Ask the Author: Pia Padukone
Answered Questions (9)
Pia Padukone
Where to begin?! The Gypsy Moth Summer by Julia Fierro, Saints for all Occasions by J Courtney Sullivan, Salt Houses by Hala Alyan, not to be confused with The Salt House by Lisa Duffy, Rick People Problems by Kevin Kwan, Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave, How to Be Married by Jo Piazza, Refuge by Dina Nayeri, Tana French's Into the Woods, not to be confused by Paula Hawkins' Into the Water :)
Pia Padukone
It's not a mystery, but the details are unknown to me. In 1951 and 1975, my grandfather drove a motorcycle from Bombay to London, having lots of adventures in many countries along the way. I'd love to be able to research his experiences and learn about what he did/learned/saw/experienced. Sadly, he passed away more than 10 years ago, so I'd have to rely on the few newspaper articles that I know exist about his trips. But it could be a really phenomenal take on the Desi Motorcycle Diaries.
Pia Padukone
Hi Snehal, it's great to hear from you. I'd be thrilled and honored to have my work reviewed on your site. Would you be interested in reviewing Where Earth Meets Water, or my new novel, The Faces of Strangers? Let me know what I can do to help facilitate this.
Best,
Pia
Best,
Pia
Pia Padukone
Creating worlds that previously only existed inside my head and sharing them with others.
Pia Padukone
Karom, the main character of Where Earth Meets Water, narrowly escapes tragedy. He skips school when his class visits the World Trade Center on 9/11, he is late to get to a family reunion being held on the beach on the southeast Indian coast, when the tsunami strikes. The idea for a man haunted by these near misses when he loses loved ones came to me because I had experienced many of these myself.
I had been tempting in Tower One of the World Trade Center during the summer before my junior year of college. My last day was 9/7. I was standing on the beach just a few hundred miles north of where the tsunami crashed into the shores of the Indian Ocean. And my husband ran the 2013 Boston Marathon, during which I walked past the finish line and presumably past those backpack bombs to meet him at the family reunion area.
Luckily, I didn't internalize these near misses as intensely as Karom did, but they did spur the idea for the novel overall, making me consider my luck and the arbitrariness of these events.
I had been tempting in Tower One of the World Trade Center during the summer before my junior year of college. My last day was 9/7. I was standing on the beach just a few hundred miles north of where the tsunami crashed into the shores of the Indian Ocean. And my husband ran the 2013 Boston Marathon, during which I walked past the finish line and presumably past those backpack bombs to meet him at the family reunion area.
Luckily, I didn't internalize these near misses as intensely as Karom did, but they did spur the idea for the novel overall, making me consider my luck and the arbitrariness of these events.
Pia Padukone
I know I've used this answer a few times for other questions, but reading. Reading is really the best inspiration for me. When I read a great book, it makes me want to write one.
I also love being inspired by my environment, whether it's a great exhibit at a museum, a beautiful landscape, a conversation I overhear on the subway, or even a dream I had.
I also love being inspired by my environment, whether it's a great exhibit at a museum, a beautiful landscape, a conversation I overhear on the subway, or even a dream I had.
Pia Padukone
I'm writing a novel about two families who meet through a high school student exchange program and the impact that year has on each of them. Similarly to Where Earth Meets Water, this project also involves intertwined lives, and how a seemingly random occurrence can play out into the future. The destinations are New York City and Tallinn, Estonia. I traveled to Tallinn in April in order to do some on the ground research, speak to locals and get a sense of the culture.
Pia Padukone
Sometimes I try to write through it, even if I am producing sub par work. I'm working on a novel now, and I wrote 40,000 words of it that will never see the light of day, but I wrote them while I was trying to push past a place where I was stuck.
If I'm really stuck, I'll take a day or two away from the manuscript and read a really good book. I always, always get inspired by reading phenomenal work, and it usually inspires me to think about my own work from another angle.
If I'm really stuck, I'll take a day or two away from the manuscript and read a really good book. I always, always get inspired by reading phenomenal work, and it usually inspires me to think about my own work from another angle.
Pia Padukone
Write, write and write. Make time for it. Make it a priority. Say no to fun events because you have to write. Tell your friends that writing is at the top of your to-do list and never cross it off.
Read, read, and read. I truly believe that you're only as good as the work you're surrounded by. It can help you understand your own characters better, think about a situation from a different perspective, learn how other writers dealt with a conflict.
Have a thick skin. I can't tell you how many rejection letters I have received - and continue to receive - and while they are disconcerting and certainly made me want to throw in the towel and quit, I realized that there had to be someone out there who loved my story and wanted to put it out into the world. I was right. But if you give up after the first fifty, even one hundred rejections, you'll never make it to the one hundred and first, that publisher who believes in you.
Read, read, and read. I truly believe that you're only as good as the work you're surrounded by. It can help you understand your own characters better, think about a situation from a different perspective, learn how other writers dealt with a conflict.
Have a thick skin. I can't tell you how many rejection letters I have received - and continue to receive - and while they are disconcerting and certainly made me want to throw in the towel and quit, I realized that there had to be someone out there who loved my story and wanted to put it out into the world. I was right. But if you give up after the first fifty, even one hundred rejections, you'll never make it to the one hundred and first, that publisher who believes in you.
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