Author Interview: Sarwat Chadda author of Devil's Kiss

Sarwat Chadda, author Devil's Kiss, managed to fit time into his busy schedule to answer a few of my questions.

Devil's Kiss is reviewed here. It is Sarwat's debut novel, and was out early May. More information on Sarwat can be found on his website, where there are link's to his blog.

There's a minefield of information there, all very informative. I picked 5 questions which I really wanted to know the answer for. A huge thank you to Sarwat for answering these so thoroughly. I'm sure you'll be as fascinated with the answers as I was.

On your blog you mentioned Billi is the reluctant warrior. This is especially true when she gives up (temporarily) her role as a Templar Knight. At any point in writing this Devil's Kiss did you envisage Billi staying outside the Templar circle forever? It was a path I thought of as I read the book. Life could have been rather interesting with her helping out the Templars, even though she was an outsider. Also would you agree that writing is like being a Templar Knight? That although a person may decide to leave, circumstance/their muse prevents them from doing so because writing is as essential as breathing?

Sarwat: Err, I don’t want to give the game away but the path of a Templar is not a straight and narrow one. We’ll find out that most of the knights have chosen their profession as a kind of last resort. In Devil’s Kiss it’s very apparent that Arthur is an emotionally damaged man who’s never recovered from the death of his wife, Jamila.

Billi’s not like them. They were all volunteers and are driven by some need for revenge against the Unholy. You could argue (and I would) Billi’s attitude is far more balanced and her eyes are open to what the Templars do, and that their ambitions border on being evil. Billi, out of all of them, has the courage to leave. There is duty and then there’s blind obedience to a cause or dogma.

Writing requires dedication and isn’t something to be dabbled in. One of the key reasons I think people with talent don’t make it is they see their writing as a ‘hobby that pays’ or allow themselves to hedge their bets and not pursue it with naked ambition. I’m not saying they should get all arty or arrogant but they should take it as seriously as they would their career. Actually I took it far more seriously than my career. I think if there’s any connection to my style of story and what’s happened in my writing career, it’s the ‘all or nothing’ attitude to it. I’m not saying that’s a particularly sensible and I do realise breathing is MORE important than writing. One can lose perspective on these things.

What struck me once I'd read Devil's Kiss was the theme of protection. Billi is part of a group that protects the world. Her father keeps her at emotional arm's length throughout her life to protect her. Kay also protects her. It could be said that all this protection shows the love Arthur has for Billi. Did she receive the protection because she was female? His daughter? Or for other reasons (including combination of the two)?

Interesting because I agree with you regard to the theme, but feel Arthur fails to protect his daughter. Let’s face it, Arthur is a crap parent. In fact I’d be tempted to use a word stronger than crap.

If anything Billi protects her dad, both literally when she saves him from the ghuls and emotionally. Despite his coldness and rigidity, she clearly loves him and what she does is for him. If he wasn’t so messed up he would never have trained her as a Templar.

However, what parent is perfect? No parent has any real idea what they’re doing when they have children, we don’t get given any real guidance beyond lots of conflicting advice from friends, our own parents and Dr. Stoppard. We’re making it up as we go along. There are things I regret as a parent and in a small way this new career is part of my ambition to become a slightly better one.

After Devil's Kiss' sequel, The Dark Goddess, is out, you're currently working on a completely new story, The Age of Kali (with a male protagonist). You've mentioned that there could be more room for further stories starring Billi. Would you ever consider writing a story concerning her parents, and their time in the Templars, especially when Billi came into their life as a child? Parenting (so I'm told) is a full time job. Add trying to keep the world safe to must be pretty tricky for her parents to juggle alongside looking after Billi.

I think that’s a very valid point, and the answer’s pretty big. Who would be the main character? Arthur or Jamila? Both offer a fascinating viewpoint to the world they live in. I certainly would think about it if it was of interest but I suppose for me it would be to give the legacy justice. Billi is a very unique character and her parents backstory would need to be as unique.

Often, at least in the books I've read, writers have a pasttime which is related to the content of the book. For example those who fight (swords/bow and arrows/hand-to-hand) have taken it up as a hobby. There's a fine array of weaponry in Devil's Kiss. Have you got a background in weapons or fighting techniques? Or has it all been imagination and research? By research I include watching tv/movies with relevant combat scenes.

My fighting experience is non-existent.

I’ve done a lot of studying of weapons and reading about warriors. The Wallace Collection behind Bond Street has the most amazing array of exotic weaponry and it’s well worth having a visit, if you can. I’ve also spoken to people who do re-enactments and tried the weight of armour and swords. Mainly it’s reading historical accounts about and by warriors from the Middle Ages and earlier.

Plus I’ve read and re-read the Iliad. It’s almost 3000 years old but it’s an amazing resource. It’s about the glory, madness and evil of warfare. Hector and Achilles are two perfectly diametrically-opposed warriors. Hector fights reluctantly, but can himself be consumed by bloodlust and the sense of invincibility. But his first duty is to the city. Achilles fights for no reason other than he can. He’s the best and it’s a waste of his life not to take life. That irony amazes me and for that alone I think Homer is untouchable as a storyteller.

Billi’s character has these two souls fighting it out. Duty to a greater ideal (the Hector soul), and the fact she is just terribly good at war (the Achilles soul). Part of her reluctance is she knows that she could be seduced by it.

Action in novels must be about the emotion, it can’t be based on the physical mechanics because that’s predominantly visual and looses much of its power in the written medium. What novels do best is dwell on the internal world of the protagonist. Especially in life and death struggles.

Fighting is not primarily about skill, it’s about what’s at stake.

Final question: lets imagine that the Templar Knights in Devil's Kiss existed today. How would you react if you discovered one of your daughter's was preparing to face her Ordeal. Would you encourage her to become a knight? Or would you lock her up in her room and throw away the key (figuratively speaking).

There’s absolutely no way I’d let any child of mine be a Templar. Of course, if she was the sort of girl the Templars wanted, she could so totally kick my arse that I probably couldn’t stop her!

The Ordeal is something quite different. Lots of groups have initiation tests, all descended from warrior rites in ancient societies. Wouldn’t it be interesting to be tested, on an emotional, physical and moral level? The Ordeal is to find out what sort of person you truly are. For the Templars it’s more than being a fighter, but one who’s able to combine judgement, compassion and decisiveness.