In this episode of Bruin to Bruin, contributor Srinidhi Nagarajan interviews 2024 graduate Arushi Avachat, who recently published her debut young adult novel “Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment.” Avachat discusses her journey as a writer from childhood through college, the process of writing her Bollywood-inspired rom-com and her current pursuit of master’s degrees at Oxford as a Marshall Scholar. She shares insights about the importance of South Asian representation in young adult literature and offers advice for aspiring writers balancing creative pursuits with academics.
Srinidhi Nagarajan: Hello, and welcome to Bruin to Bruin. On this show, we sit down with members of the UCLA community to hear their stories and the advice they have for students. My name is Srinidhi Nagarajan, and I’m a podcast contributor at the Daily Bruin. Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Arushi Avachat. Arushi is a 2024 UCLA graduate who majored in English and political science with a minor in South Asian studies, and she’s now pursuing joint master’s degrees at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar. She’s an accomplished writer who recently published her debut novel, “Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment,” and is deeply engaged in the fields of political communication and advocacy. In our conversation, we explore Arushi’s inspiration for becoming a writer, how her time at UCLA shaped her craft, the journey of bringing her first book to life and what’s next for her creative and academic pursuits. Arushi, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome to the show.
Arushi Avachat: Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here.
SN: Of course. I’m so excited to talk about your journey as a writer and dive into your new book, which I can’t wait to read. But before we get into the book, I’d love to start by taking a little bit of a step back. So, can you tell us a little bit about what first drew you to storytelling and when writing became more than just a hobby for you – and how those early experiences shaped your decision to pursue writing as a career.
AA: Absolutely. I’ve been writing since I was a child. I’ve been writing stories for fun since around age six or seven. I was a huge bookworm. So much of my childhood was just spent in libraries. And it was a very natural shift for me to start writing my own stories. I would say around middle school is when I started pursuing novel writing more seriously. I was very online. I’m part of a Wattpad generation of authors, so all of my preteen, early teenage years were definitely spent on that platform. And I essentially jumped from unfinished manuscript to unfinished manuscript, from around ages 10 or 11 through 16. I was always so excited by the very early stages of writing, when I would get an idea and get so mesmerized by it and just jump in headfirst without a plan, and that was my process for many years until Arya which is the very first book I ever finished writing. I’d had this process of trial and error and always abandoning projects – major commitment issues – for a while, so, when Arya came to me, I knew that I really wanted to take my time with her and, outline that process more – and I was very devoted to seeing this through. So, I wrote a short story my freshman year of high school that I was very attached to. I wanted to expand that into a novel, and I took around like four years to very slowly begin to tease that out from short story to novel form and I had a lot of fun.
SN: That’s incredible. Yeah, I love the concept of having this idea that you explore in a more concise way with your short stories and then just really getting inspired by specific aspects of it. Have you had maybe other short stories before that you were excited about and wanted to pursue in more of a long form setting? Or would you say it was this short story, was the one for you where you thought, wow, this is the one that I want to make into a bigger project?
AA: Um, that’s a good question. So, this was one of my first pieces of short fiction in general, which was unique. I was so tired of my really bad habit of abandoning manuscripts that I was like, “Maybe I just need to focus on a smaller thing that I can handle.” So after spending all of middle school trying to write a novel, reaching around the 10,000 word mark and jumping ship, I was more intentional about pursuing shorter-term projects. And, I wrote that short story, felt super attached, and then I wanted to learn from my mistakes and really take my time with Arya.
SN: Yeah, I think that’s incredible. Just reflecting on your writing journey and thinking, “What can I do to act on a more manageable goal and one that, you know, will allow me to really see a project through?” I think that’s amazing. And I know that you’ve also talked about how experiences as a young writer impact the way you view writing – things like contest culture and other stereotypical aspects of the writing world. And so I’d love to hear a bit about how engaging with those things has impacted your journey and, you know, the way that you view yourself as a writer?
