Thursday, February 23, 2017

Anita Ray's Future

I’ve posted before about the end of the Five Star Mystery Line, but it seems there’s more to say. When something comes to an end, I tend to say, “Okay, I’m done with that,” and move on. I often think I’ll have trouble letting go, but in the end I don’t. It’s something in my DNA. And yet I do have trouble thinking I’ll never write or publish another novel featuring Anita Ray. But that’s not the lingering question.

When I began writing the Anita Ray stories, I created a character who emerged in part in relation to her scatty Auntie Meena and the other denizens of Hotel Delite. The stories were about the world of this hotel as well as the main characters. Anita and her Auntie remained static in the sense that they didn’t really age. In each book, Anita might be a month older, or even younger. It didn’t matter. The only concrete comment about her age was that she was closer to thirty than twenty and she was still unmarried. Unmarried! At her age. A scandal. And a gnawing shame for Auntie Meena. That was the premise at the beginning. But now?
 
With the prospect of working on a series set adrift from any official publisher, I seem to find specific aspects of the set-up also drifting. I could continue the series by heading in a different direction. Anita could marry and move into the hillside. I fell in love with Munnar and tea plantations on an earlier visit, and I can easily imagine Anita living there. Or, she could return to the United States to visit her parents. (This is the opportunity that least appeals to me, but I mention it to be complete.) Or perhaps she opens a gallery in Trivandrum and lives there, away from Hotel Delite. But I’d miss Auntie Meena and Ravi and Moonu and all the others.

I’m thinking about this now because today I had lunch with four other women and we talked aboutIndia and our travels. One woman had lived in Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, parts of Africa, as well as the US. One grew up in Northern India. The lunch was special for another reason. One cooked an amazingly delicious lunch of Indian dishes, another brought copies of CDs of her son’s music (he plays the sitar), the hostess shared her home and a couple of books, another brought a book on knitting and a dessert of fresh fruit, and I brought the four Anita Ray books to give away.

I love writing the Anita Ray books, and I love exploring ideas for them even more. As I type this I can feel possible scenarios developing. I enjoy having her four novels out there in the world, and a few more short stories scheduled to appear soon. For now that will have to be enough. But I know I’ll figure out something and Anita Ray will continue to have adventures and solve crimes.

To find the Anita Ray mysteries, go here.


12 comments:

  1. I feel your pain, Susan. I thought my Daisy books were belly-up in the goldfish bowl of publishing, and that nearly broke my heart. Fortunately, I found another outlet for them, and I hope you do the same for Anita and Auntie Meena. They're great characters, and you make India a character in the books, too. I love them and hope you are able to write many more of them.

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  2. Thank you for this, Alice. I felt like I was whining but the feelings are true so I thought I'd put them out there. I figure we all go through these things and I might as well say so. Thank you for the vote of confidence. I'm so glad your Daisy books are still with us. (And I love that "belly-up in the goldfish bowl of publishing." That's why you're popular--because of gems like that. It made me laugh.)

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  3. Susan,

    I agree with Alice. It's a shame to give up on a quality series. Perhaps another publisher will be interested. I have the same problem with the Kim Reynolds mystery series. There are four novels and likely won't be another. But I have special love for this series too.

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    1. I enjoyed your Kim Reynolds series, so I'm sorry to hear there won't be another book. It's interesting how attached we become to our characters; Anita is very real to me. Thanks for commenting.

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  4. I hope Anita does find another direction and you another publishing home, Susan. The books are a breath of fresh and exotic air for me and I always look forward to the next one.

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    1. Thanks, Edith. When I began writing about Anita there were few mysteries set in India, and now there are probably a dozen or more. Still, I hope I'll figure out a way to give Anita a future.

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  5. It's easier to think we'll give up writing than actually do it LOL!
    Good luck and God's blessings
    PamT

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    1. Very true, Pam. I'm struggling with the idea of never writing another Anita Ray novel. I can't imagine giving up writing itself. Never! Thanks for commenting.

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  6. Well, I for one look forward to more of Anita Ray, Susan - perhaps in another incarnation! Such a unique protagonist. The setting and the characters glow with your love of India, which I fully understand. I know you'll write many more stories and mysteries and I suspect you'll have a hard time notincluding the charming Anita Ray and her ditzy Aunt Meena.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, Marian. I have one more Anita Ray short story coming out in Alfred Hitchcock, sometime in the future. And yes, it will be hard not to write more about Anita and Auntie Meena.

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  7. I, of course, have always had a soft spot for Goa. Perhaps we could have my Rosaria O'Reilly meet Anita Ray in Goa. It would give me an excuse to go back!

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    1. That's a pretty fun idea, Marian. You and I both know that it's hard to not return to India once we've fallen in love with the place. And since I haven't been to Goa, now I'll have another reason to visit there.

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