BENGALURU: At the Bengaluru Literature Festival, writer and MP Sudha Murty offered an intimate look into her writing process, creative evolution and the life philosophy that underpins her latest book ‘The Circle of Life’.
In conversation with writer Vani Mahesh, Murty reflected about how her understanding of human nature and long-term friendships shaped her latest work here on Saturday.
Murty speaks about the “deep understanding of human nature” in her writings and what inspired her to revisit an old story. Murty said she had originally written it in Kannada nearly 20 years ago, but when she looked at it now, “my entire perspective, the worldview, had kind of changed,” prompting her to give it another go in English.
Murty explained that she approaches each character as an independent entity, which helps evoke empathy. She usually writes characters that align with her thought process, though villains come from experience, observation, etc. Writing the character Arvind, who undergoes a “360-degree turn towards the end,” was particularly hard, she said.
On crafting five different lives into one narrative, Murty said it was a “difficult process” and that she used a “very systematic character map” and even took “the help of technology” to track behaviours and journeys. Her exposure to a wide range of people through social service also helps shape characters, she added. A discussion on AI and writing prompted a sharp response from Murty.
She said AI may bring perfect English, but it cannot bring in the emotions. Writing a novel through ChatGPT, she said, “is not going to happen because it’s not going to be emotional.” She added that sometimes “the characters write themselves, as she sees them, something “AI can never do.” Murty also reflected on the theme of experiences shaping people. “Only of life 20% goes according to your plan, and the other 80% is unexpected,”she said.