Photo Credit: The Marc Group

Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest Ekta R. Garg—an award-winning author, seasoned editor, and writing-contest judge who has navigated the niche-publishing trenches since 2005, covering everything from healthcare to home improvement to Hindi films.

Creator of the holiday novella The Truth About Elves and the grown-up fairy tale In the Heart of the Linden Wood, Ekta also hosts the craft-focused Biblio Breakdown series and blogs on all things writing at The Write Edge.

We're thrilled to discuss her forthcoming micro-collection, The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories, slated for release this August.

Norm: Good day Ekta and thanks for taking part in our interview.

In The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories, the title story centers on the unnamed witch who eventually becomes Dorothy's roadkill. How did you decide which slice of her life deserved center stage? Did you ever consider giving her a name, or is the anonymity part of the point?

Ekta: Every story in this micro-collection started with a question for me in the writing, and then I included that question in the book so readers knew what to expect from the story.

For the title story, The Witch's Apprentice, the question was, essentially, "What was the Wicked Witch of the East doing in the middle of the road before Dorothy's house came to Oz and landed on her?"

The story actually came from me asking the question of myself. If you read the original book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the East barely gets a few lines before she's smashed by the house.

Yet that's the inciting incident of the entire novel -- the reason why the Wicked Witch of the West is mad at Dorothy and vows to get her, why Dorothy goes on her quest on the Yellow Brick Road, all of it.

For such a big major point in the novel, it's treated in a "blink-or-miss" kind of way. I literally just followed my curiosity about the Wicked Witch of the East to see where it would take me. 

As for her name, I honestly didn't set out to keep her anonymous. That's just the way the story unfolded.

Occasionally I like to challenge myself in my writing by doing a short story that has a first person/second person kind of setup.

That's what I did here, so I envisioned the apprentice to the witch sharing her story directly with readers/the audience. In many second-person narratives, the person doing the talking doesn't get a name.

This started out as a writing exercise and became a story that I knew had to anchor my third book, and it works so well without us knowing her name but learning so much else about her that I didn't feel the need to give her one. 

Norm: You call this a "micro-collection." What governed the final count—did stories get killed off like so many wicked witches, or did you always have a target number? Which cut story do you still mourn?

Ekta: When I first envisioned this collection, I thought I'd write somewhere between 7 and 9 stories. I always intended to keep it on the smaller side of a book, because I wanted something that would fit our current climate of some readers/audience members wanting shorter works to read and enjoy.

The book actually had two additional pieces in it that were very different in tone and intent, and after discussing it with my editor at Atmosphere I decided to take them out.

Her main advice, which I agree with wholeheartedly, is that it was better to turn out a shorter book that offered my best in each story rather than a longer one where two of the stories didn't reach that mark. 

After cutting the number of stories, I spent a long time thinking about what to call this book. "Short story collection" almost implies something that's at least 10 or 15 stories long (if not more than that.) I thought "micro-collection" would help people understand right off the bat that it was something small.

As for stories I cut, I was playing around with an idea based on "Jack and the Beanstalk," but for several reasons I ended up not including it in this book.

I do look forward to developing it more for what I hope is a future collection.

The original idea for what eventually became "The Honor of Emperor and Thieves," based on "The Emperor's New Clothes," was completely different from what ended up in the collection. I may go back and write that one too at some point. 

Norm: Jack and Jill's water run is re-imagined as… well, no spoilers, but it's darker than a scraped knee. Was rehabilitating their "why" your gateway drug to the whole project? Did you find yourself rewriting the nursery rhyme to match your twist, or did you leave the original text untouched?

Ekta: For every story in the book, my approach was the same: to go back to the original stories/rhymes, examine what they said, and then fit my story into the existing structure.

As I say in my author's note in the beginning of The Witch's Apprentice..., there are many, many incredibly talented authors out there fracturing fairy tales -- changing those stories in some way that, while it leaves the fundamental plot the same, gives readers a whole new way of looking at them.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer and Wicked by Gregory Maguire are prime examples of this.

I admire what these authors have done and have, in several cases, enjoyed their works immensely.

However, for my own writing, I'm almost "challenging" the original stories to see what hidden facets I can reveal without changing anything about them. This approach provides its own immensely satisfying writing challenge. 

