#Authorinterview with Ekta R. Garg
Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Alma Boucher is talking with Ekta R. Garg, author of The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories.
FQ: What motivated you to compile The Witch’s Apprentice and Other Stories? Was there a particular moment or concept that ignited the creation of this collection?
GARG: I’d written three of the five original stories a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the entire process of creating them: the writing, of course, but also how they explored those little spaces in the original stories that were never addressed before. When I started considering what project to tackle for my third book, I realized that I could turn this exploration into a collection and that the underlying theme would be how I filled in the gaps of the fairy tales and nursery rhymes we all know and love. Classic nursery rhymes, in particular, are really interesting, because they tell a story but do it with such few details that I think there’s an easy opportunity to round them out.
FQ: In “The Witch’s Apprentice,” the apprentice takes a deliberately self-interested action to succeed in her evaluation. What prompted you to prioritize themes of selflessness and decision-making in the apprentice’s journey?
GARG: In many ways, I’m an incredibly practical writer. I think this comes from my journalism training where we’re required to look for the five Ws and one H—the “who, what, where, when, why” and “how”—of the facts before we can write an article or report on it in a broadcast format. Because of this, whenever I start anything creative, even if it’s about apprentice witches :>, it’s important for me to figure out these elements of my characters and story worlds.
For “The Witch’s Apprentice,” I spent time figuring out the process of the apprenticeship. How long would that training take? What would it entail? What kind of “final exam” or other tangible effort would an apprentice need to complete in order to prove they were capable of being sent into the world as a full-fledged witch? Who would do that granting? Once I answered those questions, it was easy for me to do the worldbuilding for this short story.
The theme of decision-making, particularly when it comes to making a decision solely for one’s self, was critical to show how the protagonist apprentice goes from what her cousin wants her to do and be to what she wants to be for herself. It’s also important because the protagonist’s cousin ultimately thinks she’s not capable of anything; in order for the apprentice to believe she was capable, she had to make decisions that would bring her to that realization. Those decisions needed to help her move away from what she thought would be the ideal—the High Witch—and into the place where she would learn and believe she was enough.
FQ: Several stories in the collection reinterpret or expand upon classic fairy tale motifs. What is it about this genre that captivates you, and how do you approach reinventing familiar archetypes?
GARG: I love fairy tales! As a kid, I loved the typical things many little girls do: the tiaras, the clothes, that sense that a princess is beautiful and kind and loved by all and that no matter what challenges come her way, she’ll always have a happy ending. When I was a teenager, I was drawn in by the romance of these same things. I also grew up on a steady diet of Bollywood films, and anyone who’s watched any of the classics or the Hindi movies of the 1990s knows that the fairy tale idea was pretty much baked into each one. So romance and fairy tales were ideas and structures that I absorbed fully.
As an adult, though, and especially as a published author, I appreciate just how universal fairy tales are. Not only do they tell us stories that we can relate to—Cinderella just wanted to be loved!—but also it’s interesting how universal they are in terms of culture. Most fairy tales that we think of in the Western tradition of storytelling, such as from the Brothers Grimm, are actually found in other countries. Some of the details of the stories might be different or culture-specific, but at their core they’re the same tales. There’s something so special about that, because it means that no matter where in the world my readers might be they have something in their immediate experiences that allows these stories, and by extension my stories, to be relatable.
For this particular micro-collection, I didn’t want to reinvent or “fracture” anything. Many incredibly talented authors have done this with classic tales in the past; the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer or Wicked by Gregory Maguire are great examples of this. Authors like them and so many others have taken the familiar and given them new twists and turns by changing the genders of characters or the genre. They’ve offered really thoughtful, fun examinations of these classics, and I’ve enjoyed reading them.
I wanted to challenge myself with something different, however. My purpose in this collection was to take the stories exactly how they were written and to fill in the gaps of those original tales. As I say in my author’s note at the beginning of the book, it’s the equivalent of moving into a new home and leaving all the walls up but finding a new purpose for some of the rooms or maybe even a hidden alcove. What happens when you take what’s already there but look at it differently? What changes about the existing space? That’s the way I looked at the original stories and then wrote my own to complement them.
FQ: The collection explores themes of power, identity, and destiny. How do you maintain a balance between fantastical elements and these profoundly human concerns?
GARG: It’s easy to do, because the original fairy tales and nursery rhymes are about profoundly human concerns. That’s what makes them universal and ubiquitous. It’s why, even today, filmmakers and authors and songwriters and other artists are still trying to find new ways to look at these timeless tales, many of which are centuries old. The source material is so rich that I can, with my writer’s imagination, go in and play “What if.” In fact, in some ways, there’s some relief in not having to create the base for the story; the characters, the plot, the outcome, all of it is already there. My job in this collection was to go in and find something new, which was an exciting challenge all on its own.
FQ: Did you have a particular story in this collection that you enjoyed writing the most? Which one presented the greatest challenge, and for what reasons?
GARG: It’s hard to say that I enjoyed writing one over the other, because they were all such fun to write. I did wrestle with “The Beauty Before She Sleeps” during the drafting process. The story went through so many iterations, because I was having a tough time figuring out where to start. This combined homage to “Sleeping Beauty” and “Goldilocks” had so many potential opening scenes that it was hard to pick one, and every time I did the story became much longer than what I’d originally envisioned. I had several false starts before I finally found a rhythm and then was able to go back and get the opening that I wanted.
FQ: In “The Honor of Emperors and Thieves,” you expertly weave humor and satire, creating an engaging and sharp narrative. What message were you aiming to convey through the misadventures of Simon and Samuel?
GARG: Honestly, that these two guys were like anyone else trying to make a paycheck and get through the day. 😀 I was also really intrigued by the fact that the original story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” never tells us where the two conmen who made his “clothes” come from. More than that, when the emperor is marching down the lane without a single stitch of clothing on, the conmen get away long before anyone has the guts to say anything.