AA: Oh, gosh, yeah, um, that’s–that was definitely a big part of my young adulthood experience in the writing space. When I was so young, when I was in middle school, I was really just hungry for community. Writing is a very solitary act, traditionally, and I wanted to surround myself with other writers, and contests and those kinds of and–programs where teen writers were recognized was one of the first avenues where I got to connect with other writers. I have a very, like, love-hate relationship with that space, um, I won an award when I was 13 for a novel in progress (https://www.dailycal.org/archives/young-authors-writing-contest-winner-arushi-avachat-carves-out-niche-for-herself-in-literature/article_742c57fe-0330-515e-bd58-744ff2f64038.html). And that was.
SN: That’s incredible!
AA: Thank you. It was a really exciting moment for me because it was one of the first times I started to consider creative writing as something more than just this fun activity I did in my bedroom after, and like, instead of doing my homework. So it was–it was definitely significant in that way. I think just getting some type of external affirmation when you’re so young, is valuable in terms of building confidence and building community. I think I took it for what it was, I think in retrospect, I’m not sure that, essentially, like, assigning worth to my stories by those kinds of metrics was the most productive use of my time, and, I think the biggest thing to search for during those years, I would say, is community, more than, like, awards and stuff. But I did fall into that trap a little bit in high school. And I was, like, on the application grind every, every couple months. I was like, I need to submit to this publication. I need to submit to this contest. And it was really, I don’t know, like, what I was doing this for because it’s not as though, like, my teenage writing awards helped me get a deal with Arya in any capacity. But it felt so big and important to me then. So I don’t know that I’d recommend that path. But it was valuable as a 13-year-old to just, like, feel like this was something I could pursue and I could be good at. And sometimes you need to hear it from someone other than, you know, yourself. So that was valuable.
SN: 100%. Yeah, I think it’s fascinating how it seems like very much of a double-edged sword, right? Like, on one hand, it gives you the validation that, wow, I might actually be able to take this further than it just – being a hobby, cause people like it and people are finding value out of it. But on the other hand, it’s just kind of like going into it can lead you to create this pattern with yourself where you start to define how good your work is based off of whether or not it’s recognized, right? And so that can be harmful. But it seems like you really extracted the good elements from it. And, you know, were super inspired by the feedback that you received to kind of take it this far and grace all of us with your beautiful writing, and your new book, which I am so, so excited to get into later.
But before that, I’d love to transition from your younger years to your time at UCLA, because it seems like that was so formative for you as a writer. And I’m really curious about how studying in the English department here specifically influenced your storytelling and how it shaped the way in which you approach your work in general.
AA: Yeah, absolutely. I am a huge, huge fan of the UCLA English department. I can’t say enough good things about it. I can say like, which is unique because I did not love my time with the poli sci department. And I have a lot of, you know, negative opinions of UCLA as an administration but the English department specifically, I can rave about. I was in the creative writing concentration. Many of my best friends from UCLA I found in those classes. It was a really great community for me, especially because UCLA, obviously, as you know, is an enormous school, but the English department’s relatively small.
The creative writing program’s even smaller. Every creative writing workshop I took was 12 people, so you kind of get to know everyone. So that was really lovely, and my–my first, this is–I’m getting on a little bit of a tangent, but because I graduated in, in COVID from high school, the only time I’d visited a college campus was for a creative writing program I did called YoungArts (https://youngarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-YoungArts-Winners.pdf). And I went to UCLA for that. So it felt very full circle that like the only college I’d been to was UCLA. I’d been there for a creative writing program. And then I studied creative writing during undergrad. And yeah, I really loved my workshop experience. Lots of like funny little stories and like, comments I can share in private, about those experiences, for sure. And no good thing is just good. Like there’s obviously like other experiences as well.
