Savita Kalhan’s latest novel The Girl in the Broken Mirror published by Troika Books and nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2019 is the story of Jay, a 15-year-old British Asian girl who is raped. Savita told me all about the resources and techniques she used to research this YA novel for my Research Secrets column in the national writing magazine Writers’ Forum.

Savita explained:

Sadly, as the #metoo and #timesup movements have illustrated in recent times, the incidence of sexual assault is much more prevalent than once thought, and stories of survivors have been publicly accessible. I drew on these experiences of survivors when I was writing this book. I also talked directly, and in confidence, to women who have been sexually assaulted about their experiences and how they dealt with them. I also spoke to friends and relatives of victims.

Savita does not have a set pattern for her research but her tip to other writers is even though you can get caught up in your research and you may feel you have wasted your time it is better to know far more about the themes and subject of your book than to know less. But the best tip she was ever given was:

The best writing tip I was ever given was to sit down and write, and then read, edit, fact-check, and rewrite, because that’s what writing is all about.

You can read Savita Kalhan’s Research Secrets feature in the January issue #207 of Writers Forum.

You can find out more about Savita and her books on her website www.savitakalhan.com

Or follow her on Twitter @savitakalhan