Aasiyah Qamar & Nolwynn Ardennes

A little bump is about to cause a lot of ripples

The story behind SiaSG came to me during a chat with one of my best gal pals. I was complaining about my kids, and my friend said kids really knew how to brew a tempest in a teacup. That was still not appropriate in my opinion, and I replied, more like they can stir up a storm in a shot glass!

The words stayed with me for many days. I kept thinking, that would make a great book title (not being pompous here, okay!). From this point on, it was, what story could I tag with this?

The answer was obvious - the story needed a child in it. Now, stories with children have been done and overdone. I had myself just penned down a story where children were strongly featured (Light My World). It got me further into thinking, and then the lightbulb moment came - what's the one thing that involves a child but which has the biggest impact on a woman? Pregnancy. So there I had it - the story would be about a pregnancy.

It was also a story I wanted to write without the cultural slant of my other pen name (Why? Because pregnancy is supposed to happen only in mariage in the culture world, and I didn't want to take on anyone by rocking the boat just yet!). So, I switched to Nolwynn Ardennes and another thing imposed itself immediately - the setting would be London, a place that's forever gonna stay in my heart.

Entered the brainstorming and characterization stage. Pregnancy and maximum impact = unplanned, accidental, unexpected. The more unexpected, the better! Now who would be more affected by such news? Obvious - a woman whose life resembled the inside of a shot glass since there is no room to move in there. It would be nice to brew a storm in such closed confines. Pitch her against a hero who would stir up even more havoc, and I had my game plan.

Jane Smithers came to life this way. A quiet, self-effacing girl whose life was akin to a shot glass. Simply no room for anything. Who'd be the man who would tip the scales then? Entered Michael Rinaldi.

There's something about the name Michael that has most women swooning. Don't ask me what it is, I have no idea, yet I know it's a fact. Rinaldi is a name I always wanted to use, so there he got paired with that name. Had to give him an Italian lineage too, and I did. I now needed a twist - and the question that popped up was, who is Michael? The baby's father? Or is he someone Jane has never met before? The second option sounded more tempting, and I went with it. How does she meet him then? Bridging the gap, and that's when Michael's Italian ancestry came into play - his father will be Jane's boss. But, a big but here, the father and son are estranged!

I'm sure you can now see how much a game of "let's make things more complicated for these two' the drafting of this story was! Originally, the story started strictly through Jane's POV, in a twist on the chick-lit. But Michael was too strong a hero (yes, an overbearing, charismatic and utterly-charming-when-he-wants-to Italian!). He too wanted his say, and the hero has no say in the chick-lit, right? Swift turn, and the story became a contemporary romance where both protagonists would get the equal spotlight.

I started actively writing then, and I think this book will remain as one of the stories I had most fun writing. The need to complicate matters runs throughout the plot, and it was a joyride all the way!

But it wasn't simply about fun - it was also about stronger, deeper issues. What's a woman to do when faced with an unexpected pregnancy? How does she come to grips with the need to become a single parent? What impact will this unborn child have on her life?

This also brought forth the notion that more and more women nowadays prefer to bring up their child alone. What's the role of the father in there? What even defines a father nowadays? Can a man love another man's child as his own? How does this whole situation affect him?

Jane and Michael face those issues in the story, and against a barrage of complications that Fate keeps sending their way, how will they find their footing in the shifting sands of their changing reality? When you are resolutely modern and are going about your life in cosmopolitan London, how do you adjust to unexpected changes that will completely annihilate the life you've known till now?

Set amidst the backdrop of glittering and posh London scenes, SiaSG takes place in the heart of The City, the financial district of London, where Jane works, and the upscale residential areas of Chelsea and Belgravia in West London, and Hampstead in North-Western London. Canary Wharf, the newly developed East End docks is also showcased as the place where Michael has his law chambers in. The Old set versus the New - Canary Wharf is the new financial and business area that is in open rivalry with The City, where the Old set is said to remain cloistered in their ways of times past. You can see some pictures of London on this page, the first an iconic image of the place, followed by the towers of Canary Wharf and the Chelsea Bridge.

The theme song that provided the background for much of the characters' emotional drive is 'Bleeding Love' by Leona Lewis. At first, it reminded me a lot of Jane, especially after I delved a lot into her backstory during the writing of the first draft. But then I also realized the emotions could apply to Michael too, drawing a sort of parallel between the lonely existence of these two people that Fate brings together unexpectedly.

All thanks to a little bump!