Ask the Author: Smita Bhattacharya
Answered Questions (6)
Smita Bhattacharya
I read.
And watch Netflix.
And then I have some coffee and walk around my apartment cooking up a story. Ideas come to me all the time, but I wonder how it will grow, how it will end. Mostly, how it will end. And that comes with 1) thinking about it 2) writing it.
And watch Netflix.
And then I have some coffee and walk around my apartment cooking up a story. Ideas come to me all the time, but I wonder how it will grow, how it will end. Mostly, how it will end. And that comes with 1) thinking about it 2) writing it.
Smita Bhattacharya
Inspiration is easy. A half finished account from a friend's life, a piece of gossip, an interesting Netflix movie with a twist I couldn't have imagined, and I'm thinking to myself, this is how my next story could end. But to actually write, all you have to do is... sit, open the laptop and write. The words flow. There's no other way.
When I write, I start living the scene, the characters, the feeling; all duality disappears. As soon as I stop connecting with the piece, I discard it. I cannot bring myself to write anymore. I do give myself a break and try again, and if it comes back, I persist. If not, I focus on another idea. I strongly believe a good story—the kind that stays in the reader’s minds for a really long time—is an idea that is dying to be written. It does not allow you to sleep, eat or chill in peace. Yes, that happens to me.
When I write, I start living the scene, the characters, the feeling; all duality disappears. As soon as I stop connecting with the piece, I discard it. I cannot bring myself to write anymore. I do give myself a break and try again, and if it comes back, I persist. If not, I focus on another idea. I strongly believe a good story—the kind that stays in the reader’s minds for a really long time—is an idea that is dying to be written. It does not allow you to sleep, eat or chill in peace. Yes, that happens to me.
Smita Bhattacharya
There are so many! You can play out a million bizarre endings for a seemingly ordinary event. You can say what you want, what you feel and how you want the world to be to hundreds of readers. And at the end of the day, you have something tangible, beautiful and fulfilling in your hands, much like a new born baby. Its a wonderful feeling.
Smita Bhattacharya
Write, write everyday. Read, read everyday. Don't cut corners. Write the best you can and put it out there, because once it is out there, it is a part of you that is indelible, ready to be judged and so, it better be good.
Smita Bhattacharya
My next novel is a thriller that weaves in themes of self-serving avarice and contemporary loneliness. In a society where we are moving increasingly far away from one another, what happens when a girl with no family and a few friends disappears one day? Is she dead? Was she killed? Did she run away? As her friends and colleagues begin to look for answers, what surfaces are shocking revelations and the disturbing realization that they knew so little of her...and of each other.
Even in a seemingly ordinary life, we live through complicated relationships, making erratic decisions with long term and often sordid consequences. We are never really fully happy. Often lonely and seeking, but never fully happy. This is a Plath like tale.
Even in a seemingly ordinary life, we live through complicated relationships, making erratic decisions with long term and often sordid consequences. We are never really fully happy. Often lonely and seeking, but never fully happy. This is a Plath like tale.
Smita Bhattacharya
Fireflies are such enigma. In the dark night, on open fields, in dense woods, there they are ─ tiny flickers of light. They fill you with such hope and also some sadness. Their lives are short-lived and only in the night are they brightest.
'He Knew a Firefly' is just that. The central character Akshara is like a Firefly and there are those around her who love her, who know her (or think they do!) and consider her special. Their lives are irreversibly changed once they get to know her. She is a fantastic creature ─ this Akshara ─ and elusive too ─ and benevolent in the darkness of their lives ─ much like a Firefly.
But these creatures don't last long, do they? The good, the kind ones. The ones that appear like fireflies in our lives, and then just leave. But in the brief period that is their life, they glow really, really bright.
'He Knew a Firefly' is just that. The central character Akshara is like a Firefly and there are those around her who love her, who know her (or think they do!) and consider her special. Their lives are irreversibly changed once they get to know her. She is a fantastic creature ─ this Akshara ─ and elusive too ─ and benevolent in the darkness of their lives ─ much like a Firefly.
But these creatures don't last long, do they? The good, the kind ones. The ones that appear like fireflies in our lives, and then just leave. But in the brief period that is their life, they glow really, really bright.
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