Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is Payal Doshi’s stunning #ownvoices middle-grade fantasy debut about understanding complex family dynamics, fighting for what is right, discovering oneself, and learning to make friends. We had the pleasure of chatting with Payal all about her debut, writing, book recommendations, and so much more!
You can find Payal on Instagram and Twitter, as well as at her website.
Hi, Payal! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m Payal Doshi. I was born and raised in the city of Mumbai, India where I lived until I was 27 years old before moving to the U.S. to pursue my MFA in Creative Writing from The New School, NY. Prior to that I studied business management, worked in advertising, then magazine publishing, and only after all that did I realize I was happiest when I was writing stories! I love writing middle grade fantasy books with South Asian protagonists and South Asian inspired settings.
How is your 2021 going in comparison to that other year?
In comparison to that other year, this year is pretty much the same! Both years have been an odd experience for me especially being a debut author. I signed my book deal in January 2020 and ever since then it’s been a rollercoaster of ‘new author’ experiences and moments that I’ve only dreamed about such as my cover reveal, pre-order campaign, reviews from bloggers and industry experts, book ‘buzz’, etc. Juxtaposing those exhilarating moments with the reality of the world and the pandemic around us has been conflicting to say the least. My parents are back in India and so I went through the stress and paranoia of the pandemic twice over—once with the situation in the U.S. and now with India’s second wave. So, yeah, it’s definitely been a year of very high ‘highs’ and some scary and sad ‘lows,’ but I’ve learned to take it day-by-day, enjoying the good times while balancing the not-so-good times.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Hands down, it’s Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery! It was the book that made me fall in love with reading and storytelling. I read it when I was a young middle-schooler and I absolutely adored Anne as a character who was so different from the way ‘girls’ were written about in books. I loved that she was smart, brash, a tomboy, said what was on her mind, and was unapologetically herself.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
Oh, this takes me down memory lane! I was about 9 or 10-years-old and my family and I were going on vacation. I vividly remember the train we were in and that it was a five to six hour train journey and I spent all my time writing Captain Planet fan fiction! I was obsessed with the show and I wrote an episode complete with a villain, scenes, and dialogue. I had no idea I was writing fan fiction, but it was the first time I realized I loved to write and get lost in the world of stories.
Your debut novel Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is your debut novel and it’s out June 15th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Adventure, friendship, siblings, magic, and secrets!
What can readers expect?
Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is a story about Rea Chettri, an introverted but curious girl from Darjeeling, India, who embarks on a thrilling and secret quest as she portals into a magical realm to find her twin brother who goes missing on their twelfth birthday. It’s a mystery full of clues that need unravelling along with magic and evil creatures, a villain and an obstacle-filled quest, a brother and a realm that need saving, dark secrets and betrayal, and at its heart it’s a story that explores the meaning of friendship and family. So, if you’re looking for an exciting story set in a fantastical land filled with magic, whimsy and a life-changing adventure, then this is the book to read!
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
Readers will be surprised to learn that my first draft which I wrote nearly ten years ago, all 70,000 words of it, was written with white characters who lived in the English countryside. It was only when my writing teacher pointed out my lack of Indian characters did I realize how much the books I had read (and loved) growing up had subconsciously trained my mind into thinking that only stories about white kids in western countries were the types of stories people wanted to read. So, ironically, my biggest challenge was to ‘Indianize’ the book without it becoming a book about India or Indian culture alone. I wanted the Indian-ness of the book to be an integral but seamless part of the story, one that played a role in the characters’ personalities and the setting of the book, but not the sole defining part of who they were or what the book was about. I wanted the story and characters to be complex and layered so that all kids could relate to them in the same way that I enjoyed and related to the books I read as kid that primarily featured white characters in western settings. Diverse representation was an incredibly important part of writing this book because it’s time underrepresented kids see themselves in books, see themselves as complex characters, and grow up knowing that their stories are equally important and wonderful.
