Indie Support Sunday: Chahak Kawatra

Feb 1
9 min read

Chahak Kawatra was introduced to stories by her grandparents—mythical Indian stories at that—and then encouraged to write when her grandfather gifted her a journal. Knowing how much of an impact grandparents have on us as readers and writers is always such a beautiful thing. And writing from the journal evolved into Wattpad stories and even fanfiction (high five!) before Chahak discovered the wonderful world of self-publishing after she joined bookstagram a few years ago.

And if you’ve ever wondered whether romance is a calling or a choice, just know that Chahak’s name means “a lover” in her native Punjabi and she was meant to do this with her life! Her debut series features cricket and Formula One (and is closed door), but her upcoming book is her first venture into more spicy/open door content.

Chahak’s books are available now in Kindle Unlimited and you can preorder Terms & Benefits, a marriage of convenience second chance romance that releases February 14th!

BEING AN AUTHOR

Who or what inspired you to write?

For as long as I can remember, stories have been a big part of my life. As a kid, my grandmothers were the source, and mythical tales my lifelines. That love took a turn for the better when a family guest brought me my very own collection of Indian Mythologies as a gift, and from then on, I was obsessed!

Every spare minute I had, I spent reading. When my granddad gifted me my first journal, that love quickly transformed into writing and at the age of ten, I wrote my first short story that I went on to submit to be published in my school newspaper, and slowly started my own my blog, and once my world opened up to One Direction, Wattpad and fanfiction… let’s just say that I haven’t looked back since!

What’s the best and worst part about being an indie author?

The best and the worst part for me is that I have complete control. On one hand, I have complete creative control and freedom with everything, and as a control freak, I absolutely love it. But as a perfectionist, I hate it. There will always be a way to make everything better; it’s like walking on a slackline, and holding your breath with each movement, because a strong wind can make you wobble and eventually make you hate something you’ve spent months working on.

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?

When I joined bookstagram in 2020, I had absolutely no idea that self-publishing was an option, but slowly, as I got introduced to the indie authors, I just knew it was the route for me. I had written books on Wattpad before, and I knew how it felt to completely “own” my work, and that was something incredibly important to me. Plus, the control of it all made the choice a no-brainer!

When you’re not writing, what do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

It depends on the stage of writing I am in! Listening to music or playing my Ukulele helps me the most when I’m plotting a book. Reading or taking a walk helps me when I’m in writer’s block. Watching a documentary around the sub-plot of my books also helps detach from my own world and get my creative inspiration back!

If you were to recommend books to me (in any genre), what would they be?

Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington, The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel, Addicted x Calloway Sister Series by Krista and Becca Ritchie, The Natural Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Favor by Suzzane Wright, and The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce.

What are your top 5 tips or pieces of advice for aspiring authors?

Write. Write. Write! Be it 50 words a day or 5,000; writing is how you make it happen.
Your timing, setting or intention doesn’t have to be planned. Write when you feel like it! Make notes on your phone, scramble ideas on a piece of paper, record voice notes and do a brain dump before that idea runs out. You can make it pretty later.
No one has or will ever write a story the way you can. Even if you think it’s been done before, write it your way, and put it out there. You will be that something that makes it unique.
Write every book for yourself, and have fun with it! The more expectations you tie to it, the more likely you are to resent the process.
Have a friend who is not part of the writing world whom you can talk to. Writing can be a lonely process, and sometimes having someone with no ties to the world can be a refresher and a reset button you are looking for!

ROMANCE AS A GENRE

Why did you choose romance as the genre to write in? What is your favorite thing about the genre?

I love love. I always have! I was maybe twelve or thirteen when I first read my first fanfiction, and when I tell you, my world changed–I mean it! (LOL). Plus, considering the meaning of my name, which is “A Lover” in Punjabi (my roots), I also feel it’s quite on-brand for me. 🤭

My favourite thing is that because our brains have a hard time separating fiction from reality (because they both use the same neural pathways), as a writer, you have a chance to make someone feel something. And when given a choice, I’d always pick love, because you can never have enough of it!

If not romance/subgenres of romance, what genre would you like to write in?

Suspense/Fantasy. But, as I said, I love love, so I’ve naturally found a way to work into my two WIPs, making them Romantic Suspense and Mystical Romance, respectively.

What are your most and least favorite tropes?

Most Favourite: Brother’s Best friend and Enemies to Lovers! Least: Accidental Pregnancy and Damsel in Distress.

What are some tropes you want to write in the future?

PCOS rep, Chronic Pain rep, and Big Fat Indian Weddings!

What are some topics (sensitive and otherwise) that you think should exist more in romance?

Age gap romances where she is the older one; women CEO’s and those in strong leadership positions; books featuring chronic illness, and other disabilities; stories that show and celebrate BIPOC and queer characters. These are all topics that I plan to write in my own stories, but we can never have enough!

If you write open door romance, why did you choose that and what inspires your sex scenes?

My upcoming release is an open-door romance! It was something that felt right to their story, the dynamic they shared together and something I was able to use to show their character arc together.

If you write closed door romance, why did you choose that and what are your favorite ways to build tension between the characters?

