![]() So that’s between 5,000 and 10,000 copies of each of her books,” he says. “And we at Arunothayam publish between five and 15 editions of each of her novels. According to her publisher SM Arunachalam, each of her novels has a print run of 1,000 per edition. Modern romance novels are represented by the current bestselling author in the Tamil language, Ramanichandran. I believe in happy endings,” says Ramani. “I believe we see enough sorrow and controversy in real life, why take it into fiction. And there’s never any terminal illness, tragedy of any kind, religious or caste conflict in her books. My female characters are always strong,” she says. “That’s like my social message for women who are reading my books. “But I can tell you that judging by the number of women buying these romance novels, it is a big market.” It’s the reason Ramani makes sure that every one of her female protagonists has a mind of her own. “I read just the tidbits and listen to her plots,” he admits, sheepishly. He says his favourite book by Ramani is ‘Shanthini’ but she insists that is because it’s the only one he has read. He runs a bookstore in the neighbourhood, which stocks only “family stories” written by 33 women writers, including his wife. It’s 1pm, and like clockwork, Ramani’s husband Balachandran walks through the door for lunch. ![]() ![]() “I don’t want the ideas to be even in my subconscious mind,” she says. “These are the three universal themes when it comes to romance, so why digress? I just change the situations,” she says.Īll her characters are inspired by people she sees around her, and to make sure her creativity is at its honest best, she does not read other romance novels or watch Tamil serials. In fact, in the last 35 years and 140 novels, Ramani’s plot lines have followed one of three themes or “concepts ” as she calls them - boy meets girl, love triangle, or the problems of married couples. “It was a light romance, you know the usual, boy meets girl, then there’s a misunderstanding and they finally come together,” says Ramani. That’s how I started writing short stories for the magazine,” says Ramani, whose first book ‘Jodi Puratkal’ was published soon after. “He read some of the letters I wrote to my sister and said I had a good style. Ramani was discovered in the early 1970s by her brother-in-law A Ma Sami, who happened to be editor of a Tamil magazine called ‘Rani’. She got her grandchildren to teach her how to use the computer when she was diagnosed with a trigger finger that crippled her ability to hold a pen to paper and write. From magazines to newspapers, novels to short stories, kids school stuff to. I keep going till 1 am,” says the 72-year-old author. “But by 11pm, when everyone is finally asleep, I start writing. At 1 pm, her world comes to a standstill as she waits eagerly for her husband to come home for lunch, afternoons are for napping, evening again for meeting friends and housework. Crack of dawn is all about morning walks, pujas and cooking before noon.
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