Debaleena and I have been friends for many years now, having bonded on Facebook over a shared love of mystery books especially those of Agatha Christie and Patricia Wentworth. Debaleena has also been very supportive of my writing. For a long while now she has been writing and performing and publishing her own work in the genre of poetry although she also writes short stories.
I first had the pleasure of interviewing Debaleena on this blog back in 2021. You can read that interview here.
A number of years have passed and it seemed only fitting to have a catch-up with Debaleena; I was keen to find out a bit more about her creative process and to share some snippets with you.
Caron: Hi Debaleena, it’s so good to have a catch up – it’s been a while. You’ve shared manyof your peoms and information aobut your books on social media, but how do you go about creating your work?
Debaleena: My creative process is a very cobbled together process. A line or a word capture my attention or captivates my imagination and I pursue it till I have given it a shape or a form however shaky or wobbly it maybe. But it’s a structure. That settles that urge to create the entire poem/ story/ commentary that I had built around it. It is very often a small simple kernel like a fleeting scenery through the window, or a glance at the sky as I am cooking, or a flower that’s bloomed and is now going to wilt. I am very very curious hence I observe people specially strangers. And I weave a life story about them in my head. Sometimes I write rather type something then and there on my phone. I don’t wait for any right time . The time is always right to write.
Caron: I’m very fond of a notebook, and have dozens of them. Do you write in a notebook?
Debaleena: Very rarely. I use a notebook only if I want a very personal journal entry. I make it a point to use a notebook— notes for Shakespeare that I prepare for my students. I do online coaching classes. When I write every detail from every Act and scene, teaching his plays become easy.
Caron: So does that mean you put the words directly into a computer document?
Debaleena: Yes. I open a fresh “page” and label it and directly type the words. But I can’t do the “without looking typing” that many do. However I have become very comfortable with the writing options on documents directly. Maybe it’s because I don’t rely on autocorrect or predictive text. I write as I please without looking at those tools. So my spellings are not an endangered species.
Caron: Do you write a rough draft then work on it and revise it until you’re happy?
Debaleena: Yes. I am firm about the technicality of the writing process. I write without skipping words, correct spellings and grammar as I write. Then I do a thorough heck of spellings, syntax, punctuations. Especially with vocabulary. I do not settle for a word that’s suitable, I hunt for a word that is closest to the description and expression of the emotion, experience and even the object. For example I try not to use the word high for both. mountains and buildings. It’s the character of the subject that the adjective has to describe. Here synonyms with their nuances are needed. I constantly refer to the dictionary, thesaurus when I am dissatisfied with the word I have chosen. And I never take spellings and meanings for granted. Check check and check.
Caron: As a lot of your work is in the form of poetry, do you worry about line length or the number of syllables?
Debaleena: Not if it has not been stipulated or fixed. What I worry about is repetition of the idea using an extensively misleading vocabulary. English has an immense scope of embellishment of the same idea in different ways in the same writing. Ornamentation can become a burden to the theme and the characters.
Caron: How do you feel when you look back at your early work. Do you feel satisfied and grateful, or do you find yourself revising it or tweaking odd bits, or do you find it difficult to read work from an earlier time?
Debaleena: I respond with emotion— I’ll use the word emotion–that of gratitude. Gratitude that I could write this and then discovered the tools with which I could build upon these works. They may read too immature, or pompous, pedantic or too much like a school homework essay, but I feel good that I had overcome the mind block and written it. Then instinctively I work at alterations and tweaking it.
Caron: I completely see what you mean there, that’s been my experience too. And what were your earliest influences?
Debaleena: Reading whatever I could lay my hands on. Enid Blyton to Nancy Drew. Then Little Women; Shirley, Jane Austen’s books. Adventure stories, although I veered towards mystery and detective fiction more: Agatha Christie. Romance of course— I don’t like the phrase diehard romantic. I prefer unapologetically romantic. So Mills & Boon. I discovered Mary Stewart at 14 and it’s my personal enchantment. Much later in life Ellis Peters, Elizabeth Peters, Georgette Heyer. Mystery, and delightful Regency repartee. And of course both our shared interest Patricia Wentworth. I think we could do an exclusive session about her. Thankfully I am never short of books. One series gets over, something new is there. Reading is that domino effect in reverse. Nothing collapses, the tower gets higher
Caron: Yes that’s very true. Reading is addictive! My actual shelves and my eBook shelves are groaning under the weight of them! Then finally, Debaleena, what’s next for you and your amazing poems and short stories?
Debaleena: Thanks for the kind compliment. Right now I am very involved in anthologies that are published both here in India and abroad. I send my poems to whatever publication appeals to me. If accepted I am surprised each time and equally thrilled too. Never ceases to thrill me when my poem/poems or short stories are accepted. That mail from an editor is like a certificate of fulfilment to me. Maybe I will publish another slim volume (slim being the highlight) of poems, postcard fiction, Nano fiction and Drabbles.
Thanks so much, Caron, for sharing your platform with me. Like we had done when my first book had been published. You are my first “writer friend” and always so supportive. Hope we carry on our shared writing stories and our earnest discussions about Patricia Wentworth.
Caron: I’m so very grateful to have you here to find out more about you and your work. Thank you so much.
About Debaleena Mukherjee:
Debaleena is a homemaker, who has also been a teacher and college lecturer over the course of years. She grew up in Jamshedpur and did her schooling at Sacred Heart Convent School, Jamshedpur, and Rajendra Vidyalaya, Jamshedpur. She has a Masters degree and M.Phil in English Literature from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.She lives with her husband in Bangalore, and she has a grown-up daughter. Reading is Debaleena’s way of life. That’s what she is always doing. She enjoys the moonlight-and-roses kind of music. She loves travelling to places from the pages of history books. Haunting bookstores is her pastime. She loves going on shopping expeditions for shoes, bags, and bling. Observing people as they go about their lives, fascinates her. At the end of the day she needs her recliner, her books, and coffee. With some cake.
Debaleena’s social media:
The books:
Ink Smudged Dreams – by the Reading Light
Qwerty and Quiet – by Candlelight
She Achieves (short story collection)
She Seeks (short story collection)