However, my series Pitch & Pits is a closed-door romance series. It wasn’t necessarily a choice, but again, something that felt right. Once I start writing a book, it takes me maybe three to four chapters before my characters completely take over my brain and start writing, and when the moment came, it felt natural to write them as fade-to-black instead of continuing.

I also believe that with each book, I grow more confident as a writer and am more willing to take creative risks. Before this series—therefore, my debut—I only wrote open-door scenes in WIPs that never made it past my eyes.

Also, there are still many layers involved in rewiring my thinking and unlearning the norms I was taught growing up, about writing and reading spicy scenes. Ultimately, though, I want readers to read about diverse characters being intimate too. That they are wanted, needed, and loved. So, I’m slowly working towards making it happen!

YOUR BOOKS

What inspired your published stories? How and when did you come up with these stories and plots?

For my Pitch & Pits series—I combined my love for cricket & Formula One to create something uniquely mine, with the kind of love stories I’ve always wanted to read.

And as I built this universe for my characters and explored it, the more ideas I had. When I started writing Game On, Love, I had an idea I just couldn’t get out of my head, but there was no way to work it into my story, so I started a new draft, and after taking inspiration from my own life and the crazy experiences I had at university, and a single what if I’ve always had, and turned it into something special. (Terms & Benefits)

And like any writer, I started exploring the backstories of my side characters, and when I wrote my first draft of T&B, created a girl group, and to make it more fun, I decided to explore one of the side characters’ lives, and I loved her! So, I took my own tragic experiences in dating and her inner monologue and wrote a novella. (LOL)

The fun thing, and unfortunate thing, about having my brain is that I have ideas popping constantly. I have over 50 voice recordings and countless notes that are filled with ideas I’ve had. Sometimes, they pop up just seconds before I’m about to fall asleep, and sometimes it’s me stuck in traffic and my brain coming up with ideas to entertain myself with scenarios. When something goes from a simple idea to a word vomit until I suddenly have a backstory and a plot, I pick it up from there and make it happen!

Can you briefly tell me about your books?

Pitch & Pits is a cricket x Formula One sports romance series that follows the Patel siblings across the first three books, with their best friend taking centre stage in book four. Each story is packed with banter, big emotions, drama, and so much love. The series not only celebrates strong female characters but also highlights women thriving in STEM and sports.

Bad Date Chronicles is a rom-com novella that follows Arabella, a financial strategist analyst who loves reading, loves love, and has unfortunate luck when it comes to her dating life. Her story follows a hilariously chaotic journey as she goes out on dates and ultimately falls for the grumpy Michelin-star chef she managed to piss off the very first night they met.

Terms & Benefits is an interconnected standalone to BDC, following Arabella’s best friend, Elina, after she lands in a major mess when she discovers her business partner has conned her. With her company on the line, her only option is to accept help from her first love, who proposes a marriage of convenience that could save them both and secretly offer a second chance at everything they’d lost seven years ago.

Do you already have a favorite character from the stories you’ve written?

Right now, it’s probably Rihaan Patel from my series Pitch & Pits. I’m currently at the stage where I’m drafting his book, and as his story unfolds, I seem to completely fall in love with him every day!

If you were to cast your book for a movie/television show, who would you cast in the lead roles?

Let’s do this for Terms & Benefits. I’d probably pick Theo James as Daniel Wrexleigh and Geraldine Viswanathan as Elina Singh.

Karen Gillan for Cara and Andrew Garefield for Noah.

For Arabella, I’d love to see Gemma Chan and for Elijah, maybe Brandon Sklenar! (He’ll have to perfect the French-British accent before shooting begins, though!)

How much of yourself do you put into these characters?

Each of my characters has pieces of me, as they’re born with an experience or an attribute of mine, but none of them are completely based on me.

What is a story/stories that you really want to tell?

I’m really excited for my second series (which was actually supposed to be my debut series). It’s a series I’ve been working on since the end of 2022, and I cannot wait for it to come out next year!

Is there one common element that readers can find in all your stories?

All my stories are set in the UK, and are filled with drama, emotion, family and love! A fun aspect in each book is that you get to visit my fictional bookish café called Tales & Lattes at least once. It’s the fictional version of a place I’ve always dreamed of opening, and till the time it becomes a reality (if it ever does), it gets to live on in my books forever.

What’s next on the bookshelf for you? Anything you can tell us about a future project?

Once my contemporary romance—Terms & Benefits is a marriage of convenience x second chance romance comes out on 14th February.

My plan is to revisit the world of Pitch & Pits, and finally share Rihaan’s story with the readers. He’s one of the first characters introduced in the first book, the middle child and the one who has the toughest ARC in the entire series. Writing his character has been a difficult journey, but if there’s one character in my world who deserves to be shown love: it’s him.

Dream On, Liar is an enemies to lovers, following a cricketer and a sports physiotherapist—who by the way, is also the coach's daughter 😏 My hope is to release it this Spring, with more details following soon!

When you write these stories, what are you hoping your readers will feel?

I want them to feel all the emotions! The family drama that follows these characters, the fun they all create together and the love they have for each other. I hope that when readers pick up any of my books, they get lost in the story and just experience the world in a different way with my characters!