Speaking at the Sharjah International Book Fair, Roy announced that she was writing a second book without revealing more details.
On the experience of writing 'God of Small Things', Roy said: "The book took me over and even if I had wanted to escape from it, I couldn't."
Roy, who won the 1997 Man Booker Prize for fiction, said when she writes essays she feels a part of the people of India.
"Writing is in my DNA. When you write you must be accurate about the detail, space and place. I think fishermen must make good writers; they spend so much time keeping quiet and plotting against the fish," she told a packed audience that included Consul General of India in Dubai Sanjay Verma.
"Fiction is lonely business and writing a book is like being in jail," she said.
Asked about how she decided to be a writer, 50-year-old Roy said: "I have never been particularly ambitious. I am not a careerist, I am not trying to get anywhere in a career. It is more important to engage with society, to live it, to have different experiences."
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She also told the audience that, given the chance, she would not rewrite her famous novel.
"I don't have the urge to rewrite. Not because I think it is perfect but I am not the type to keep changing something when it is finished."