Durjoy Datta: ‘I write between screaming, dirty diapers and paint being thrown across the room’

Durjoy Datta with his new book, World's Best Girlfriend.

Durjoy Datta was still in the final year of college when his debut novel Of Course I Love You…Till I Find Someone Better, co-written with Maanvi Ahuja became a huge success. That was in 2008 when similar novels from writers like Ravinder Singh and Preeti Shenoy were also being devoured by a sizable new readership sparked by the Chetan Bhagat craze.

A huge part of the appeal of Dutta’s novels were his characters – real-life, relatable, young people traversing the complicated world of relationships, jobs, dating, etc. The underlying thread was always romance with a generous helping of sex. Fifteen years later, Dutta is still widely popular but his characters are now slightly older and grappling with a different set of issues - fertility, single parenting, reincarnation, Twitter trolls, cryptocurrency, crowd-funding, etc. The love story is just incidental.

Dutta, an engineer with an MBA is back with his 20th novel, World’s Best Girlfriend. Edited excerpts from an interview:

You wrote your first book at the age of 21. Now you are 36. How has the writer in you evolved? What are your feelings when you read some of your earliest books?

When I wrote my first book, I hadn’t read enough books. So, my craft, the command over the language was fairly rudimentary. Though I think one of the reasons why my earlier books sold well is because there was a sense of authenticity and honesty about the story telling. But having said that, I can’t go beyond a few pages of those books. To me, they are unreadable, and I want to edit them all. But as I said, if I edit them, I would probably lose the authentic feel of those books that resonated with the readers.

Your book titles are quite cheesy: She Broke Up, I Didn’t, I Just Kissed Someone Else, Till I Find Someone Better, If It’s Not Forever, It’s Not Love. Who picks them?

I used to. I was told by my publisher that these quirky titles work and because I was young and writing was just a side hustle, I was like, who cares, let me put a joke on the cover. But as I have come to realize they are funny just once.

As a writer do you ever suffer from self-doubts? How do you deal with them?

I do. But one of the most effective ways to deal with it is to read a lot and consume a lot of content. Sooner or later, I come to realise that a lot of good writers have written terrible books. So, everyone’s allowed to have bad days, months and years. And that gives me motivation enough to keep writing even it’s not hitting the right notes.

Does it ever bother you when people look down on your books?

It used to weigh down on me really heavily. I would keep thinking – what am I writing, who’s going to read it, when I come to JLF will people look at me and judge me harshly for the kind of books I write? At that point in time I used to lie to myself that I am 22 now. When I am in my mid 30s I am going to be a great writer. But as I grew older I also realised that there is a ceiling to your talent. Some people are great and anything they write is going to be great. Like Hanif Kureishi who had a spinal cord injury and is still writing twitter threads everyday. Every tweet is twice the book I will ever write. So I realise that I will never be that. But I will not deny my achievement that a lot of people who have not been reading books would find my books more readable than Hanif Kureishi’s. They may start with my book, then pick something that’s slightly better written than mine, before eventually getting back to Hanif Kureishi. Then they might come back and say they can’t read Durjoy Dutta any more which is a journey I have gone through a well. I can’t read my own books. I always read something that’s better than what I write. But I am putting that step in the ladder. At the end of it I write because I like to write.

What is your writing process and has it changed over the years?

I started writing in college; so the entire process was chaotic. I used to write between classes, after night-outs, on buses. Then as I grew older, I started regimenting my writing. I would write first thing in the morning and then have another writing session just before bed. But now that I have two kids, it’s back to being chaotic. I write between screaming, dirty diapers and paint being thrown across the room.

Your books are insanely popular. Have you ever analysed why your books work?

I have been told that they work because they are stories about young Indian characters in Indian setting and not a lot of writers are writing for them, so it’s relatable. That might be true, but I also think that they work because the readers find their behaviours, their inner most thoughts, thoughts they might not have shared with anyone reflected in the book. So, maybe.

Your novels are mostly centred around romance. Are you a romantic at heart? What’s the most romantic thing you have ever done?

I would like to think so. Though I am more romantic in my head than in action. It’s the planning that takes the romance out. The most romantic thing would have to be the proposal. For a fairly introvert person that I was, it was a big leap. And it gave me major anxiety when it started trending. (In 2016 Datta proposed to his then girlfriend Avantika on Twitter and asked his sizable Twitter fans to tweet to her and “bully” her into saying ‘yes’).

How has fatherhood changed you? Will we ever see you write a family-oriented book with the father as the central character?

I might write one because it takes up so much time in my life and I have so many thoughts around it. And it has changed me as a person. I think I would still be pretty much the same person as I was when I was 25 had I not had my kids. Handling my kids is probably the only thing I do responsibly.

What are your other passions apart from writing bestsellers?

I like reading a lot. I started with the usual suspects when I was a kid - Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl etc. Then moved to thrillers like John Grisham and eventually to fantasy with Harry Potter and Tolkien. Now I read a mix of everything – fiction, non-fiction, history etc. And I like spending time with my kids and doing the silly stuff with them.

Lastly, do you have any tips for budding writers?

First of all - read a lot. That’s the only way you will know how to be a writer. And no matter how unique you think your idea is, it’s been written before. So you have to read those books to tell your story differently. And please write a lot. Till the time you actually put those words on paper, you will not know how your book is going to flow. And lastly remember that there is a very high chance that your first book is an absolute nonsense. If it gets rejected, junk it and write another one. You will keep getting better.