Sandhya Menon’s heroines are badasses. They splash cold coffee over obnoxious boys (When Dimple Met Rishi), produce genderswapped retellings of Dracula (From Twinkle, With Love), rescue raccoons and go on protests (10 Things I Hate About Pinky). They often inhabit spaces dominated by men—as coders, app developers, filmmakers and entrepreneurs. “I don’t want to tell sixteen-year-olds that love is all you need,” Menon announces on our Zoom call. The YA romance novelist is at her Colorado home, clad in a black turtleneck, sitting in front of a wall sporting framed covers of her bestselling novels. Menon believes romance can provide “medicine in a sugar pill” and weaves meatier themes—mental health, mother-daughter relationships, class differences— into her novels. And now she’s moving on to writing for adults.
THE WRITE MOVE
Before she became a full-time writer, Menon was a therapist and dealt with adolescents. So writing romcoms for young adults came to her almost organically, but not without her share of trial and error. Ten years ago, she was self-publishing under a pen name. “I wrote everything under the sun, even dystopian fiction,” she laughs. This was good practice to find her “voice” and the rest she says is “kismet”.
Denne historien er fra February 2021-utgaven av VOGUE India.
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Denne historien er fra February 2021-utgaven av VOGUE India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Breathe In, Breathe Out
A powerful tool to help you master your nervous system or another biohacking buzzword? SIMONE DHONDY explores the inhalations and exhalations of breathwork
Red Pill, Blue Pill
India's nutraceutical industry is booming thanks to advanced technology, distrust of the medical system and rising vanity. With multivitamins becoming purer and more effective, NIDHI GUPTA finds out if supplements have become the new serum
Sign of the times
No longer do you need to have an answer to, \"What is the significance of this?\" when people point to your new tattoo. ARMAN KHAN discovers that everything is on the table when you get inked temporarily
Return to form
Watching the world's most elite athletes deliver the best performances of their careers rekindled SONAKSHI SHARMA's own love for sports
Dimple, All Day
YOU MAY HAVE WATCHED HER ON THE BIG SCREEN FOR OVER FIVE DECADES, BUT DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT YOU KNOW DIMPLE KAPADIA.
MUSIC, TAKE CONTROL
As someone who had always sought safety in numbers, ALIZA FATMA often wondered what her own company would feel like. The answer arrived unexpectedly when she attended her first-ever music festival, one of the largest in the world, all alone
Let it grow
When we think of hardworking farmers toiling in India's scorching heat, we often think of men, the sweat on their brow, the sinews in their arms. JYOTI KUMARI speaks to four women who are championing the invisible female labour that keeps these fields running
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
When armless archer Sheetal Devi set her sights on the Paralympic Games this year, she knew she had a tough journey ahead of her. Luckily, her mother was with her every step of the way.
Beauty and the feast
The appeal of Indian weddings has always been in a sprawling spread. For additional bragging rights, Aditi Dugar recommends going beyond designer tablecloths and monogrammed napkins.
Sweet serendipity
From a scavenger hunt-inspired proposal to a Moroccan-themed baraat, Malvika Raj and Armaan Rai's love story prioritised playfulness throughout their blended celebrations.