But, my personal experience by and large with the English department was just really lovely. A couple of my critique partners to this day are from the creative writing program. And I think the discipline that I got from the workshop structure was really valuable because, recreationally in writing, I am, I’m a very, uh, slow writer. I’m very susceptible to taking very long breaks from my writing and just the discipline of writing every day, and treating my work as work, and treating myself, taking myself very seriously as a writer is something I think I learned in those classes.
SN: Yeah. And that’s such an important skill. I know, um, one of my favorite quotes that keeps me going during difficult times is that no matter how much you love something, it’s not always about motivation, right? It’s also about how can you get yourself to sit down and, you know, sit, stare at the blank cursor and be like, “It’s okay, let me just start typing, like try my best, see what comes out of it.” And then keep going from there. So, that’s such an incredible mindset that it looks like this department equipped you with. I’d also love to hear about your interest in activism and political communication since I know apart from writing, that’s something that you’re really passionate about and maybe also how it intersects with your writing and inspires it through the characters you develop or just the way that you approach writing in general, just how those two things really come together for you.
AA: Yeah. That’s a great question. I’ve been really involved with social justice efforts since I was in high school. That’s been kind of a through line for me in my life, just the way creative writing has been. And I think because I write for young adults, that responsibility is always very strong with me. I think it’s a very special thing to write for teenagers, and the reading you do as a young adult and as an adolescent just has a way of shaping your sense of self and your worldview in a really profound manner. Which is why I’ve always felt really strongly about the need for positive representation in young adult literature – I think it’s really special to write for young brown girls.
When I was growing up, and like, this was just 10 years ago, so the publishing landscape has definitely shifted really strongly just in the last decade and YA has been a pioneering space for increasing representation. But when I was growing up, there were maybe like, two or three books I can think of with girls of color as leads. I’m thinking of Jenny Han, Nicola Yoon. And love to those authors, like, so much. I loved their books, as a, as a teenager. But overwhelmingly, YA was a very white space and it suggests that only white women are allowed access to these kinds of beautiful, coming-of-age love stories and, only a certain demographic essentially deserves that type of media and deserves that type of content. So, it makes me really proud to see such a big shift and see more and more authors of color land really amazing book deals and get to share their own stories and uplift their own communities. That’s so valuable and special to me. And I had so much fun doing that with Arya. And I take the responsibility of writing stories that center young brown women, so, so dearly. It feels like a really lovely gift that I get to write those stories. And I feel so inspired by all of the other brown authors who came before me, and made space for me to do the same. I–when I worked at the Daily Bruin years ago, I interviewed Sabaa Tahir (https://dailybruin.com/2022/03/24/qa-author-sabaa-tahir-talks-childhood-inspiration-behind-all-my-rage) who’s like one of my favorite authors, love her, love her bad. And I got to talk to her about like how special it was for me to read “All My Rage,” to read her body of work in general. And in addition to her, there’s so many, you know, South Asian women I could list. But I think in, yeah, that–that responsibility is really special to me.
SN: Yeah, that’s just so beautiful, being tasked with the important job of helping other young people feel seen in the media that they consume. Especially people like us who may not have grown up with a lot of that kind of representation when we were younger and then deciding to step up and say, okay, I’m going to actively work on changing that is such a beautiful thing. And we are so so lucky to have authors like you who are so committed to that, and are going to continue to change the world in that way. I would absolutely love to start diving into your book now, the long-awaited topic of today. So, I’d love for you to give our listeners a quick synopsis of Arya, especially since you’ve woven in so many beautiful cultural elements. I was reading some excerpts and the second I saw Bole Chudiyan and all these lehenga descriptions of families helping each other get ready for the wedding, I was like, oh, my goodness I feel so, so seen and I just could not put it down. So it’s clear that this book has so many incredible themes. And so I’d love for you to tell us just a quick summary of what it’s about.
AA: For sure. Arya is a Bollywood-inspired young adult rom-com. It follows high school senior Arya whose life gets a Bollywood spin when her older sister gets engaged. Her sister’s home for the first time in three years, and Shaadi planning is full of family drama, and Arya really can’t catch a break. She’s dealing with a lot of pressure at school, going through a bit of a rivals-to-friends-to-lovers romance on the student council. And she’s just navigating the first semester of her senior year alongside this very dramatic, messy backdrop of wedding planning.
