Religious Fiction – Geeks OUT

Shveta Thakrar was one of the inaugural Walter Dean Myers grant recipients of 2015 and has been a shining mainstay in fantasy, appearing on conference panels since 2010. She has had fiction published in Uncanny Magazine, Faerie Magazine, and forthcoming from anthologies TOIL & TROUBLE (HarlequinTeen, 2018) and A THOUSAND BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS (Greenwillow, 2018). She is also the author of Star Daughter.

I had the opportunity to interview Shveta, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you for having me! I am a very spiritual dreamer who believes in magic and kindness and has a violet felt witch’s hat I like to wear around the house sometimes just for fun.

Congratulations on your latest book, The Dream Runners! Could you tell us what’s about?

I really love the blurb my editor came up with, so I’m going to cheat and just paste that here.

“Seven years ago, Tanvi was spirited away to the subterranean realm of Nagalok, where she joined the ranks of the dream runners: human children freed of all memory and emotion, who collect mortal dreams for the entertainment of the serpentine, immortal naga court.

But when one of Tanvi’s dream harvests goes awry, she begins to remember her life on earth. Panicked and confused, she turns to the one mortal in Nagalok who might be able to help: Venkat, the dreamsmith responsible for collecting the dream runners’ wares and shaping them into the kingdom’s most tantalizing commodity. And as they search for answers, a terrifying truth begins to take shape—one that could turn the nagas’ realm of dreams into a land of waking nightmare.”

Where did the inspiration for this story come from?

A number of things, starting with my fascination with the ancient lore of the war between the nagas (serpent shape-shifters) and their cousins and nemeses, the garudas (eagle shape-shifters). You can read more about that here: https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/air/opposites-attack.

I love the idea of selling dreams, and originally I was thinking of a store where you could buy and sell dreams—as inspired by Laini Taylor’s wonderful Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, in which wishes are sold in exchange for teeth—but once I combined that with another of my favorite folklore motifs, that of the changeling, and realized the story would be set partially against the landscape of the mythical war mentioned above, I had the foundation of this book. And it grew from there!

How did you find yourself drawn to the art of storytelling? What drew you to young adult fiction specifically?

I’ve told stories as long as I can remember, even if they were just adventures in rich worlds in my imagination, so it was natural for me to start writing them down. And once I realized I never saw myself in any of the books that I loved, especially minus the real-world problems of things like prejudice, I decided to do my part to help change that.

Young adult fiction is a place of firsts, and I really like thinking maybe I could bring hope to someone who needs it. But also, it’s a great place for adventure and exploration, both inner and outer, so there’s room for all kinds of stories.

How did you find yourself getting drawn into the world of fantasy? What were some of your favorite examples growing up? What are some of your favorite examples now?

This question made me laugh, only because I’ve never not been attracted to fantasy and magic! See above, re: adventures in my head.

My favorite examples from childhood: I’m not even sure where to start! Maybe Dorrie the Little Witch and collections of fairy tales and Amar Chitra Katha comics?

My favorite examples now (always an impossible question, so I’ll just grab a few at random): Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tales trilogy; Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone; When the Moon Was Ours, by Anna-Marie McLemore; A Green and Ancient Light, by Frederic S. Durbin; The Light at the Bottom of the World, by London Shah; Magical Women, an Indian anthology edited by Sukanya Venkatraghavan. (There are definitely many more than these five, all of which I’m sure I’ll start remembering the second I send this off.)

How would you describe your writing process?

I’m definitely an intuitive writer, and I figure out things as I go, layering in various aspects through various drafts. That means some mistakes along the way, but I’m getting better about accepting that and even starting to view it as a challenge. And revision is where I shine.

As a writer, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

Creative influences: Holly Black and Laini Taylor and Anna-Marie McLemore, all for different reasons.

Sources of inspiration: their books but also my Hindu/Indian background and its folklore and mythology, along with global folklore and mythology. Plus the possibilities hidden in the world all around us.

What are some of your favorite parts of writing? What do you feel are some of the most challenging?

My favorites: the fact that I’m spinning something out of nothing. Literally nothing. That’s magic! And that people I don’t know then get to read it and play in the worlds I’ve created and get to befriend the characters who sprang from my imagination and my heart.

My most challenging: it’s a toss-up between figuring out how to get the story right (sometimes it takes many drafts and lots of despairing) and accepting that sometimes what a reader is looking for doesn’t mesh with what you wrote. But as long as you’re happy with what you produced, that’s what counts.

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want people to know about you?

I recently got back into video gaming after a twenty-year or so hiatus, and it’s been so fun, both revisiting games from my youth and trying ones out now. It’s a different type of storytelling, and I’m so excited to see what it inspires in my own work!

I’m also a big fan of cupcakes and kaju katli (definitely with the silver leaf on top, thanks).

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet, but wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

If you had to choose between hands or wings, which would it be?

I’m leaning toward wings; I could fly, and falling would just not be a thing. I could figure out how to make up for hands, even if it would be challenging.

As of now, are you currently working on any other ideas or projects that you are at liberty to speak about?

I’m not sure when the announcements will be made, so I have to keep it vague for now, but I can say you’ll definitely be seeing more fantasy from me! It’s probably safe to say it’ll also be drawing on more Indian folklore and mythology, because of course.

What advice would you give to other aspiring writers?

I actually have two separate bits of advice to offer. The first is to figure out what kind of story you want to tell. Not what you think other people would want to read, but what the reader in you would want to see in the world. What would be fun for you to write? Follow that glimmer of a notion down the rabbit hole and see what results!

