Hi everyone! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted in my blog, and I’m trying something new here, so bear with me. The other day I was discussing with a friend about the things that we hated doing when we were in school that we now sort of wish we could get a chance to dedicate some time to. My answer came to me almost immediately: book reports. 

I realize now that a large part of the reason I hated them so much was the fact that I nearly always had the book I was to read and analyze chosen for me. I let the idea simmer in my mind for a while and then suddenly, it hit me. I’m literally a part of a community of writers that are constantly giving me new material to read and think over. Why not try to do some fic reports?

Hopefully, this will be the first of many installments as I read more of the fantastic work you all have shared with us! Without further ado, here is the first of the series, based on Shreya’s wonderful one-shot. 

@sibilant's reorienting and the art of the self portrait.

There’s a lot to love about reorienting at first glance. I’ve read it something like five times now and each re-read has only served to open up more of the genius of the piece. Of the many lessons to be pulled from the story, I think the most important is the viability and power of writing directly from the well of your own experiences.

It’s no secret that I write a great deal about the things that I’ve gone through in my life, in one way or another. Many of my characters are composites of myself and people I’ve met, representations of myself at different points in my life, and sometimes, just your straight-forward self-insert. 

There’s a temptation to decry this impulse as something to repress. We’ve all read stories in which the main characters feel like overly perfect, impossibly lucky exaggerations of the writer’s personality. And, of course, there’s a fine line to walk, and plenty of opportunities to misstep, like in any other sort of writing. But on the occasion that you find a story that feels so personal, emotive, and--above all else--honest, you’ll find that you’ll struggle to forget it. 

Which brings me back to reorienting. The story takes place in the Indian city of Jaipur, and you soon come to understand that the location, rather than being just a setting, is as much an essential element of the story as anything else. Padma’s reaction to her surroundings are at the heart of the first half of the story, and the cultural context is everything -

“In England, her leather biker’s jacket and tight black jeans acted like protective armor. Here, they acted like a neon sign announcing that she did not belong--not when she was surrounded by aunties in colorful saris with flowers pinned artfully in their buns.”

Shreya masterfully places us in her shoes with description enough to allow me to close my eyes and feel exactly what she wants me to feel. There’s a specificity of the cultural and interpersonal dynamics written into the story that sends a chill down my spine. It’s like the author has taken the time to let you into their life like a close friend--the sort of writing that makes you want to read on, and know more. 

reorienting is a story of sisterhood, above all else. Both sisters have lost their footing, and both are searching for the place that they belong in the world. Their relationship isn’t perfect, but anyone with siblings can relate to the unconditional way they accept one another--even when things are complicated. 

I’m not sure how many of the events of the story were fiction, or whether the dialogue was slightly different than what was really said, but one thing is certain--the emotion in the piece came from a place of honesty. I didn’t have to look very far to find out that Shreya really is a twin. I wasn’t surprised to learn that, and I smiled to myself as I did.

I’ve always described my writing as a public therapy session in which I am both therapist and patient. It’s comforting to know that someone else out there is sharing moments from their life with the rest of us. There’s art in giving a piece of yourself to the world. In doing so, Shreya has written one of the stories that’ll stick with you long after you put it down. I couldn’t give a more enthusiastic recommendation. 

(some quick endnotes follow - )

Hello all! I’m always on the lookout for more stories to put a spotlight on, so feel free to recommend some for me that you find thematically rich and especially unique. I’d love to read your favorites I hope you enjoyed this fic report, and a huge thanks goes to Shreya for allowing me to write about her awesome story!