I had so much fun writing Arya. It was very much a wish fulfillment book. I kept trying to write the story that I felt such a longing to read. And because I was working on Arya all of high school and my first couple years of university, I really feel like I grew up alongside her. And she’s a very, very special character to me.
SN: Oh my god, that just sounds so, so incredible. And honestly, like the book I was waiting for all my, you know, young adolescent life and coming up to now. Just feeling so, so seen and heard, through the themes and the structure and just kind of all of the aspects of Bollywood movies that are always so exciting to me and make them my comfort.
AA: Yeah.
SN: So I love how you brought that to life. Were there aspects of your own family dynamics or South Asian heritage that inspired these themes and maybe like specific experiences you’ve had that shaped the specific story that you want to tell? Cause I think that is something I love hearing about – how writers’ personal experience, really flows into their stories. So yeah, I’d love if you could talk a little bit about that.
AA: Yeah, I – Arya to me is a story about two sisters and their relationship with their mom. And I love writing about the different roles women have for each other in their lives, and navigating sisterhood and intergenerational relationships was definitely something that was really important to me.
And the kind of Bollywood structure of the story felt very fitting. I think the concept of weddings as a site to bring out all of this intense emotional family strife is a huge motif in Hindi cinema. And that was something I wanted to explore. I’m very, very close to my older sister. And Arya and Alina’s relationship was really, really fun for me to write. And it was also a challenge. I get asked pretty often if there was a character that I really struggled writing. And for me, I think that was Alina, who’s Arya’s older sister, just because I was very conscious of my own like biases coming across in my writing. And my experience is as the younger sister. So I’m very sympathetic to younger sisters.
And I think most readers come away with–or I-I actually, can’t speak for the readers, but I wanted to be wary of my younger sibling experience clouding my writing. And I did my best to lean on my own experiences, but at the same time, employ a good amount of distance so I could create an authentic, balanced story.
SN: Yeah, that concept is so fascinating to me, how I actually wasn’t very aware of the process that goes into writers separating themselves from their experiences to put forth a more unbiased perspective? Because I feel like I would have just expected that, writers, they let the wind take them where it will in the sense of being like, this is how I feel about a certain topic. I’m just going to convey that in my writing. So I’d love to hear about what that process has been like for you in terms of achieving that distance and providing a more, I don’t know if neutral is necessarily the right word, but maybe unbiased perspective on some of these issues in your writing. I think that would be super fascinating to hear about.
AA: Yeah. I mean, every work is different. I think, with, with Arya, because I had so much time to sit with this project, that time gave me distance and that was helpful. And I think fiction in general, for me, I’m not a person that has a strong interest in writing nonfiction or like narratives or memoirs. But fiction for me has always been a really nice space to work through, my personal experiences, and kind of process through fiction and just by assigning different conflicts to your characters and allowing them to process on the page, I think is, is helpful. And, you kind of, you play God as a writer, right? Like you, you decide everything that happens and everything’s in your control. So, with that power, I think as a writer, like it’s, it’s helpful for me to kind of see how different conflicts and–and dynamics play out.
SN: That’s incredible. Yeah I – it seems like writing this novel must have been such a real journey for you. I know that you were working on it during a challenging year right, during the pandemic, and I’d love to hear about what role writing played for you during that time? I know you previously described it as a lifeline – something that kept you going during such a difficult time and – yeah what did it mean to you during a time when there were so many uncertainties and I feel like everyone was looking for something to ground them and keep them going?
