Aruni Kashyap: I Was Scared To Write the Ending
In this interview, author Aruni Kashyap discusses the decade that went into writing his new novel, How to Date a Fanatic.
Aruni Kashyap is an acclaimed author and translator of several novels and poetry collections and has received awards and fellowships from Harvard, NEA, and more. His work has appeared in CNN, ELLE, India Today, The New Indian Express, and other publications. He is an associate professor and director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.
In this interview, Aruni discusses the decade that went into writing his new novel, How to Date a Fanatic, the importance of socially engaged fiction, and more.
Name: Aruni Kashyap
Literary agent: Lucy Cleland, Frances Goldin Literary Agency
Book title: How to Date a Fanatic
Publisher: HarperVia
Release date: July 14, 2026
Genre/category: Novel
Previous titles:The House With a Thousand Stories; The Way You Want to be Loved
Elevator pitch: A riveting love story about a young professor and his group of queer friends in New Delhi against the backdrop of a volatile political landscape, exploring the perennial tensions between the state and the individual.
What prompted you to write this book?
I wrote this novel for two main reasons. All my books are guided by a question or set of questions to which I don’t have the answer. I also see my fiction as an artistic exercise that expands dominant literary discussions. The first reason that prompted me to write How to Date a Fanatic was that I wanted to find out what my characters would do in the face of massive state repression that is pervasive and unavoidable.
The book is inspired by real events. I lived and worked in the New Delhi metropolitan area between 2014 and 2016, when student protests against the unpopular policies of the Indian government started rocking the college campuses of India. It was during this time that I started wondering how this would push people off the edge, and what kind of life decisions they would take. Each of the characters in How to Date a Fanatic makes surprising life choices as consequence of the brutal socio-political tensions that invade their lives. Until I wrote the novel, I didn’t know if they would make those decisions.
Second, I wanted to expand the conversation around Indian English writing by complicating the prevalent, global image of India beyond Bollywood and biryani. I wanted to talk about topics that previously most Indian English novels had not covered—a genre that has remained preoccupied with border-crossing stories that are the experience of a select privileged group. These are stories that are like Indian dishes served with spice levels adjusted in downtown Manhattan, but it doesn’t cover the gritty realities of the Indian experience that people from lower castes and classes have faced forever.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The central idea didn’t change at all, but it took me 10 years from start to publication. The reason it took this long was because I was scared to write the ending. Even though the main body of this book is a dramatic and fun love story, I was really terrified by the closure toward which I was taking my characters because the plot demanded. I was so scared that once, while writing this book in 2016, I asked one of my friends when I reached a dry spell due to my fears, “I can’t write the ending—what if it comes true if I wrote it?” And she had understood the absurdity of my question, as good friends do when you ask them weird questions. Hence, she replied, “What if all your fears come true if you don’t write the novel? What if finishing the novel and reaching the ending you fear will ward off the dangers in the real, three-dimensional world?” That made me think, perhaps. That’s the duty of an artist—to make the way through twists and turns till you reach the hard part so that the bad things don’t happen. Fiction, perhaps, can serve as a cautionary, tale, too? That’s why it took me so long to write this book—because I had to convince myself that if I face the disappointments with an unflinching eye on the pages of the book, the real world would be full of delight and delight only.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I truly discovered the joys of revision during the process of writing and rewriting this book. When I was doing my revisions, I had achieved tenure and had survived a pandemic. I told myself, that the only thing I know very well is how to write fiction and create more fiction writers. This is what I am here for, so let me do it well. Before that, I was a little impatient; somewhat eager for validation and social-media love, public applause. All of this ceased to matter during the writing of this book. This doesn’t mean I had renounced the material gains and didn’t care about people loving the book. They continue to be important. But the safety of a tenured job and the miracle that I survived a pandemic reminded me repeatedly to take my art more seriously than ever. It prodded me to think that if I don’t laugh and cry during the creation of this book, no one else will. You may pound and soften green bananas and serve them as ripe, but they won’t be sweet. The point is not to make them soft, but to give them the time it needs to arrive at the required sweetness.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Yes, so many! One of the marginal characters called Tarun, a handsome, small-time model that Rohit dates briefly, was mentioned in passing in the early drafts. But he grew to become a sympathetic character to my surprise of what happens to him. I am still surprised by the decisions that Dhruv, Rohit’s love interest, makes and the unexpected energies he brings to the narrative.
In short, I was surprised by how the characters took over the process, that at times, I had to take a step back and tell myself that I needed to control them, otherwise the story will be a 10-part series I will write for the next 50 years. But all of this means, the process was delightful. It is always a good problem when the characters become real and disobey the author.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I laughed as well as cried when I wrote the book and focused on celebrating queer joy during the process of writing this book. I hope my readers will also feel the same emotions. At the same time, and I hope this as an English professor and a writer, that my readers will also think about the importance of socially engaged fiction. That reading is an act of empathy as well as rebellion. That reading and discussion fiction, especially from locations that one has not treaded, is a way of travelling the world. That fiction is a vehicle and tool that enables us to have democracy-sustaining conversations.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Don’t lionize nor romanticize failures; every failure is useful education. The world of artistic creation is about consistency. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t give up, because eventually, you will prove everyone who didn’t believe you wrong. This doesn’t mean it is easy. If it was easy, every person would have this ability, and it won’t be a gift. I say these words without an iota of doubt. I started writing and publishing stories since I was17 years old, and I have inhabited several literary worlds in two different continents. This is one art that only shines more and more as you age, if you remain consistent.
