When a published writer walks in, most think they are enlightened beings—free of fear, doubt, and insecurities. We regard them as transcendental beings ideally suited for the title of writer, no longer fragile creatures worrying about sentences, their rhythm, structure, and the hierarchy of what goes first, second and last in storytelling because they have triumphed over their odysseys. We see them as intellectuals, possessing a power and an aura that makes them stand out in a crowd. When we think of writers, we almost always overlook their human side.

However, in the literary fellowship programme South Asia Speaks’ collection of interviews, ‘How I Write’, the idea of perfect writers as enlightened beings shifts to reveal their humanness. Edited by Sonia Faleiro, founder of South Asia Speaks, the book features conversations with 18 writers from various genres who share a South Asian experience. These interviews were originally part of the collective’s 2022 virtual masterclasses and were conducted by writers, editors, and journalists. Now compiled into a book by Faleiro, they serve as a handy notebook of what it truly takes to be a writer in this era.

The conversations in the book explore how writers hone their craft while also revealing what has influenced their ideas and their comprehension of the publishing world. Each conversation provides readers with an insight into what makes good writers. There’s the indispensable mention of how good writers need to read and be a ‘demon reader’, but besides this, all of the writers reveal a unique understanding of how they persevered to become good in their craft.

For instance, Vauhini Vara, the author of ‘The Immortal King Rao’, tells how she would paste published articles or essays into Google Docs to understand how writers crafted their pieces in her beginning years as a journalist. She would review the paragraphs and highlight what the writing was doing in comments just to understand the structures the writers built. She repeatedly practised this exercise until ‘the knowledge ‘baked’ itself into her intuition, she says in her interview. It’s a moment when a reader will think, ‘Oh, this is something I could do too.’

‘How I Write’ successfully demonstrates that good writing results from diligent effort and learning; it reveals the importance of demystifying one’s writing practices to be more intentional about what one writes. In their conversations, while telling readers about their writing process, writers deliberately point out that they are working with drafts, not the final piece in one go.

Another key takeaway for writers would be how writers in the book ask them to explore and live their lives beyond writing to invigorate their writings. Most emerging writers misunderstand that good writing comes only from focusing on writing, but what these writers have to say is different. ‘How I Write’ is particularly revelatory in this sense of how writers live and pursue writing. Although just a collection of interviews, these conversations show what makes the flesh of writers.

Writers often noted the difficulty of reaching a diverse readership. Many South Asian diaspora authors expressed feeling as if they were primarily addressing a white audience, particularly those holding conservative perspectives. They also urged writers to fight for their ideas and work to break the publishing world’s trends, which often dismisses work based on their understanding of the market, what people want, and expectations of what the world these writers have written about should sound like.

Kamila Shamshie, the author of ‘Home Fire’, tells us about how new writers are expected to fulfil the existing stereotypes of the publishing world. She points out that publishing is challenging and rejections are inevitable, but more importantly, writers must advocate for the readers that the publishers are reluctant to acknowledge.

One of the most interesting interviews in the book for me was with ‘The Newlyweds’ author Mansi Choksi, who was interviewed by Sanam Meher, the author of ‘A Woman Like Her: The Short Life of Qandel Baloch’. In the interview, Choksi reveals how she pursued her idea for ‘The Newlyweds’ while following Love Commandos, an organisation in India acclaimed for bringing together couples divided by caste, religion, and societal norms. Choksi, in the interview, reveals how she was keen to understand what the marriage looked like after the couples had united, defying the cultural and religious systems around them. What stands out for me is how, as a writer, she is determined to stick to the truth of her interviewees and not how she thinks something or a moment in her story should be understood. When asked the most daunting question for a journalist, ‘What do we owe to our sources?’, Choksi replied that she owed them ‘a super thorough fact check’. For me, this was a punctuating moment because so often in the journalistic world, we take our sources for granted, and rarely do we check in with them about what they say in our interviews.

It’s little moments like these when reading ‘How I Write’ that this collection of interviews becomes more than experience sharing of poets, journalists, novelists, translators and non-fiction writers. In telling their experiences, these writers reveal to us the tender moments when we are writing and simultaneously juggling with the truth of people, ourselves, our characters and society.

The interviews unveil what it looks like when writers actually sit down to craft their work. The book provides glimpses of the tension of language and ideas as writers write and how things are only disclosed as the writing happens, even to the writers themselves. And in that sense, ‘How I Write’ is intimate.

When writer Manjushree Thapa discusses writing in English in a world where English is not the dominant language, readers will sense her challenges and complexities. In an interview with Roman Gautam, the editor of Himal Southasian, Thapa explains that to capture the nuance of her Nepali characters in her novels, she practised translating Nepali literary works into English to understand how to create authentic Nepali worlds in her writings. Insights like these, regarding what writers do to refine their storytelling, render ‘How I Write’ an essential read for aspiring writers. The book highlights many other practices like these that writers—and anyone looking to enhance their writing skills—can adopt to refine their craft as masterful sculptors of language.

‘How I Write’ can be read as a guide, but I think it is more of a wisdom book that can work like a compass for writers to navigate their own writing endeavours. It’s a book writers could pull up whenever they struggle to fill their blank page for motivation. It is a book for readers (who want to be writers) to revisit, reminding them that writing involves embracing the pain of the craft. It emphasises that the journey is about making a consistent effort, working hard, and maintaining discipline in our writing practices. ‘How I Write’ is thought-provoking, I would say action-provoking for writers who want to write and share their stories with their world.

As the book is a collection of interviews, one can pick it up at any time without needing to follow a sequential order. For many who often take on the role of interviewers in their writing tasks, many questions will likely pop up as follow-ups to something the writers reveal in conversation. And some conversations sometimes seem to end abruptly. Even then, many readers will emerge inspired by the book, with a long reading list to invigorate their knowledge and a commitment to writing at least 200 or 500 words daily for their ultimate projects.

I just hope the adrenaline this book inspires doesn’t fade away amid the mundanity of our lives. And if it does, perhaps this book will rekindle the spirit we need to continue on our writing journeys.

Proceeds from the book ‘How I Write’ will contribute to the South Asia Speaks literary mentorship programme.

Bajracharya is a freelance writer based in Kathmandu. Previously, she covered Nepal’s art and cultural practices for The Post.

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How I Write

Editor: Sonia Faleiro

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 283