Swell Spotlight: Geeta Kothari
After that, we'll open up the conversation to anyone who has questions about publishing the writing life or anything else that you'd love Gita's view on. I cannot wait
Geeta Kothari
@didotwite · 4:45
So when Rachel says, I've showed her so much about the life of a writer, a living life as a writer. I'm just passing on what I learned from John, and that was really the beginning. It took me a long time to publish my first collection of short stories, largely because I didn't think of myself as a short story writer. I was writing one novel after another and tossing them out
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 0:52
Are you in the midst of that right now, or do you write for the sake of writing? And then as it grows and shapes itself, you sort of choose a path for it. Do you let the writing determine it? Or do you set out with a very specific goal? And how much is that sort of this ephemeral journey versus a really deliberate tactical practice
Geeta Kothari
@didotwite · 1:05
So a lot of my stories I wrote in response to some kind of prompt that I was working with, which had a number of words determined already or structured determined already. And once the idea plays itself out, I can usually figure out where I want to stop it's very intuitive. I can't say that I am very good about being strategic with my writing, which is probably why it took me so long to publish my first collection
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:12
You know, having a spotlight parallel to yours with a woman who does film. And she's constantly reading scripts. And a lot of times we hear this idea of, like people writing from their pain, from their experience. And that turns into something such a universal message. And I just wanted to ask you your thoughts on the personal versus the political. And what I mean by political is with a small P. It's more like the personal versus the universal
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 0:54
And did you find inspiration from life and did a lot of it trying translate into those stories that you penned for your first effort? I'd like to know about that. Thank you
Geeta Kothari
@didotwite · 0:24
Hi there. Thanks for the great question. I think characters inform plot and then plot informs characters. But I usually start with character. I've found that when I start with plot or premise, characters don't quite live up to the story and it ends up being quite flat. So for me, definitely character over plot
Geeta Kothari
@didotwite · 1:32
However, a lot of times I'll find myself writing a story and a detail will pop into my head as I'm writing or something that I've experienced or seen will pop into my head. And I'll think, oh, that fits right here. That works with this story, and it will inform the story in a new way. It's happened several times with the stories in my collection
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:09
I guess my question is, how do you find that balance between actually having your b*** in the chair and putting words on the page but also still allowing yourself enough space to explore and read and research and just be in the world since that all influences your writing as swell. I'm not sure if this question is totally clear. It's something that I'm trying to figure out in my own process
Geeta Kothari
@didotwite · 2:08
So maybe expand what it means to write and also understand that those times when we're away from our desk can be really productive. That story I wrote, flight attendants, take your seats. I didn't plan to write it when I went to Newfoundland. I just took some notes while I was in Gander and then years later, when I was writing the story, those notes, which I didn't even have with me at the time, fed into it
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:12
Gita. This made me laugh. And it was really useful to hear that particular story you talked about in relation to your trip, because I think a lesson that I feel like I keep forgetting, getting and that I know other writers I talk to often forget, and we need to remind each other of it all the time is that everything is writing in some ways, even when you're not fully aware of it. And so that story you said just as a good reminder of that
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 2:49
Great conversation. Thank you for all the thoughts. It's been great hearing it. So I loved hearing about your concepts of short stories and things like that. So good. Thank you
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:18
I'm curious, since you are such a big reader and you also write in many forms. How you feel like your reading life informs your writing life? Do you feel that your reading choices are usually at all informed by the challenges or things you're trying to figure out as a writer or how do you go about that, too? So I guess how do you choose what to read and then talk about on your podcast?
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 4:43
I want to read that book. Personal preference. I like all kinds of genres. I will go, ya fantasy, just ya. I will go historic fiction, memoir, self help, business and modern fiction, just regular fiction classics. And I'll just keep switching back and forth between these categories. And I'm not very, very picky
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 4:56
What sentence did this emotional impact hit me? And what word. Did it hit me? Because now I'm trying to really that's my reading. Now I'm trying to really break down what I'm reading to see where that punch came from. And I'm trying to learn the craft through reading with the hope that maybe if I want to create a punch, maybe I can. So my hope is to write a book. I dabble in writing
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 3:00
Thank you so much for all these thoughtful responses. Yeah, I was the nerd that talked about how hard it is for me to read now and not constantly be thinking about the choices that the writer made and the effect they're having
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 0:25
Okay. So here's the book recommendation. I'm posting the Amazon link to the book, and it's more like basically. So you want to think like you your nonfiction editor things. So I'll post a link here, and I hope it helps everyone here. Thank you
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:25
Thank you so much for that recommendation. I'm definitely going to check that out. I also wanted to recommend a book that several people have told me about, and I've slowly been listening to the audiobook when I'm in the head space for it is The Art of Memoir by MEMORIS Mary Carr. So going to leave that here, too, for anyone who maybe discovers this later or it would be useful for them now