Swati Kaushal’s Interview :
· Everywhere we turn, we hear people saying ‘talk to your children,’ etc, etc, and yet, it does not happen. Why do some of us find communication so difficult ?
I think communication takes time. As a mother who worked full time and now who works part/full time but from home, I really feel the extra time I have to
spend with my child is priceless. There are times when things come out when you are just spending time with your child, that he or she won’t reveal if you just
ask them: how was your day? You can’t schedule confidences in my experience.
I’m not advocating that women or men should give up work or something of that nature; just that it is important to create some time that you spend with your
kids that is theirs alone. And I think it’s particularly important as your child grows older and has more things to confront.
· What is your take on the phrase, ‘chick lit’. Do you classify yourself as a chick -lit author?
I have heard that phrase for long enough that now it does not bother me. I do think it creates an expectation of sassiness, attitude and frivolity though; (I mean ‘chick’ – who refers to themselves as a ‘chick?’) and I would hate to see A Girl Like me classified as chicklit; it is anything but.
· When you write, where do you write from? As a woman, as the protagonist, or as a storyteller?
A bit of all three, I’m sure. As a modern Indian woman, I feel there is enough richness of experience still untold and that is the territory I wish to share
with readers. I start my stories not with a plot but with a character who has the potential to become a person and I absolutely have to climb into her shoes,
think her thoughts, feel what she is feeling for her to become real to me, and, I hope, to my readers. At the same time a novel needs a plot and for things
need to happen, not only for the characters to develop but also to generate the momentum in the story. I feel that a badly told story can ruin the experience of
reading and so it is important to tell the story in the most interesting, dramatic and visual way possible. That is why I try to keep things moving
along and work so hard on pace.
· Some writers say that writing makes them think, it gives them a perspective. Why do you write?
Like I said, I write when I fall in love with a character; and when that character’s story can, in my opinion, give readers something new, or something they
can identify with, or something to think about.
· Do you / can you read your own novels for fun? How does writing change the experience of reading?
My God. I must have read and reread each chapter hundreds, if not thousands of times through the writing/editing process. But it is strangely difficult to pick up and read my book when it’s all done and printed. But writing definitely changes you as a reader. I find I have become much more critical, and conversely, much
more appreciative of the books I read.
· If you could be any other writer, who would you be?
Myself, just better! Seriously though, I have tremendous admiration for Ian McEwan, Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies just blew me away, and how I wish I
could write prose like Michael Ondaatje! Amongst women writers my favorites are Annie Dillard, Claire Messud and I really enjoyed Ann Brashares’ Sisterhood of the traveling pants.
