Articles by Ratika Deshpande

Why I Always Read Acknowledgements in a Book

I’m a completionist—when I pick up a book, I read everything that can be read in it, from the blurb on the back cover to the excerpts of positive reviews inside, the author’s note, the translator’s note, and, most importantly, the acknowledgements. Try as I might, I can’t skip the latter; I feel guilty of…
Issue Six Hundred Ninety Nine

What Writers Get Wrong About Strong Female Characters

The more I read, the more I come across “strong female characters” (SFCs) who seem all the same to me. This is worrying, because while people are similar in many ways, there are downsides if all SFCs have nothing that distinguishes them from each other in how they are strong and how they’re female. Following…
Issue Six Hundred Ninety Eight

The Single List That Finally Made Me a Productive Writer

Beginning is the second-most difficult part of writing (the most difficult is finishing what you start) and I’d been struggling with it for the last few months, when the writer’s block was rather more severe than usual. I wanted to write, but just couldn’t get started. I didn’t know where to begin. I had a…
Issue Six Hundred Ninety Seven

Some Myths about Writing Practice and Talent

Over and over, I keep coming across beliefs about talent and practice that I’ve found to be untrue, from both my experiences and those of other writers across time and space. Some of these are specific to writing, while others apply to all forms of creative work. “Genius comes fully formed”  Maggie Shipstead once said:…
Issue Six Hundred Ninety Six Special Feature

When People Don’t Recognize Your Writing Skills

Many people say that they write only for themselves, but despite trying, I’ve always been the opposite. I write not just for myself but for others. (When I write just for myself, it’s usually in my journal.) I don’t always have a specific person or purpose in mind, but I try to create good stuff…
Issue Six Hundred Ninety Five Special Feature

Don’t Just Write! Why Writers Should Have a Hobby (Other Than Writing)

Most of us start writing because it’s something we love to do. With practice and patience, what starts out as a hobby turns into a passion and then into a career, part-time or otherwise. And while that comes with its own rewards, there are also downsides to having our hobby become our work. The answer…
Issue Six Hundred Ninety Special Feature

Should Writers Write to Make a Difference?

Can writing change the world? I don’t have a definite answer to that. But I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been changed by other people’s writing and who’s also dreamed of writing something that would change someone else—if not writing something that would change the world (or at least, a significant part…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Nine Special Feature

6 Mistakes and Lessons from a Decade of Submitting

Ratika Deshpande Ten years ago, at age 15, I made my first submission to a literary magazine, submitting what I realize now was a personal essay, or perhaps even autofiction, in the Short Fiction category. It was rejected; reading it for the first time in a decade, I know why; the form was the least…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Eight Uncategorized

Does This Help Me Write?

Ratika Deshpande In the beginning, it makes sense that we look to other writers to guide us. We’re navigating a new skill, which is both an art and a craft, something that is taught but is also thought to be unteachable in some ways. So we read essays and memoirs and interviews, hoping to learn…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Six Special Feature

Respecting the Reader: Some Things Writers Should Consider

It’s our responsibility as writers to give readers a good experience when they pick up our books and stories. If we don’t respect their time and intelligence, they’re not very likely to listen to what we have to say in its entirety, let alone take a look at our other work.  But how do we…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty Five Special Issue

Why Writers Should Experiment with Writing Found Fiction

By Ratika Deshpande I’ve always been drawn to epistolary literature–stories told through letters and diaries. A couple of favorite examples include Mark Dunn’s mind-blowingly clever Ella Minnow Pea, which is told through progressively lipogrammatic letters that the residents of a small island send to each other, and Marie Brennan’s The Memoirs of Lady Trent, which…
Issue Six Hundred Eighty One

How and Why I’m Creating a Physical Archive of My Writing

Recently, I printed out around two dozen manuscripts of my short fiction and non-fiction. I’m also in the process of printing out my blog posts and the diaries I kept on a Google Doc early during the pandemic.  I’m not doing this to put together a book and submit it to a publisher. Instead, I’m…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Seven

Why I’m No Longer Chasing 100 Rejections Every Year

Back when I first decided to actively start sending my work out into the world—instead of making 2 submissions per year—Kim Liao’s viral article, “Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year” came to me at just the right time. Although I’d not been as much of a perfectionist back then, my goals were…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy Six Special Feature

Write Less to Write More: In Favor of Flash Narratives

Ratika Deshpande I love flash narratives and this is an appeal from me to you to write more flash fiction and flash nonfiction. The form came into existence long before attention spans and short-form content entered our daily vocabularies and I believe it’ll have value in the future as well. For flash (usually defined as…
Issue Six Hundred Seventy One Special Feature

The Most Important Lesson I Learned After a Decade of Writing

Once you’ve decided you’re going to write, how do you actually start? Well, you start with an idea—but where do you get those? Over a decade of writing, I’ve tried to find countless answers to that question. But there’s only one that actually holds weight, that proves its truth repeatedly, no matter how long you’ve…
Issue Six Hundred Sixty Eight

« Older Entries