The Author of "Cast Out and Other Stories", Sucharita Dutta Asane, a literary activist shares her journey as a writer

A literary activist as most would call her, Sucharita Dutta Asane talks about her journey as a writer and what shapes her perceptions of our world.  Sucharita Dutta Asane, an award-winning writer and the author of “Cast Out and Other Stories”, pulls readers on a journey of slow-dawning recognition of familiar experiences through her riveting tales centered on uncommon taboos and issues that lie in the underbelly of our society. As she finds a perfect blend of atypical endings, sombre tones, and deviant characters, Dutta-Asane can pull a story out of simple yet extraordinary observations, as she says “From a falling leaf to a frozen heart and everything in between.” BV: When did you start writing? Can you tell us about your journey?  Sucharita: In the early years, I wrote mainly poetry. Then life took over; work and home building pushed inspiration away. Around 2007, I turned to write once again, but strangely, instead of poetry that actually drew me, I found myself writing fiction. In 2008 I won the Oxford Bookstores’ Debuting Writers’ (2^nd) Prize and that proved to be a shot in the writing arm. Around 2010, I attended a Master class in writing conducted by eminent poet and translator Priya Sarukkai Chabria. She was instrumental in recognizing the potential of what I was writing at the time and in encouraging me to focus on it. In 2013, I won the international Dastaan Award for my story “Rear View”. As my stories found homes in different online and print literary journals and anthologies, my writing took shape, found its voice, and culminated in the short fiction collection, Cast Out and Other Stories published in 2018 by Dhauli Books.   Sucharita Dutta Asane BV: A lot of your stories are based in places you've been brought up in, basically derived from memories of these places. Are your stories too derived from memory/ experience or simply observations?  Sucharita: Not really brought up in. These are places culled from memory or imagination. We draw from memory subconsciously or consciously, it molds our lived and imagined experiences and as writers, we fold them into our stories, giving them shape and form, sometimes unknowingly. Many of the places, situations, or even characters in my stories are spaces I inhabited in, people I conversed with, but primarily in my mind while writing the story. Often, they took shape as I wrote, forged by the story and its needs. However, I could perhaps find traces of these imagined spaces in real situations, fleeting glimpses. For example, the Bengal countryside that I write about in some stories is based on remembered narratives from my father who continued to miss his village in undivided Bengal till his death. Political and social issues form an important part of my narratives, so these concerns seep into the stories consciously.   BV: The narratives in Cast Out and Other Stories are based on dilemmas that are realistic and relevant in our lives. However, some may find them dark or defeatist. What do you identify yourself with? A realist, a defeatist, or an idealist looking to bring about change in some underlying issues of the society? Sucharita: It’s tough to segregate the many selves into rigid categories. Some of my friends describe me as an activist masquerading as a writer. At the core of my writing are real issues, but the stories themselves are about individuals confronting these issues, coming face to face with the self, often through the lens of the supernatural, the otherworldly. So, I see myself as an idealist negotiating the world as a realist. Fiction has the immense potential to provide possibilities that real life may not always make obvious. So, if the actions, decisions, and responses of my characters help readers find ways to negotiate the reality of their lives, my stories would have served their purpose.   BV: Budding writers are often put down by the struggles of writers to establish themselves. What is your advice to them?  Sucharita: Writing is about struggling to find words, find a voice, and find a market. The journey should justify the end, not the other way round, for then one would stop writing, painting, sculpting, gardening. It is tough to find a footing in the publishing world, but thankfully, for writers today looking to find a niche, there are scores of literary journals and outlets looking for fiction and poetry. They do not always pay, but they help you find homes for your creations, find a readership, and hone your skills. So budding writers have to write, to read, to write again. For more such updates, follow us on Facebook and  Instagram. Download our magazine Spunky Indian for exclusive stories.