Week #25: Slightly Burnt, a work in progress

I’m staring at a contract on my desk right now. Which means, pending a couple of signatures, my new book will be on its way to be being primped and prepped for publication. Titled Slightly Burnt, it is a young adult novel and my first completely, fully non-fantasy work. There isn’t even a whiff of a ghost in it.

Sixteen-year-olds Komal and Sahil have been best friends since they were five—they even share the same birthday. So when Komal realizes that Sahil has a secret, something he hasn’t told her, she is quite miffed. To make things worse, she suspects she knows what it might be, and if it’s true, it’s going to complicate her life and their friendship. When Sahil finally works up the courage to tell her, it rocks her world.

The title of the book is a metaphor for the fact that life isn’t perfect. In fact, it is pretty much guaranteed to singe you around the edges sooner or later. Maybe that’s what makes it all normal anyway. “Slightly Burnt” is also the (admittedly quirky) name of the food blog that Komal starts, a combination, as she says, of her two favourite things, baking and building websites.

It’s going to be much smaller tome than my other YA stuff, mainly because I didn’t need to do any world building. However, it was still interestingly complex to write, the reason being, that since it’s told in the first person by Komal, I had to be aware of the hints that I was putting out there that she herself was ignoring, deliberately or otherwise.

‘Nuff said. Stay tuned for a teaser/preview when the text is finalized.

~PD