For my Jack and Jill story, titled "...To Fetch A Pail of Water...", my main question was, "Why did they need that pail of water in the first place?"

We've heard the nursery rhyme a million times, but it doesn't give us any context whatsoever for what made these two characters go get the water.

]It just tells us that Jack got hurt and, presumably, so did Jill (although, again, the original nursery rhyme isn't clear on what happened to her.)

I indulged my own curiosity about them, and the story is what came of that curiosity. "...To Fetch A Pail of Water...," "The Witch's Apprentice," and my story based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin -- titled "Denying Hamelin" in the book -- were all what gave me the idea to put this collection together with this common thread.

Norm: In the Sleeping Beauty piece you quietly ret-con the entire spindle ban. How much medieval law did you have to read to make that loophole feel inevitable? Any legal opinions you unearthed that still make you laugh?

Ekta: Full confession: I didn't do any research into medieval law for the Sleeping Beauty piece, titled The Beauty Before She Sleeps.

Again, I was going based strictly off what the original fairy tales gave us on these characters and their dilemmas. I did read variations of "Sleeping Beauty," including, of course, one of the most well-known by the Brothers Grimm.

But I was interested in working within the "restrictions" of the original works to see if I could bring out something new. For that, I stuck to the original stories as my main source material. This is a really interesting question, though; I might have to go in and do some research on medieval law after all! 

Norm: Goldilocks gets an origin story that smells like Eastern European folklore. Which real-world cultures did you braid in, and why give the bears a break this time? Could this prequel ever become its own novella?

Ekta: The Goldilocks story was a fun one, because I got to come up with my own origin story for her.

In almost every single iteration of Goldilocks that I read as part of my writing research, the story starts with her skipping through the forest.

We get no information on where she came from or why she ever thought it was okay to invade the Bears' home. I guess, if she was a child, she would just go where her curiosity led her (kind of what I did with this entire book!)

But I just thought it was funny and strange that we have a story that starts with this random girl who walks into this unknown house -- with no information or confirmation that it's even safe! -- and who helps herself to the food and the furniture without batting an eye. 

My educational background is in journalism, and I'm a magazine editor and writer in my day job.

When you couple that with a writer's duty to drill as much as possible into a character's motivation in order to make that character's story compelling, I just kept going over Goldilocks's origin in my mind many times until I came up with an origin story that satisfied me. I don't want to spoil that story here, but for this story as with all the others I stuck with the original texts. So I didn't really work in any real-world cultures, just the original works.

You asked why I gave the Bears "a break." As with Goldilocks's origin, we never get to hear anything about the Bears after Goldi ransacks their house. We essentially just leave them on the doorstep as she runs away. So I wanted to explore what happened next a little more and do it in a way that provides readers with additional information before we leave them again.

As for whether this short story (which is the longest of the book) could be a novella of its own, I hadn't thought about it, but never say never!

Norm: Your blog, The Write Edge, is famous for tight, practical craft posts. Which craft rule from the blog did you gleefully break here? What did the blog readers call you out on when the excerpt dropped?

Ekta: I'll be honest, I didn't really break any specific craft rules from the blog or of writing in general (that I know of!)

If anyone sees one, by all means please let me know. I'd love to hear your take on the stories and the book as a whole!

Norm: You've judged writing contests for two decades. Did that critical eye make self-editing these shorts a bloodbath? Which craft axiom did you have to ignore to keep the fairy-tale voice alive?

Ekta: Being a writing contest judge actually has taught me to be critical of my own work in a constructive way, and I don't mind -- much -- getting feedback from others anymore (ten years ago, any constructive criticism would have left me in a puddle of tears for half a day.)

Of course, it does sting initially -- I'm human; just like any other creative, it would be great to be told that every thing I create and put into the world is flawless -- but I also understand that the best writing comes from rewriting.

And I'm so grateful to all the people who have given me feedback, formally and informally, through the years.

They've made me a better writer, and they've primed me, as I said, to be thoughtfully critical of my own work. They've helped me grow a thick skin. 

I think exposure to writing contests from the judge's side of the table and working as an editor on other writers' works has helped me write cleaner first drafts than a less experienced writer just starting out, so I deeply value that opportunity not only to help other writers but also to get better at my own craft.

