Warning: It is an unedited version.
(Also, if you are here without reading the book, I would tell you to come back here after finishing it because there are major spoilers in this part)
ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTERS:
If you’ve read Crushship, you must have noticed I haven’t introduced Garv in the first four chapters. During the initial days of Crushship, many assumed Geetanjali was me. Academically, yes. But my entire personality doesn’t resemble her. To avoid many upcoming misconceptions, I decided to create a male version of myself in the form of Garv.
Garv and I share 60% of similarities that include love for chai, fear of blood and injection, acting dumb during serious situations, not-so-funny comebacks/talks and much more.
Avantika is inspired by my sister. Two years back, my sister told me that she would love to see me writing a character similar to her. So, while deciding side characters, I made up my mind to split my sister’s personality into two- one as Avantika (boss lady, courageous, sorted) and another as Kavya (goofy, sunshine, the soul of the house).
NAMING THE CHARACTERS:
The name Avantika is actually my sister’s favourite. She has recommended this name to several cousins to name their daughter but they dismissed it saying ‘ye koi naam hua bhala?’ So, I decided to use it for the character inspired by her.
And for Garv, basically I posted a story on instagram to recommend a name by listing down his few features and I got around 15-20 responses, including Garv. Since, it is suited with the surname Chauhan. I finalized to name Dhruv’s best friend as Garv.
THE ROMANTIC CRIME:
Back in August 2023, readers shipped Garv and Anaya as a couple. But, it was a random dialogue that paved the way for Avantika being paired with Garv. (Chapter 6 of Crushship, where Garv announced his future family with Dhruv on the banks of Jal mahal.)
Initially, I planned to make a college with Professor X Student and Enemies to Lovers trope, where Garv was supposed to be the guide of Avantika for her PhD in biotechnology. (It’s clearly mentioned in the character’s intro that Garv dropped his PhD to pursue a career in the music industry.) It was an old school rom com with no major plot twists except a light hearted drama where professor Garv’s crush enters his life as his student, based in Bengaluru.
But, I dropped the plan because I don’t want to stick myself into the same form of stories. I changed my plan to a Singer X investigation officer, shifting the entire setup to Mumbai, along with murder case of a music director.
As they say ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, the plot went through several changes. If we look into the first plot of TRC, it had zero suspense. The case ends in the first five chapters, followed by their love story, engagement, wedding and misunderstandings creating a rift between them, then as usual they sort out and happy ending.
Then, the realisation hits! It sounded like an Indian drama to me. So, I decided to extend the murder case till the end of the book, removing the misunderstanding phase because I wanted to portray them as a couple who believes in Communication is the key.
That’s how I made a rough plan for this book.
The name The Romantic Crime was actually suggested by xeronsane. She suggested The Crime of Love too but I chose TRC because that suited the entire plot. I don’t know how many have noticed it, but all the sisters’ books have a word starting with C in the title. That word actually is the starting point of their love story.
Crime- Murder case ( Iykyk)
THE ADOPTION :
Avantika’s medical condition turned out to be the most asked question. Basically, I knew that if they get married in the middle of the book, the readers will certainly demand pregnancy. The only difference between Garv and I is the kids. I hate toddlers and he loves them. Tbh, I hate pregnancy tropes and that’s the reason I avoid adding it in my books. (It’s my personal preference.)
And secondly, I wanted to write a sports romance with cousins rivalry. Instead of creating new characters and new series, I decided to use the idea in the second generation. To avoid a major age gap between Dhruv and Garv’s sons, I included them adopting AV.
A MAJOR PLOT TWIST CHANGE :
Anisha was never meant as a negative character. She was just a random cameo but eventually, she found a major part in the plot. And, honestly, murdering Anisha was never part of the plot. Garv visiting the resort and Anisha using that opportunity to drug him was a part of it, but I had decided Avantika would torture her, make her confess her wrong doing and during that time, Anisha mistakely reveals the real murderer.
As I'm an overexcited soul, while writing that chapter, I included Anubhav warning Ava saying ‘if she leaves her now, she will spread it in the news that Avantika visited her place etc.’ That’s it, I found it interesting when a FL kills a girl just because she tried to harm her husband (Real touch him and die kinda vibes).
MOST FAQ:
Why does Garv call Geetanjali as Mrs. Dhruv?
So, Geet is the eldest among all the characters. He used to address her as baisa during Crushship days. But as soon as Dhruv and Geet got married, he was replaced by Mrs. Dhruv. Though Dhruv is younger than Garv, Geet is still a year older than Garv. So, it was mostly a respectful gesture. Also,I can't use Dhruv ki bindani everytime, so I opted for Mrs. Dhruv.
A SECRET:
I planned the plot twist (the real murderer)in more than three ways. Incase, if anyone predicted the Plan 1 before the climax, I would switch to Plan 2 and so on without effecting the chapters and hints. I'm still unsure whether the revelation was the worth the hype but honestly, I enjoyed writing the climax scene.
Last but not the least, this book tested me in many ways, especially my patience. I changed my writing style and tried adopting a better way of converting characters’ pov. You can easily see the difference between Chapter 1 and the last chapter.
Nobody would believe their first makeout session (when Garv ties Ava’s hands) took a month to complete and I spent around 35 days to write their consummation chapter (I read several smut of different kinds of novels both published and wattpad to not end up making fun of myself after promising the readers).
That's it. If you have any question related to any part of the book, drop it in the comment section. I'll try my best to answer you.
YOU ARE READING
THE ROMANTIC CRIME
Romantizm#2 in The Shaktawat Sisters | Completed Avantika Kanwar Shaktawat x Garv Singh Chauhan • • He falls for her when his best friend mentions her name during his final year of college life. He was unaware how she looks and how she speaks until he met...
