Lit Khabar - Gayathri Sampath wins the India Writing Project Season 6
Dear Fellow Writers,
The results of the much-awaited India Writing Project Season 6 was announced live on Instagram. The India Writing Project is a platform that supports and celebrates budding writers across India. They provide opportunities for writers to refine their skills, showcase their creativity to a wider audience, win prizes, receive feedback, and even get published. The project aims to connect writers, nurture their talents, and help them grow in the literary world.
Gayathri Sampath’s story, Pest Control has won the grand prize in the fiction category. It’s an adorable story of a cat, (cat persons assemble) who falls in love with someone a cat is not supposed to fall in love with! Gayathri spills the beans on her writing and what winning means to her.
A huge Congratulations on winning the India Writing Project! What was your initial reaction upon learning that you won the prize?
Surprise and disbelief! I had gotten a call from the organisers the day before, checking if I planned to attend the Instagram live. They said I was on the shortlist and sure to win something. That motivated me to log in, giving up my TV time. Honestly, I was expecting an honourable mention or some such reward. Certainly not the first prize. It was my first time winning for writing!
Writers, more often than not, cannot point to a source of their ideas, but you mentioned your cat as the inspiration for this story. Can you share how the rest of the elements fell into place?
My cat is the first pet of our family. He joined us when he was two months old, a stray my sons brought home. Watching and learning about him and his behaviour has been enlightening, especially his reactions to the pigeons that frequent our house. It inspired the improbable love story between a cat and a bird. I knew I wanted romance, drama, and a tragic ending. The story then evolved over these themes over many edits and rewrites.
Can you describe your writing process? Do you have any particular rituals or habits when you write?
I don’t have a process as such. I usually type it out in Word. Nowadays, I am trying to write it out in a longhand before I type. I wrote the first draft of Pest Control by hand. I now regularly buy notebooks, pens and pencil pouches (scrolling through many Instagram posts to identify sustainable and handmade products while justifying to myself that it’s part of the creative process 😊). I have also realised that I work better if there’s a deadline. So competitions get me fired up and at my desk typing away.
How do you approach revisions and editing? Are there any particular techniques or strategies you find helpful?
Grammarly and Pro-Writing Aid are technology’s gifts to aspiring writers. I review each of the reports available in Pro-Writing and improve the statistics. Alas, I have yet to hit 100% on the reports, but I persevere till the numbers creep up. It’s frustrating and time-consuming, but it improves the output. Sometimes, when I am stuck for words or unsatisfied with a sentence construct, I use AI tools like Sudowrite, Gemini or Masterwrite. Their suggestions trigger more thoughts and avenues for exploration. I like to use Gemini for visualisation to sharpen the imagery.
These are some good recommendations. However, there are plenty of dos and don’ts of writing on the internet. But, it may not work for everybody. What are two pieces of learning that you think helped you in your writing journey?
I read a lot across all genres, which helps me appreciate good writing. It also helps me to define and refine my writing style.
Be open to criticism and suggestions. Cultivate a set of readers who will give you objective feedback whenever you beg them to read. Bribe, threaten, cajole–whatever works, but take their inputs seriously. And don’t forget to thank them afterwards for their support.
Finally, are you working on any long-form content?
My partially written magnum opus has been languishing for the last two years. I began my writing journey with the novel but got distracted by the allure of short stories. However, the outlining and synopsis of the book are complete after multiple iterations, and I hope to complete it by the end of this year.
Congratulations once again on this huge win. Looking forward to more stories from you.
Dr. Gayathri Sampath is an educator by day and writer by day and night. She switched to academics after two decades in consulting. She teaches courses on Corporate Strategy at post graduate and PhD levels. She is an avid reader averaging over 100 books a year across all genres. She is a certified life and performance coach working with CEOs and young adults. Writing is her way of both escaping from and connecting to the world around her. You can connect with her on the gram here.
You can read Gayathri’s winning story here.
Submit, Soar, Celebrate,
Lit Khabari