Norm: This collection is being published by Atmosphere Press again. How has the indie landscape shifted since Elves dropped in 2021? One thing you'd do differently in the launch plan this time?

Ekta: It's incredible to think that only four years have passed since The Truth About Elves released and even more unbelievable to see how many more scams are targeting new writers these days.

It's worse to see how many writers are being taken in by these scammers.

For those writers reading this interview today, if you take away nothing else from it I beg you to heed this: please, please vet any unsolicited opportunities that come your way.

With the rise of AI, it's getting easier for scammers to make their emails, texts, and other communications look and sound legitimate.

Before, you could spot a scammer because of bad grammar or major errors in their websites/emails/other communications.

I've started seeing a shift, though, in these outreach attempts (I've received many myself,) and they're starting to look more and more like the people and companies they're impersonating.

If someone approaches you out of the blue, and their claims promise you the sun, moon, and stars, block them as fast as possible. Do NOT engage.

Publishing has changed in many ways, but no one, in any sector of any business, can guarantee you astronomical sales in a matter of weeks or months.

Books do become wildly famous and popular; authors do get thousands of positive reviews and sales.

However, for a new writer just starting out -- particularly if you're going the self/indie/hybrid publishing route -- the chances of that happening to you are slim. That's just the reality of the industry. Can your book become wildly popular and famous? Absolutely. Is that going to happen when you've just published a few weeks ago? Probably not. 

AI, of course, is also sharply on the rise. New writers, do yourself a favor and stay up to date on what's going on with this tech and other pub industry-related news.

It doesn't matter what publishing route you plan to take. If you decide to engage in this industry in a professional way, treat your work and yourself with the utmost of respect and educate yourself on what's going on with it these days.

You wouldn't go to a doctor for a serious health issue if that person had never gone to medical school. Why expect anything less of yourself as a writing professional?

As for the launch of The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories, this time around I've opted to do my own marketing as opposed to asking Atmosphere to do it for me.

Atmosphere Press has been an incredible partner in my publishing journey. I went to them for marketing help and leads on my first two books, and I listened and learned to what they did and said.

I've also kept an eye on opportunities that I learned about outside of what Atmosphere provided, and because they've helped me feel so steady on my feet as an indie author I thought I'd strike out on my own when it comes to the marketing piece of it for this third book. We'll see what comes of it all!

Norm: Short stories are notoriously hard to market. Which piece will you read aloud on every Zoom or other event to hook readers, and why that one? Any audience reaction that surprised you during early readings?

Ekta: I've only had a couple of opportunities to read aloud thus far. In June I read the opening to "...To Fetch A Pail of Water...". The most recent reading happened in mid-July at an open mic at our local library.

I read all of "Denying Hamelin," because it's a piece of flash fiction that fit easily within the time constraints the library provided for those who wanted to read.

If other opportunities arise, I'll probably read that one again because it's the most lyrical of all the stories I've written; it has a poetic quality to it, and it's the favorite of the five of my Atmosphere editor, Asata Radcliffe. It's dramatic and sad, and even though I prefer to leave people smiling at the end of my readings I think it's okay to mix it up once in a while. And the audience at the library liked it a lot, so that tells me it's a good one to stick with for future readings.

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories?

Ekta: Check out my author website, https://ektargarg.com If you go to my website and order the book today, I'll send it to you before the official release date!

Norm: As we wind up our interview, you've written professionally about Hindi cinema. If Bollywood optioned The Witch's Apprentice and Other Stories, which story would make the best item-number set piece? Who's your dream playback singer for that number?

Ekta: Wow, I've never thought of the book in this way before! I think a specific part of "The Honor of Emperors and Thieves," based on "The Emperor's New Clothes," might be a fun, flirty track for fans of classic Bollywood, especially if Sonu Nigam sang it. He's got such incredible breadth and range -- he can go from a comical number to emotionally devastating and get it right every time.

He's also sung some of my most favorite songs for my all-time favorite actor, Shahrukh Khan (thinking of "Suraj Hua Maddham" from the movie Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

If you know, you know!), so I know Sonu Nigam would do complete justice to what would be a breezy, romantic number in "The Honor of Emperor and Thieves." 

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your endeavors