Shilpi’s Comments (group member since Jul 28, 2011)

Shilpi’s comments from the Summer Reads! One-Day-Only Discussion Group group.

Shilpi wrote: "Shay and Sue, thanks so much. I'm glad you both enjoyed the book. Sue, some of my family lives on Marine Drive too, so I have many fond memories.

Kerry, I think Somer is a flawed character (aren..."

Thanks Kerry, and best wishes to you!

Susan wrote: "Shilpi, it was a pleasure to hang out a bit with you today (even virtually)! Continued success with your novels. Looking forward to reading Secret Daughter and all the books after. :-)

Cheers,..."

And you as well, Susan. Hopefully one day, we'll get the chance to do it in person! Best wishes.

Shay and Sue, thanks so much. I'm glad you both enjoyed the book. Sue, some of my family lives on Marine Drive too, so I have many fond memories.

Kerry, I think Somer is a flawed character (aren't we all?), and also a product of the times. Things were quite different in the late 70's when she married Krishnan -- multicultural marriages were rare and usually happened with the foreigner adapted to America. Similarly, the conventional wisdom on adopting kids from other countries was very different in the early 80's, when parents were told to assimilate their kids as quickly as possible to American culture so as not to feel "different." It's amazing to think of how much our collective thinking has changed in the past 30-40 years.

Hello Faith, I'm so glad to hear that. I just answered that very question on another thread, which I'm linking to here so as not to repeat myself:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/6...

Shirley, what a great story. I love getting books from friends and giving them as gifts. It feels like one of the most thoughtful gifts someone can choose for me. I hope your book club has a great discussion, and your mother enjoys it too!

Thanks Debbie!

For me, it would be ... "how much of your story is based on your life or people you know" and the answer is "very little." My life is far too undramatic to make for interesting fiction so (save for some setting details), it's mostly a product of my overactive imagination. My family and friends are safe -- they probably won't ever appear in one of my stories.

DubaiReader, the book's not quite finished yet, so at least a year :-)

TK, thanks -- that's great to hear!

Susan, SEP and Kristina -- so glad to be in the company of such great authors today!

TK wrote: "I saw you gave the Patchett 5 stars... I adore her TRUTH & BEAUTY and recommend it all the time as the kind of book to give to your best friend. (The same way I recommend your novel as the kind of ..."

TK, what an interesting question. I really enjoy hearing from readers, particularly when they make me aware of aspects of my writing that I hadn't thought about. For example, several readers have told me that they enjoy the short chapters in SECRET DAUGHTER because they can fit them into their busy life, and I've also heard people were compelled to keep reading to find out what happens at the end. While I didn't set out to write a "page-turner" or a fast-read, it's been interesting for me to hear how readers felt about these aspects.

Linda wrote: "Good Morning Shilpi!
Last night, my book club discussed Secret Daughter. We all loved the novel - I am still in awe of the multitude of themes within the novel. One of our members had never read..."

Linda, so glad your book club had a robust discussion -- those are always the best ones! If your friend is looking for other books set in India, I highly recommend A FINE BALANCE (Rohinton Mistry), GOD OF SMALL THINGS (Arundhati Roy) -- very different but both amazing books.

Hi Tamye, thanks so much. I have been so amazed by the reception to the book in (my home country) Canada. I'm in the midst of writing another novel now, though I don't have an exact date for you. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to be the first to hear:
http://www.shilpigowda.com/gowda-sign...

Autumn wrote: "Shilpi wrote: "I'm in the midst of writing my second novel, and I find my process is evolving. I usually start with a kernel of an idea about a character being in a certain kind of bind, and I writ..."

Hi Autumn, you've touched on one of the great challenges of writing, which is how much of the story to actually tell. Of course, your characters need to get from point A to point B, but reading about each of the steps along the way is often not terribly interesting. This becomes a larger challenge if your covering great periods of time (like decades) in novel.

For a new writer, I might suggest writing the story as it comes to you, and then going back and doing significant cuts. You can edit out the uninteresting parts, or boil that content down into a short description.

Alternatively, you can sketch an outline of the whole story and pick out the most critical scenes (the turning points of the plot and the characters). Write those scenes, even if you're hopping around -- then you'll have the bones of the story and you can add the connecting bits later. This way you can save yourself from a lot of overwriting than you'll have to edit out later.

Good luck!

DubaiReader, thanks so much for reading and reviewing SECRET DAUGHTER for Amazon Vine. I'm glad to hear your reading group had a great discussion as well.

Regarding the ending (and trying not to give away anything for those who haven't read it) -- I felt very strongly about not wanting the type of ending you describe (let's call it the "Hollywood" ending), because it could be either realistic or satisfying, but not both.

So I tried a few different endings to find one that would be both authentic and satisfying for the characters (and therefore, the readers). I wanted it to feel subtle and a little unexpected.

You are right that the story is inspired in part by my experience volunteering at an orphanage in India when I was a college student. I've written an essay about it here:
http://www.shilpigowda.com/gowda-behi...

I am in the midst of writing another novel now, which touches on some similar themese to SECRET DAUGHTER, but features a new story and characters.

Good morning, Goodreads! What a pleasure to have this discussion with you today. I'm a relatively new author -- my first novel, SECRET DAUGHTER, was published in 2010 and released in paperback a few months ago. It's about a little girl, born in rural India where she's unwanted, and later adopted by a couple in California. The story alternates between the two families over the next 20 years. I'm now working on my second novel, which touches on similar themes of identity, family and culture.

Of course, I'm also an avid reader. I just finished and enjoyed STATE OF WONDER, the latest by Ann Patchett, one of my favorite authors.

I'm in the midst of writing my second novel, and I find my process is evolving. I usually start with a kernel of an idea about a character being in a certain kind of bind, and I write freely as much as I can until I come to a point where I need to think it out more. By then I have a strong sense of the main characters, and I write a detailed outline of the rest of the plot. Then I keep writing until I have a solid draft. And then I revise, revise, revise. (I also revise while I'm writing the "first" draft. I definitely spend much more time in revision than in fresh writing.) I generally have a sense about what the ending should feel like, but usually play with a few different versions until I get to the right chemistry. I try to write nearly every day (5/6 days a week), a few hours at a time. I love hearing about how different every author's process is.