Secondly, I’ve been working with Becca Syme and the team of her Better-Faster Academy for writers, and it’s been so illuminating to understand what kind of a writer I am based on my CliftonStrengths and how to work best with that, rather than trying to follow advice meant for someone else. I’d strongly advise any writer to check out Becca’s work!

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

Let’s see; off the top of my head, aside from the authors I’ve already mentioned:

Header photo credited to Luminous Creative Studio

Adiba Jaigirdar is the critically-acclaimed and bestselling author of The Henna Wars and Hani & Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating. A Bangladeshi/Irish writer and teacher, she has an MA in Postcolonial Studies from the University of Kent, England and a BA in English and History from UCD, Ireland. All of her writing is aided by tea, and a healthy dose of Janelle Monáe and Hayley Kiyoko. When not writing, she is probably ranting about the ills of colonialism, playing video games, or expanding her overflowing lipstick collection. She can be found at @adiba_j on Twitter and @dibs_j on Instagram.

I had the opportunity to interview Adiba, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you so much for having me! I’m a Bangladeshi-Irish author and former ESL teacher. I was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, but have been living in Dublin, Ireland since the age of 10. I love reading and playing video games in my spare time.

When did you know you were first interested in writing, and what drew you specifically to young adult fiction?

I’ve always loved storytelling since before I could even read. So once I learned how to read and write, writing stories seemed only a natural progression of my love of storytelling. Some of the most memorable books I read are from when I was a teenager, many of them being Young Adult books. I think of them as formative to me, both as a person and as a writer. I think this is the case for a lot of people. The stories that we grow the most attached to, the ones that we remember and often go back to, are the ones that we read when we were teenagers. And so, I wanted to write those stories that hopefully help teens see themselves, and that I hope stay with kids for a long time.

How would you describe your writing process?

Chaotic. I don’t really have a single writing process. I try a bunch of different things with each book that I write and see what works and doesn’t work. I like to go where the story and characters take me.

As a queer Jewish person, can I say how cool it is that your books feature complex queer characters of faith. Would you mind speaking a bit about what that kind of representation, or what representation in general means to you?

Sadly, I think a lot of the world views faith and queerness as mutually exclusive. In my experience, when we have this quite narrow point of view, we drive people away from faith, and oftentimes we also make people feel uncomfortable with their own sexuality. I’ve always simply wanted to write stories that feel authentic to my experiences, or the experiences of people that I know, and that includes the representation of people from religious backgrounds who are also queer. And so that’s the representation I often end up writing, because it’s true to my experiences.

Did you draw on any specific sources of inspiration while writing your debut novel, The Henna Wars, and your more recent novel, Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, i.e. books, movies, music, etc.? Where do you draw inspiration or creativity in general?

In general, I draw inspiration from anything and everything. For Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, specifically I was inspired by the TV show Faking It. I was a little annoyed at the sapphic representation and the bisexual representation in it, and so I just wanted to write my own version of a sapphic fake dating story, where the representation was more authentic to my experiences, and the sapphic characters got to have a happy ending.

One of the notable things about your novels, is not only featuring Bangladeshi/Muslim characters but also queer characters from Ireland, something that is still rare (though getting less so) in YA. What do you think are some of the distinctions between US centric and Irish YA/cultures, in terms of queerness or in general?

This is a difficult question to answer because I’m not from the US, so I don’t actually know what US culture looks like in terms of queerness or really, in general. I know America is also hugely influenced by religion, but I do think a big part of queerness in Ireland comes with having to unlearn a lot of the harm that the Catholic church has perpetrated over the years. Most of our schools are single-sex and run by the church, and we often have nuns as teachers and principals, and if not that, then living on school campus. This is the kind of school I went to (and I graduated just a decade ago), and there were no out students during my school years. There was also quite a bit of homophobia which was probably both a result of the culture and the times. Ireland has come a long way in terms of this though, and we were the first country in the world to vote for marriage equality by way of popular vote.

Besides being a writer, what are some things you would want your readers to know about you?

My favourite way to unwind is by playing video games. My favourite video game franchise is probably Uncharted, closely followed by Assassin’s Creed. But I love any good action/adventure game that has a compelling storyline and enjoyable gameplay. I also like to read a lot of adult thrillers in my downtime, and find them very comforting to read when I’m feeling down.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but wish you were (and the answer to that question)?

What’s your favourite flavour of donut? I love coffee flavoured donuts.

Are there any projects you are working on or thinking about that you are able to discuss?

Later this year, my first YA historical will be released. It’s called A Million to One and it’s about four girls who board the Titanic in order to steal a rare jewel-encrusted book. Next year, I have another romcom coming out called Donut Fall In Love. It follows a Bangladeshi-Irish girl who joins a Great British Bake-Off style reality TV show, only to find that her ex is one of the competitors, along with another girl who she may be developing a crush on.

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

There are so many I love. I would definitely recommend any book by Alechia Dow, who writes the most wonderful sci-fi books starring LGBTQ+ characters. I highly recommend Ace Of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide, which is a brilliant thriller pitched as Get Out meets Gossip Girl. I am a huge Nina LaCour fan, so I would recommend absolutely anything she has ever written, because it’s all brilliant. In terms of romance, I love Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee, She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen, and Fifteen Hundred Miles From The Sun by Jonny Garza Villa.

Tag: Religious Fiction

Interview with Author Shveta Thakrar

Interview with Author Adiba Jaigirdar