Ranjan Adiga has found his safe space in short stories

Ranjan Adiga, whose debut short story collection ‘Leech and Other Stories’ was published by Penguin Random House India in April this year, says he has always felt like an outsider. Though his family has lived in Nepal for generations, a unique last name meant he was never Nepali enough. “My family moved to Bangkok when I was 10. I couldn’t speak in English properly, let alone Thai, and I felt out of place there too,” he says. Later, in college in India, despite having been mistaken as an Indian all his life, he struggled to fit in. Since then, he’s lived in Bahrain and the US but both these places never felt like home.  “My life story is that I’ve always been an outsider,” he says. 

In a conversation with Cilla Khatry of ApEx, he says perhaps that’s the reason why he is drawn to stories of outsiders—people who live on the margins of society, those who are trying to find their way or those who feel like they have been left out in some ways. Excerpts:

What is your writing process? Do you have a writing ritual?

I don’t wait for inspiration to strike. Over the years, I have tried to build a writing habit. I try to write every single day, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. Writing is a craft. You have to work on it. I don’t have the luxury of deciding when I’ll write. There is no fixed time so I’ll snatch whatever I can get. Sometimes, I just doodle or write rubbish but I’ll still sit at my desk and try to write. I believe the habit of writing has to be ingrained in your personality and for that a writer has to sit down and write every day. It’s okay even if you just stare at the screen for 15 minutes but you have to sit down and be thinking about the story and be willing to construct sentences.

How long do you take to write a story?

Every story is different. Some stories take time. Others come together really fast. Every story is several drafts in the making. Writing is rewriting. You have to keep chipping away at it. ‘A Short Visit’ was put together in two weeks as my agent didn’t like one of the stories I had submitted and my publisher wasn’t sure about it either. They gave me two weeks to write a new one. Usually, it takes me months to complete a story. I based it on my friend’s experience, changed the names, and tweaked the details. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long once I had the plot in my head. For others, where I have to build the plot as I go, it takes a while.

What compels you to write short stories?

I really love the concept of capturing the complexities of lives and characters in a shorter format. I also find it easier to write short stories than to write something longer. Some say writing short stories is difficult. You have to pack everything in a more concise form but I feel like I have much more control over the stories I’m telling. If something is not working, I can just scrap it. You have more chances to fail and pick yourself up again.

Why do you think stories are important in today’s society?

Stories are important because that is how people learn about other cultures and representation is so important. I think Nepal is underrepresented in South Asian literature. Most people have a stereotypical view of Nepal. Either they haven’t heard about the country or they start talking about Buddhism or the Himalayas. I wanted to represent the complex stories of Nepali life, and I was thinking about the western audience when I was writing my book.

We learn to be empathetic and connect with people who aren’t like us through stories. You can’t live multiple lives but you get a taste of what different lives feel like through fictional characters. And not to forget that knowledge comes through narratives, be it through TV shows, movies, or books.

In short stories, you don’t need to flesh out the characters as much as you would in a longer piece of fiction. What is your technique in getting people to care about these characters?

People relate to other people’s internal conflicts and vulnerabilities. No one likes someone who is perfect all the time. Those people don’t exist. It’s hard to relate to cardboard cutout characters, especially in this Instagram age where everyone is trying to put up their best faces in public. When I write, I try to tap into the character’s weaknesses and traits that make them human and relatable. Every character has some sort of inner turmoil that they are trying to navigate. It makes readers care about them even if they don’t like the character. I try to tap into the vulnerabilities to create an emotional bond that makes the readers connect with them.

Is writing cathartic?

Some stories can be cathartic and some stories give you more turmoil. Sometimes when I write a story, I feel like I need therapy after completing it. ‘Denver’ and ‘A Short Visit’ made me feel like that. On the other hand, writing some stories gives me a sense of release. It’s almost like writing a journal as you have communicated something that is deep within you. Writing is tough because it’s indirectly putting yourself on the page. But the good thing about fiction is you can render your thoughts and feelings through a different character, create a distance, and examine your emotions that way.

All writers draw from their own experience or from what they see around them. How do you toe the line between the stories being personal and fictionalizing them?

You have to confront your fears while writing. That is what gives humanity and power to your work. But the good thing about fiction is that it gives you the room to be imaginative and to add or make things up. Everything shouldn’t be taken as being the author’s point of view. I’m not writing to vent. I want my stories to be captivating so I have to think about them from the reader’s perspective. Only then will I be compelled to start playing around with a story. Even though a particular scene might mean a lot to me, it means nothing if it’s not serving the story. I try to make sure that even if the characters aren’t questioning and examining their biases, the story does that for them.

Are you afraid of feedback and criticism?

A writer has to be his/her own critic. You have to be able to look at your work objectively. It comes with experience and training. It’s something you develop. I workshop my stories with the students of the creative writing class I teach in the US. They read and give me feedback. Some of them have been really scathing but it has taught me to take criticism in my stride. Also, if you’re putting your work out there, you have to have a thick skin. I have faced so many rejections that it has taught me not to take things personally. A rejection doesn’t necessarily mean your work is bad. It might mean it’s not right for the publisher you have approached.

Do you have writer’s block? How do you deal with it?

Don’t all writers have writer’s block? I was writing for eight to 10 hours a day for about six months while working on my short story collection. There are 10 stories in the book but I must have written around 25. Some of the stories are new ones that I wrote from scratch while others are drafts that went through major revisions. Whenever I couldn’t work on a certain story, I let it be and worked on something else and went back to it later. That often did the trick. Other times, I wrote about not being able to write and got into the flow of writing that way.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you have been given?

I had a teacher who would always ask, “What’s at stake for the main character? What’s the big picture? Why should I care about your story?” It took a long time to understand what he meant. Initially when I started writing, I was immature and thus possessive about my stories. Now, I always try to ensure that a character has enough emotional frequency to be relatable. I’m not afraid of ‘killing my darlings’ or deleting lines or paragraphs that I think are absolute genius if they aren’t working for the story.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

You don’t have to go to a creative writing college to learn how to write. It helps but it’s not necessary. But you have to read and do so indiscriminately. Read, revise, and reflect—these are the 3Rs of being a good writer. Read different genres, and authors of various nationalities and gender. Don’t be afraid of revisions. Your first draft should never be your final draft. If you can find someone, preferably a reader, to go through your work and give you feedback, there is nothing as valuable as that. Then, you have to reflect on things and analyze your thoughts and actions. You don’t learn from experience. You learn by reflecting on them. This is an invaluable tool to give your writing the nuance it needs.

Which are some of your favorite books? 

There are plenty but let’s start with short stories as most of my literary heroes are short story writers. There’s Anton Chekhov and Raymond Carver who are absolute geniuses. I love short stories by Bernard Malamud. He’s an American Jewish author whose works explore the immigrant experience. ‘How We Fight for Our Lives’ by Saeed Jones is a coming-of-age memoir. Jones is a poet and when a poet writes prose, it’s a whole other thing. A poet, I think, will spend days on a line and make it perfect.

I also enjoy reading Bhupi Sherchan. I think he was especially good at capturing character details. I like everything Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has written. Her writing is simple but she tackles important issues. ‘Purple Hibiscus’ is one of my favorites. It would be remiss if I didn’t mention Samrat Upadhay for telling stories about Nepal and inspiring me to do the same. ‘Dopesick’ by Beth Macy is a non-fiction book about the opioid addiction in America. This book taught me the value of research.