It is impossible for me to convey what my novel is about in a few paragraphs, as you will very quickly surmise (especially since this is still a work in progress), so below are links to posts I have written condensing my research on Project 1984 into bite size pieces of what I deem useful for my novel, and the actual process of writing fiction in the context of this project. Feel free to drop me a line or make a comment to let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions!

Project 1984 Writing Process

Background on my Unnamed Novel:
My novel is set in 2001 New York City and Fresno, California, and tells the story of Malkit Singh Randhava and his American born son, Jasdeep “Jazz.” The events of 9/11 and 1984 obviously impact the characters in significant ways, but the heart of the dual narrative story is the father-son relationship, exploring what it means to be “American,” the tenacity of the human spirit, and a meditation on the core of the “human experience.” But don’t worry, it is a quick meditation. It’s funny too. And there’s hip-hop and bhangra involved. Can’t go wrong with any book with a premise involving bhangra and hip-hop. There’s also Bollywood songs, but only to mock them. 

And now, some context:

1984:

Victims of the Delhi Pogroms in 1984

My novel uses 1984 in India and 9/11 in the U.S. as backdrops to explore larger issues. Before you ask, no it is not in reference to George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984,”   although the similarities are eerie. Two major events took place this year in India: 1) Operation BlueStar. Lead by General K.S. Brar, the Indian Army attacked the Golden Temple in June, 1984 with tanks and machine guns, killing countless innocent pilgrims, including women and children. 2) In November, 1984, in retaliation, Indira Gandhi’s two Sikh bodyguards shot her to death, sparking what is commonly referred to as the “Delhi riots” where 3000 Sikhs were murdered, and countless women were widowed. The attacks were carried out by professional thugs bussed in from other areas by congress leaders like Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, and Sikh households in Delhi were found using voter registration lists provided by these congress leaders. The violence was very systematic: Sikh men had their turbans removed and tied behind their backs, their hair and beards ripped off, kerosene poured over them, a truck tire placed around their necks, and then set on fire. The women were all raped. To this day, not a single person has been charged with any crime.

9/11

Osama bin Laden

Days after 9/11, a constant flashing of a bearded and turbanned Osama, gave a face to the evil perpetrated on American soil. Anyone brown was attacked in an act of “patriotism.” Inevitably, on September 15, a Sikh man named Balbir Sodhi, was shot five times in the back and killed for looking like a terrorist (none of the 19 hijackers, ironically, had turbans or beards). When brown people, especially Sikhs, were told to “go home,” it brought about how complex the issue was: where is “home” to a Sikh man who left India because their sense of “home” was shattered and came to the United States to put down new roots? Or to someone who has never known any other place as home?

The research on both 9/11 and 1984 has been very difficult to come by because both of these things were so under-reported. The research on the backlash on 9/11 was mostly taken from newsgroups I happened to be a part of during 9/11, and research on 1984 is extremely difficult because there was only one news station owned by the government, so they had complete control over public thought. There are very few books written on the subject (and a dearth of quality fiction) that offer any new information or insights. The arguments are tired, same ole, same ole, making Bhindranwala the hero, villain, or mere puppet in this tragic political farce. And the human element is dismissed entirely. It becomes reduced to a Sikh-Hindu issue, with elaborate conspiracy theories involving “foreign elements” (pakistan). I have spent years gathering information, collecting books, interviewing people (including family members willing to talk about it), and watched countless hours of video footage.

Telling Stories
Now comes the hard part: telling the story. I have drawn many lessons from fiction of other traumatic events, such as the Holocaust, and have particularly been impressed with the depth in the graphic novel Maus and Maus II. Creating believable, and entertaining storylines and characters, that are steeped in real history is very complicated. Because it is a balancing act between completing making things up, and rewriting history. The question, which has plagued many a historical fiction writer and writer of creative non-fiction,has become: is the truth more important, or is the story? I’m finding that sifting through research was incredibly exhausting, but it was easy, relatively speaking, because the research, whether good, bad, one-sided, rambling, confusing, etc., had all been done. I just had to make sense of it. The most difficult part of writing, is just that – writing.