The other challenge I faced and probably the toughest one that I had to overcome came during my publishing journey when I was querying for two years and had reached the point where I had accepted that my book was not going to find any takers. I was utterly heartbroken, but I eventually found the courage to come up with a new story idea and write an outline. Three days after, I received an offer from my publisher. The lesson I learnt was that I was so focused on selling my first book that it embodied whether I considered myself a success or a failure. And in the glaring light of failure, I realized my passion was writing stories, so if one book didn’t work out, I would try with another and keep going.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
My favorite part to write was Chapter 18: The Sea of Serpent Lilies. It was a scene I knew I wanted to include in the book very early on and it came to me almost fully formed. It’s also a pivotal part of the book – I don’t want to give too much away – but it’s where we see Rea and her friend Leela navigating these deadly magical waters in an attempt to find Rea’s missing twin brother Rohan. The scene gave me the opportunity to show Rea and Leela’s fear and courage in the face of battling the scary serpent lilies while their boat was in danger of being eaten up and them potentially dying! I love writing action scenes and this one had action, drama, a cliffhanger and the first sprinklings of magic! Although this scene went through its fair share of revisions, it remains one of the few scenes that stayed pretty close to its original content. I also thoroughly enjoyed writing the scenes with the villain of the book. Villains are such fun to write especially since they’re not goody-two-shoes and I could really get creative with their backstory and explore why they became who they did.
What do you hope your readers take away from reading Rea and the Blood of the Nectar?
My hope for is young readers from all backgrounds see my book as an exciting fantasy story (not one only meant for South Asian kids) filled with characters that can relate to and hopefully love reading about. And I also hope that South Asian kids feel seen when they read this story, know that their stories and culture deserve to be shared and celebrated, and that they too can be heroes who go on incredible adventures and save realms.
What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
My road to publication was long and winding! I began querying in November 2018. At first, it was great. Most of my queries turned into full manuscript requests. But by mid-December, the rejections started to come in. One of the criticisms I kept hearing was that my book was too long for middle grade. Typically, the word count for middle grade novels is between 50,000-70,000 words while mine was 91,000. I was heartbroken. I had a choice to make: continue querying or pull my book out, edit it down by 20,000 words, and then give it another shot. If I chose to edit the book, I would have to significantly rewrite parts of it since I had to remove one of three POVs. Adding to the daunting prospect of a massive revision, I was pregnant!
As hard as it seemed, I knew it was the right thing to do. During the last two months of my pregnancy, I cut down 23,000 words and rewrote large sections of the book. Once my baby arrived, I sent the manuscript back to my beta readers to see if the new revisions maintained plot, pace, and character growth. After I emerged from that newborn haze of hormones, sleepless nights, and baby cuddles, I dove back into my beta readers’ feedback and by September 2019, I began querying again. Long story short, I signed with my publisher on January 2nd, 2020! My publishing journey ends with the ever-important lesson: No matter how hard it gets, don’t give up.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best advice I’ve received is the one I give to aspiring authors and that is to believe that the story they are telling is important and that no matter how hard it gets to keep writing until they reach that final period. First drafts are notoriously hard to write and are meant to be terrible but it’s much easier to mold a fully written story than to keep revising and perfecting what has been written only to have an incomplete manuscript by the end of it.
The worst writing advice I’ve received is to do long writing sprints. Now, that’s not bad advice at all—it just wasn’t the right advice for me, my writing process, and what I could accommodate in my writing routine. I have a 3-year-old daughter and that basically eliminates any chance for long writing sprints unless I did them at night, which would be impossible for me since I’m creatively checked out after 8PM! I’m not a writer who can churn out a large chunk of words. I’m a ‘take each day as it comes’ kind of writer and I don’t set word goals. I’m thrilled if I get 500 words or 1500 words in day – it’s not about how many words I can write in a session, it’s about trying my best to write every day or as often as I can, which sometimes can be just once or twice a week.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on the sequel to Rea and the Blood of the Nectar which I’m really excited about while plot ideas for two completely different books gleefully brew in my mind! The sequel is planned for a Fall 2022 release and I can tell you that there is a new character with many shades of grey, who I hope readers will enjoy reading about!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Yes! I recommend some of my childhood favorites: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery and the children’s books written by Enid Blyton, namely The Famous Five series and The Magic Faraway Tree, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Recent middle grade books that I’ve really enjoyed are A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat, and many of my fellow debuts’ books namely A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus, Clues to the Universe by Christina Li, Thanks A Lot, Universe by Chad Lucas, and Glitter Gets Everywhere by Yvette Clark. As far as adult fiction goes, I highly recommend The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.