AA: Definitely. I finished writing Arya essentially my fall quarter of my freshman year of–at UCLA and a little bit into my winter quarter. And that was a really challenging time in my life for like many, many reasons. I felt like everything was on fire. So many different spheres of my life were very chaotic. And Arya was one thing that was totally in my control. And I kept thinking of this project as me making, like a good thing happen for myself. It was a gift I could give to myself, just the pride I would feel in, in finishing a first draft because I’ve been writing since I was seven and I’ve abandoned at least a dozen novel manuscripts. So just to, to finish Arya would be the, the best gift I could give myself in a, in a really challenging time. And that was a– a really great escape and really great thing to look forward to, throughout that, that time for sure.
SN: That’s so beautiful. Just, you know, telling yourself, “This is something that I’m going to give myself and let myself have regardless of what’s happening in the world. This is mine and it’s my special baby and I’m going to grow her and I’m going to see her through.” I think that is so, so incredible. Were there any other highs and lows of the writing process that especially stick out to you? Ones that are super memorable and kind of come to mind immediately when you think about your writing journey, because it’s so filled with such incredible moments, but also ones where you’re like, oh, I really got to rely on that discipline to keep myself going.
AA: Yeah. I think maybe revision would be that for me.
Cause revision was a beast I had never encountered because I had never finished a first draft to revise. So, that I had like some framework to go off of when I was drafting Arya because I had been trying to write novels for such a long time. But I think finishing the second draft when I had kind of ironed out the major kinks and finished my primary structural edits, that was really powerful for me, and made me feel really excited because I felt like a real author now that I’d gone through a revised draft.
SN: Yeah. I love that so much. Having your initial ideas, thinking, “Oh, this is a little chaotic, this needs some fixing, but then, bringing it all together and being like, oh, it is cohesive and beautiful and it’s just gonna become something incredible.” So I love that so much. Congrats on the publication of your book. This is just such a beautiful accomplishment, and I cannot wait to see where you’re going to go, in the future as a writer.
I would also love to talk a little bit about your experiences in Oxford right now. So, I know that after your years at UCLA, you moved across the world to start a new life, studying at Oxford under the Marshall Scholarship (https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/arushi-avachat-2024-marshall-scholar) which is so, so incredible. I think that just goes to show your hard work and your dedication and how much you value your work and your craft. And so I’d love to hear about how these first few months in England have been for you. If you’ve found any new sources of inspiration, just what your life is like now.
AA: Yeah, for sure. I love Oxford. I’ve been having a really great first few months. I did break my ankle like as soon as I got here. We can laugh about it now because it’s been a couple months and I’m getting back on my feet literally.
SN: Oh my goodness, that sounds awful. Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you’re doing better.
AA: Yeah, it was. I had like a week of a very exciting first week and then I played basketball for the first time in a couple months and immediately broke my ankle. But aside from my injury, Oxford has been really lovely. My course is eight people, which is really intimate, and we get to know everyone really well. I’m really enjoying working on my dissertation. I’m writing about the commercial romance novel, so very true to my line of work. And yeah, I’m also one of my editor’s siblings, just happened to also be at Oxford. My editor emailed me once I told her that I accepted my place here, that another young adult novelist that she edits is also at Oxford.
So we’ve become besties and we write together all the time. So I’m finding a lot of community here, and I love meeting other writers and lots of very beautiful writing spaces are about. So I love that.
SN: Wow. It sounds like the perfect mix of everything that your younger self would have hoped for. So, I love that so much for you. It’s just this experience seems like it’s so full of so many exciting opportunities, but balancing academics, creative projects, it must be a lot of work. And so I’m curious about what kind of helps you stay grounded and motivated when you have so many responsibilities, because I’m sure that’s something that you had to deal with as a college student as well. And so I think that is always something that, that I love to ask about.
AA: Yeah. Um, I feel like I need to ask someone about that because I don’t think I’m staying very grounded. Whenever I’m on deadline, whether like for Arya that was like edit deadlines, and now I’m on deadline for my second book. It’s due on Dec. 2. So I actually need to be like chained to a desk. Yeah I don’t think I’m, I’ve been very balanced. I just write as much as I can whenever I can. And try to, of course keep my love for my work protected from any like professional requirements and professional pressures I have, which is a, is a learning process.
