering her feeling of utter amazement as she first laid eyes on the collection. Varun had completely swept her off her feet with his generous and thoughtful gesture. She blushed at how keenly he had observed her reaction to his anniversary surprise.
“Yes, you’ve said it like a thousand times, Tej.”
“Uh huh,” grunted Tej as she walked along the book shelf, sniffing few of them. “Oh the smell! I could live in here.”
Naina laughed. “You can. There’s a comfy couch in the corner.”
“I will,” Tej wagged a finger at her. “Don’t think I won’t. I’ll be old wrinkly and single, and you old coots won’t have a choice but to take me in.”
“You’ll be bat blind too!”
“I need my pretty nose to sniff, hands to touch and feel. Eyes…blah!” She waved her hand, dismissively.
Naina narrowed her eyes. “Had your fill of pretty boys already?”
“Boys! They are all boys! Where are the men, Nains?” the single woman who was a year shy of thirties asked dramatically, her dark kohl lined eyes growing wide.
“One of mine is at work, probably wondering how to say sorry to me.” Naina shrugged. “My other men are all in my books, living their lives…with other women.” She wiggled her brows.
Tej gave a short laugh, wrestled her red-tinged, curly brown hair away from her shoulders and tied it up with a blue scrunchie. Naina felt her stomach drop a few notches as she watched her friend delay the inevitable. Here it comes. She dreaded the moment of truth that her friend laid out after reading her entire manuscript. The nervousness was as palpable as it had been the first time.
“Speaking of…” Tej dragged in a long breath and settled in the seat across from Naina. “I loved it.”
Naina smiled radiantly, but Tej’s faltering smile told a story different from her words. “But…? I sense a big but, Tej.”
Tej pinned her eyes on her firm’s leading author. “I’m afraid there is. The firm is requesting minor tweaks in the story.”
Naina dragged in a sharp breath and slowly let it out. “How minor?”
Minor shouldn’t be a problem, she assured herself.
Tej bit her lower lip and took a few seconds to respond.
“It is minor na, Tej. Tell me it is. Because I’ve never ever seen you look this sorry about having to correct me before.”
“There are a couple of things that could be called major...”
“Like?”
Tej shifted forward in her seat. “Like, you could not make your protagonist sleep outside of marriage.” She winced a bit as she said it.
“Sleep outside of marriage!” Naina threw her head back and let out a derisive laugh. “When did you get all prude on me? Reva didn’t sleep outside her marriage. She fucking cheated on her husband by having an affair with another man. That’s what she did and I’m not backtracking from that just because someone decides to stick their butts to hard moral ground.”
“Whoa Naina. I’m not the only one who is off the rockers today.”
“Sorry,” Naina muttered, sinking back into her seat. She narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Those are not your words – sleep outside of marriage. Pfft. I literally saw you spit them out. Whose are they?”
Tej laughed. “Our elitists – Social and Market outreach team.”
Naina felt her jaw hit the ground in an embarrassing slack. “What?”
“Don’t ask. It’s embarrassing even to admit to such a thing.”
“How does outreach have a say in my story?” Naina tried hard to understand but her brain refused to catch any significance.
“Apparently, they know how the market, as in readers, reacts to a story and yours has certain elements in them that would impact the sales of the book negatively. Trust me, their exact words.”
“I say!” Naina was too shocked to say anything more.
Tej took her friend’s hands in hers and squeezed reassuringly. “We’ll work it out. I had one round of talks with them. That’s why I couldn’t get back to you yesterday.”
Naina nodded. “Is there more?”
“We’ll talk about them later. One step at a time, Nains. I know this is the first ever major revision request for you. Give it some time to sink in.”
“I’m not okay with that, Tej. Reva is my character and she’ll behave the way I want her to. No more discussions on that.”
“I agree, but…there is another minor or major, whichever way you want to look at it, that needs to be addressed.”
Naina stiffened and pulled her hands out of Tej’s assuring touch. “Tell me.”
Tej straightened and sighed. She combed her fingers atop her unruly fringes in an attempt to get them to behave. But, looked like today, they had a mind of their own just like her favorite writer.
“The twist at the end of the story could have been different. Letting her child go, even though it was to provide her a better life with her father, is a soft choice for a woman. It doesn’t go well with Reva’s strong personality. Frankly, I don’t see women relating to that.”
Naina stared at her agent and then slowly shook her head. “It’s a hard choice for a mother who can hardly breathe without her daughter. I think women will relate to that. Reva has to be a strong person to be able to make that kind of a sacrifice. I don’t think I’ve softened the ending with that twist.”
“And how many of your readers are mothers, Nains? They are women first, remember that. You will be alienating a section of them who will not be able to connect with Reva’s choice as a mother over a choice as a strong independent minded woman.”
“You think one has to become a mother to feel like one or to even understand a mother’s choice? You underestimate women’s power to empathize.”
“I still think you should reconsider. That twist is hardly inspiring for women, Naina.”
“I’m not writing to inspire, Tej. I’m just telling a story – Reva’s story.”
“It is acceptable for a first time writer to say that. But you are a popular author, who has four bestsellers to her name. Your opinion matters to women. Your overflowing inbox is proof of that. So quit talking like a loser.”
“Tej, you’re over killing it.”
“Am I?” Tej sprang to her feet, her wild hair escaping the confines of a scrunchie to frame her round face. “The Naina I know wouldn’t just give up. Yes, she would be calm under pressure but she would fight like a tigress in her own dignified way to get what she wants. That ending you call a hard choice doesn’t reflect who you are.”
“It doesn’t have to. It’s Reva’s story, not mine,” Naina refuted calmly.
Tej took a step back and leveled Naina with a compelling stare. “The hell it’s not,” she whispered.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke. Naina was the first one to look away. She stood up, when everything in her being, compelled her to sink back into the couch, away from her friends’ perceptive eyes.
“I’ll think about it. But, no promises,” Naina conceded. She needed to slink away into a quiet corner soon, or she ran the risk of letting her dam break.
“Nains…”
“I said I’ll consider the change, Tej. That’s all I have to say right now.” Naina tried shrugging her shoulders carelessly but the tension in her body made it impossible.
Tej nodded and looped her bag on to her right shoulder. She threw her left arm around Naina’s shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze.
“We got this,” she said, crossing her fingers behind her back.
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