Writing A Novel About Mistaken Identity, Imposter Syndrome — and Actual Imposters
We ask Kirthana Ramisetti about her new novel, THE OTHER LATA!
One of our ministers, Kirthana Ramisetti, has a new book out Tuesday, April 1! Her third novel, The Other Lata, is a story of mistaken identity set within high society New York.
In the novel, aspiring writer Lata Murthy longs for a glamorous life, but after several years in New York City, the only thing she has achieved is massive credit card debt. When she starts receiving invitations meant for a socialite who shares her name, Lata attends the swanky events and catches the attention of a handsome fashion designer—and the wrath of the mysterious woman she is impersonating.
Kirstin Chen, the NYT bestselling author of Counterfeit, calls it “as lively and refreshing as a chilled glass of champagne.” And Booklist calls it a “fun, wild ride.”
To mark the occasion, we asked Kirthana about her novel, from the book’s inspiration to pop culture influences like Sex and the City and Project Runway.
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong Asks About Chick Lit and SATC
JKA: The Other Lata reminded me so much of the books we’d call chick lit in the 2000s, in a good way! (I’m thinking of Sophie Kinsella’s great Shopaholic series.) What was your relationship to these kinds of books, and did they provide any inspiration for you?
KR: This is so interesting! I hadn’t thought of the connection before, but it makes sense. While I didn’t read a lot of them, two made an indelible impression on me: Melissa Bank’s The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing and Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’ Diary. I read them in my early twenties, and they were a mirror to my own hopes and foibles of figuring out what I wanted in life, and who I wanted to be. And I remember being dazzled by the distinctiveness of each novel’s first-person narration.
I love the idea that The Other Lata is my version of them, as well as when someone reads my work and sees something in it that I would have never put together myself!
JKA: Lata loves watching Sex and the City, and it occurred to me how much the show made this kind of unattainable lifestyle seem almost required of young, professional women living in New York. How do you think SATC affected someone like Lata?
KR: I feel like Sex and the City was the original FOMO, before FOMO was a thing. Carrie and the gang constantly out and about can make one feel like they should be living it up in the same way. For a person like Lata, who moved to New York City to live a SATC-type life, she feels like a failure because she can’t equal that.
Living paycheck to paycheck, Lata knows it’s an impossibility to emulate Carrie’s lifestyle. Yet it doesn’t make it sting any less when she is unable to, especially if it feels like everyone around you is having a fabulous time. In Lata’s case, that means making regrettable choices to live out her NYC fantasies.
Saul Austerlitz Asks About Reality TV and Bad Parties
SA: You’ve written in the past for Ministry about being a reality-TV aficionado. Can you tell us about how reality TV, including Project Runway, helped to inspire The Other Lata?
KR: When I’m working, I like having a TV show playing in the background to keep me company. Every season of Project Runway had just been made available for streaming while in the early stages of figuring out this novel would be. One thing I knew for sure is that my new book would be set in New York City, and early on I decided Lata would be an aspiring fashionista— and no doubt some of my endless Project Runway viewing subconsciously factored into that!
It definitely inspired the choice to make her love interest, Rajeev G, a fashion designer working towards showing his line at New York Fashion Week. I had seen like twenty PR episodes by that point, giving me a renewed appreciation for what it takes to design clothes. (Especially since I can barely even thread a needle.)
But Project Runway is also a compressed version of a fashion career. To understand what it would take for Rajeev to show at NYFW, I watched Eleven Minutes, a documentary about Season 1 winner Jay McCarroll launching his debut line at NYFW. Eleven Minutes gave me amazing insights into the staggering amount of work involved: one year of work for 11 minutes, the length of a runway show.
SA: There are such great descriptions of parties in the book, which made me wonder: what’s the worst party you’ve ever attended?
KR: No truly terrible parties come to mind, but I’ve had several experiences where I get overwhelmed by the amount of people at a party, especially if I don’t know anyone else there. I’m introverted by nature, and I’m more likely to cut and run if I’m uncomfortable then stick it out, no matter how cool or exclusive the event might be.
Thea Glassman Asks About the Secrets of Writing Mysteries and Dream Casting
TG: You write edge-on-your-seat mystery so well. What’s your process for solving the ins and outs of the mystery yourself? I am so curious about your writerly process. Do you know all the answers beforehand? Are you discovering as you go?
KR: I really need to figure it out before I write a draft. The funny thing about this book is when I first pitched the concept to my editor, to make the idea sound enticing I wrote that “Lata has to do odd things at while impersonating Other Lata at parties, like juggle hot dogs.” After I was asked to submit a full proposal, I had this moment of “Oh crap, why does she juggle hot dogs?”
As part of the proposal1, I wrote a very detailed synopsis as a way to explain to myself the mystery/thriller elements of the plot. It took me some time, because I had to really think through the mystery of Other Lata and the logic of how she operates, including the whole “juggling hot dogs” thing. And figuring this out in advance was very freeing, because it made writing the first draft…well, I don’t want to say easy, but it made the process a lot easier and a lot of fun too.
TG: I kept picturing the movie version in my head — there is something very cinematic about the world you created. Who would you cast as your starring roles?
KR: I have been asked this question several times for my past novels, and this is the first time I have a definitive answer: We Are Lady Parts’ Anjana Vasan as Lata and Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley as Other Lata.
I don’t ever cast my roles while I’m writing, but after I finished the book, I could imagine Anjana and Simone as both Latas. And now it makes me wish I could see them as these characters onscreen!
Erin Carlson Asks About Setting a Novel in New York City
EC: I have a weakness for novels set in NYC! What makes the Big Apple such a perfect literary backdrop for Lata?
KR: I’ve lived in this city for twenty or so years, which is why I really wanted to set a novel here. For me, New York City represents the place everyone comes to realize their life’s dream—it certainly was the case for me. Sometimes, like in the case of Lata and Carrie Bradshaw, you want a certain kind of life. But more often than not, a person who moves here wants to reinvent themselves in some way. But the obstacles are immense and can be harrowing, but at times also very funny.
New York City is full of dreamers and schemers, and The Other Lata certainly features both. And so that makes it such a great place to set a novel: to see what happens when ambitions collide, and who is able to survive living here, because it’s definitely not easy to do so. But if it works out, it can be very rewarding. And fun to read about!
You can order The Other Lata here, and get a signed, personalized copy at the awesome indie Yu & Me Bookstore in NYC. If you’d like to see Kirthana on book tour, check out her events schedule below and go here for more info!
Do you have a favorite novel set in New York City? What are you currently reading? Let us know in the comments!
Authors can sell their post-debut novels on proposal, which is made up of sample chapters and a full synopsis of the novel’s plot.
Now I need to finish reading the book to find out why Lata is juggling hot dogs!
So excited to read this — it checks all my boxes!