When I was growing up, the story was used as a cautionary tale about the dangers of extreme vanity, but when I reread it as a possible source story for this collection the part of the story that stuck with me was that these random people come to the emperor and are so charming that they can talk their way into his palace and convince him and all his advisors that they’re actually designing and creating a wardrobe. No one stops to question them, ask for references, or wonder why on earth they’re asking for so much money when there’s not a single spool of thread to be found anywhere!
That kind of brashness and borderline arrogance was fun to play with, but, again, due to my analytical nature of writing, I had to figure out where these guys came from and why they would do what they did. Once I came up with the thieves’ guild, it was easy to build Simon and Samuel’s adventures from there.
I was also well aware that this story sits between two darker, more serious stories in the collection. I placed it there to offer readers a little bit of a reprieve from those pieces.
FQ: Your stories frequently highlight characters who are often overlooked or underestimated. How deliberate was this choice, and what do you hope readers will take away from these portrayals?
GARG: I didn’t set out to deliberately write about overlooked characters, but the fact that this is how the collection turned out shows that there’s still so much space in the original stories for exploration. Every retelling or fracturing of a fairy tale handles its own way of filling out some of these details, and I enjoyed doing the same.
More than anything, I want readers to have fun with these stories. I hope they’re inspired by the book to revisit some of their favorite classics. I included a note at the end of the book telling readers that if they enjoyed the collection, they should let me know what some of their favorite classic stories are so that I might be able to write a new short story based on that for a future book!
FQ: Can you describe your writing process for one of the stories in the collection, from the initial concept to the final draft?
GARG: “Denying Hamelin” was a really interesting writing experience. It’s the shortest of all the stories in the book—really flash fiction more than anything else—but for me, it’s the one that carries the most weight. The original Grimm story about the Pied Piper of Hamelin focuses on the piper and the kids who went with him. When I reread the story to prep for this collection, I couldn’t help being struck by the fact that the parents got left behind. As a parent myself, it’s challenging to watch the news or to listen to how my children have to practice shooter drills at school and know that every day I send them into a world that could potentially do them harm. Even if it’s not a major harm that’s life-threatening, just the fact that they might disagree with a friend or have an encounter with a teacher or coach that they think is unfair can sometimes be difficult. Parents want the best for our kids. We want them to grow up safe and healthy and happy and excited about their futures. The world, however, doesn’t always agree with that desire.
In rereading about the Pied Piper, I kept thinking about the parents and how they must be beyond devastated that their children are missing. They never found out what happened to them. Then I did some research and discovered that the story of the Pied Piper is rooted in fact. On June 26, 1284, a piper wearing colorful (“pied”) clothes played his pipe and lured 130 children away from Hamelin, Germany. Unfortunately, the most important artifacts telling us why this happened have been lost, although we do have several pieces confirming that the event did actually take place. Through the centuries and retellings, the story took on a larger-than-life quality and new information (like the fact that the piper originally came to lure the rats away from the town and then wasn’t paid like the townspeople promised him they would.) The modern-day town of Hamelin has embraced this part of its identity and is a tourist destination for all things piper-related.
As I read and researched, I kept coming back to the parents and how they must have felt. That piece about not paying the piper also stuck in my mind, and I knew the story had to have a “call and response” setup between the past and the present time in the story world. I also wanted the story to be short, because I wanted it to have maximum emotional impact in the least amount of space. Lastly, unlike the other stories that are more standard prose, I leaned into a more lyrical approach for this story. I paid close attention to the images readers would get to experience to dial into the quiet resignation these parents feel after having to face another year of their children being gone. Also, it’s the story that went through the fewest drafts, because it was one of those rare cases that when I finished writing it the first time, I knew it was close to being complete as I created it.
FQ: The tone of your narratives combines whimsy with emotional resonance. How do you achieve that balance in your writing?
GARG: For me, the character is the most important element of writing. The plot, the story, the conflict and tension, all of that and the other craft elements are built around the protagonist and the relationships that person has with the other people in the piece, including and especially the antagonist. Emotional resonance comes from knowing that every single thing that happens does so because of how the protagonist acts, reacts, reflects, and changes. Without the main character doing those four things time after time, the plot won’t move forward, the story won’t ring loud with emotions, and the conflict is never encountered. I ground myself in the emotions of my characters, living their tale as they’re living it, and I’m actively accessing my own emotions and life experiences while I’m writing so the characters’ emotions ring true.
For the whimsical side, I just let myself go in and have fun. Writing is my playground. It’s where I allow myself to be whatever I want. I get to play pretend for my career, and I don’t put too many boundaries on myself while I do so. In stories set within fairy tale structures, there’s automatically going to be a sense of whimsy because of that genre so I just actively dial all of that up to 10 and see what happens next.
FQ: Are you planning to create more stories within the same universe as The Witch’s Apprentice? What projects are you currently working on?
GARG: I don’t have plans right now to write again within the universe of the title story, but I absolutely would do another collection similar to this. It was such a blast to play the “What if” game and to challenge myself in this way, because I have the freedom to do whatever I want with the characters I create but I’m also bound by the original stories. For some, that structure might feel restrictive. For me, with the parameters already set, I get to force myself to be really creative within them.
As for current projects, I’m toying with a couple of ideas for my next book. I don’t have one nailed down yet, although I do have a printout sitting on my desk of an opening scene. Periodically, I’ll turn to that printout and make a few notes on it. But I’m not sure yet if that’s going to be the next project or something else will. When I have something concrete, however, I’ll be sure to announce it so my wonderful readers—who enable me to do this as my life’s work—will get to follow the journey.
Thanks for the opportunity to be interviewed!
