12 or 20 (second series) questions with Deepa Rajagopalan
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Deepa Rajagopalan [photo credit: Ema Suvajac] won the2021 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Her work has appeared in literarymagazines and anthologies such as the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, theNew Quarterly, Room, the Malahat Review, Event and ARC. She has an MFA increative writing from the University of Guelph. Born to Indian parents in SaudiArabia, she has lived in many cities across India, the US and Canada. Deepaworks in the tech industry in Toronto.
1- How did your first book or chapbook change your life? How does your mostrecent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Peacocks of Instagram is myfirst full length book. It’s coming out in May 2024, and I hope it will findits readers. I have been warned about the anticlimactic nature of publishingyour first book, but I hope it will change my life in some way.
The writing of the book has been life changing. The way somethingchanges your life slowly, like watching the sun set over the ocean, or cloudsdrifting away. I have lived with the characters in this book for so long, andtheir experiences, triumphs, joys, heartbreaks, have given me that ‘somethingbeyond the daily life,’ that Virginia Woolf talked about.
2- How did you come to short stories first, as opposed to, say, poetry ornon-fiction?
I have a natural inclination to say things quickly and concisely. Takingup space, meandering, slowing down, were not part of my South Asian upbringing.So, the short story came to me naturally. I am continually amazed by thechallenge that the short story offers: to tell something so universally true, andsingularly so. To make the reader feel something in fifteen pages or less.
3- How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does yourwriting initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appearlooking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copiousnotes?
Typically, the writing comes to me quickly, though I am anxious throughthe first few of drafts, until I find the bones of the story. I enjoy therevision process, combing through the prose over and over again until I’msatisfied with the words, the sentences, and the shape of them. Nine out of tentimes, the final version is nothing like the first draft, except perhaps theopening paragraph.
4- Where does a work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of shortpieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a"book" from the very beginning?’
I think I am always working on a “book.” Even while writing shortpieces, I am trying to understand how they are in conversation with each other.How different each story can be, and yet be part of the same world.
5- Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you thesort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I love seeing an audience’s reaction to new material, what moves them,what does not land the way you thought it would. However, I typically readsomething in public only when I feel it is ready.
6- Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds ofquestions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think thecurrent questions are?
I think writing is always trying to answer some kind of questions. Thequestions depend on what you are obsessed or preoccupied with, and what isgoing on around you, and in the world. For years, I have been consumed byquestions about agency, about the powerful and the powerless. How does theworld order dictate who has power now, and who has had power for millennia?What do ordinary people do when they are denied agency or find themselvesutterly helpless in the wake of cruelties, big and small? How do they takepower, or diminish themselves?
7– What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Dothey even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
Arundhati Roy said in an interview that she enjoys the way the Russian writers “refuseto stay in their lanes. Especially now that the traffic regulations are gettingstricter, the lanes are getting narrower and more constricted.”
The role of the writer should be to say the truth about the atrocitiesin the world, while not denying its beauty and its joy. To say that which isuncomfortable, as plainly and articulately as possible, without fear.
8- Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult oressential (or both)?
I’ve always appreciated getting feedback on my work. Most of the time, Icomb through the feedback, and instinctively know what I need to take, leave,or tweak. Sometimes, it can be difficult, but the difficulty comes from makingsure you retain your voice, while considering edits. I had the good fortune ofworking with my editor, Shirarose Wilensky, on my short story collection, Peacocksof Instagram, who was gentle with me, and most importantly understood myintentions.
9- What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to youdirectly)?
It’s hard to pick one thing, but there’s something Murakami said aboutrunning that is resonating with me today: “Being active every day makes iteasier to hear than inner voice.”
10- How easy has it been for you to move between genres (short stories to thenovel)? What do you see as the appeal?
It is not easy for me to move between the genres. It takes me some timeto untangle myself from one and move into the other. I usually work on one formfor stretches of time.
11- What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one?How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I try to stick to a routine, though it is not always consistent. I usuallywake up at dawn or earlier, have some coffee or tea, and write for a couple ofhours before the day makes its demands of me. Over weekends, I spend longerperiods of time writing. When I am working on a project, I am always thinkingabout it, so I can write anywhere. At home, in airports, cafes, the hospitalwaiting room.
12- When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack ofa better word) inspiration?
I turn to books. I have a stack of books by my desk that I turn to whenI can’t seem to keep going. Norwegian Wood by Murakami, The God ofSmall Things by Arundhati Roy, How to Pronounce Knife by SouvankhamThammavongsa, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, to name a few.
13- What fragrance reminds you of home?
The smell of campfire, though I don’t know why.
14- David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there anyother forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visualart?
Being in nature always infuses me with creative energy. It helps methink better, and be more flexible with my ideas, allowing stories to go wherethey want to go.
15- What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply yourlife outside of your work?
Alice Munro, Chekhov, Murakami, Kazuo Ishiguro, Orhan Pamuk, Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Hemmingway, I can go on and on…
16- What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Music moves me deeply, and I’d like to take vocal lessons. I’d want tosing, even if I am mediocre at it.
17- If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or,alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been awriter?
I’ve had a long career in information technology, I ran a business,taught yoga, taught math and creative writing, but the work that makeseverything else tolerable is writing. I think I’d always be able to findsomething to do, but without writing, I’d be a lot less happy, and perhapsinsufferable.
18- What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I am a sensitive person, deeply affected by everything around me.Writing helps me make sense of life, to ease some of its pain, and to help seeits beauty. I’d be miserable if I didn’t write.
19- What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
I read a story titled My Good Friend by Juliana Leite(translated by Zoë Perry) in the Paris Review last Fall, and since then I think about it atleast once a week. It is a love story between the narrator and her good friendwho is losing his memory. It is masterful and reveals the kind of everlastinglove that withstands decades and spouses and children.
I watched this movie Past Lives recently, and it shattered me, in thebest possible way. The film has a singular, haunting texture, that I thinkwould be interesting to explore in prose.
20- What are you currently working on?
I’ve been working on a novel, that follows the lives of threecharacters, whose lives are inextricably linked by a single tragedy that takesplace in a small town in Saudi Arabia.
I was travelling recently and took a break from the novel and started anew short story. I’m attempting to write a love story, which is difficult forme as I am naturally cynical. But this one seems to be coming along well. Ithink I’m going to give it a happy ending.