But, I think the one biggest thing I would say is I need to always remember to socialize and I need to just not write in isolation. I think that makes me a little crazy and stir-crazy. But, it can feel a little too indulgent when I’m, when I have these requirements to like make time for myself to hang out with friends and have fun. But that’s necessary to fuel the creative spirit and all of that. So, yeah, but I, I would love to, to talk to someone who has it together a bit more than me.
SN: Yeah, I totally resonate with you. I think, whenever exam season comes up around here, I always find myself just locked up in my dorm or in YRL, just grinding. And it’s so hard to just remember that, oh, actually this isn’t my whole life and there are all these other things outside and I have to make time for them. So I think, as you said, scheduling in time for socializing and all of that just helps you remember that your life is more than the things you’re working on, which I think is incredible advice.
Looking ahead, what are your dreams for your writing career? Hearing about, you know, your new book deal and everything is getting me so excited about where you’re kind of set to go from here. And so, where do you see yourself taking writing? Are there any other personal goals or passions that you’re excited to pursue? What, what does your future look like for you right now?
AA: Yeah, I definitely plan to always keep writing. I’ve been a writer my whole life and, and I have no intention of, of stopping that. I know that I will probably work in policy for a while. That’s my other primary interest. And I feel pretty good about balancing both my publishing and policy careers. And in terms of the content of my books themselves, I feel just very creatively energized. I love writing young adult. I love writing romance, and I also have an interest in, adult literary fiction, in historical fantasy, in adult rom-coms. I feel really excited about all the different directions, and different types of projects I want to pursue. I think the through line will be, I’ll always write for brown women and I’ll always want to write joyful stories. That’s why I love romance and why I love YA because hope and joy is the functioning heart of, of both categories. And I think it’s really special to, to write books that can be comforting to readers. That makes me really proud and really happy. So, lots of different genres I’m interested in pursuing. But, those through lines I think will remain.
SN: I love that so much. I love how you really see yourself staying grounded in specific values and the purpose that you have with your writing while also seeing that potential for, for expansion with angles to, to take that. So I think that is so beautiful. And as our last question, as we wrap up here, I would love to hear about what advice you have for students at UCLA who are pursuing their own big projects alongside academic commitments, who are aspiring writers or who want to balance multiple passions, just maybe what you wish you heard at that stage or just any insights that you have. I think our listeners would absolutely love to hear.
AA: Yeah, for sure. I think the biggest thing I would say, I feel like UCLA is full of a lot of hustlers and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, I think the biggest advice I would give is to, to try and take a bit of pressure off of yourself and really center the innate joy and excitement you have for your art or for your, you know, personal projects that you’re working on. Something that was helpful for me to just internalize and keep telling myself while I was pursuing publication for Arya was that my publishing dreams were a matter of when and not if, um, cause I was always going to be a writer. I would always keep writing. No rejection would take that, take my status as a writer from me. And that was, that was really helpful to, to just keep my, my love for my craft centered, even as I was pursuing what can be a pretty dismal industry. The one guarantee as a writer is that you will be rejected. Everything else is up in the air, but you will be rejected over and over again. So, that was helpful.
SN: Arushi, it’s been so, so incredible hearing about your journey. Thank you so much for joining us on Bruin to Bruin and sharing your story. I know our listeners are going to be so inspired by your dedication to storytelling, representation, and using your voice, and we will all be cheering you on from UCLA. And I cannot wait to see what you accomplish next. Thank you so much.
Bruin to Bruin is brought to you by Daily Bruin Podcasts. You can listen to this show and all Daily Bruin podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and the audio and transcript are available at dailybruin.com. I’m Srinidhi Nagarajan. Thanks for listening.
CQ2: https://youngarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-YoungArts-Winners.pdf
CQ4: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/arushi-avachat-2024-marshall-scholar
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